How a city is built strongly influences how much water that city uses.

That’s among the findings of new research which looked at the relationship between a built environment and water usage. The researchers observed four cities: Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Austin and Portland. In three of those four cities, having higher-density, single-family homes meant less water used.

Philip Stoker is an assistant professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at the University of Arizona, and worked on this project. He joined The Show to talk about what they found.

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