Frequently asked questions with Ten Across founder Duke Reiter

To draw attention to the responsibility that comes with having greater access to the future than any society in history. We have no excuse but to leverage our knowledge for the benefit of generations to follow.

To drive resilience, adaptation, and radical change in the face of an increasingly unstable future through the resources developed within our network and platform. Ten Across is about building systemic connections- regardless of boundaries– between experts, decision-makers and communities that can help translate experience into options.

The commitment to the I-10 corridor is based, in part, on the direct experience of the Ten Across team in several of the cities of the Gulf and Southwest regions. This transect features the most profound cases of the well-documented, slow-rolling, and inevitable changes that will test our collective ability to respond to reliable forecasting. It is the ideal place to engage in work for a better future.

The I-10 serves as a conceptual and geographic spine, helping to define the space for our living laboratory and encouraging a network of collaborators who are “neighbors on the same street.” Many facets of the built environment are key to Ten Across topics, and the interstate itself is but one of those.

Absolutely not. Our initiative is built around the address to major issues of our time—many of which happen to be presented in the highest relief in the selected geography. We invite involvement from other parts of the country—especially in the southern tier of the US—that are wrestling with any of the same challenges.

Our projects right now include podcast programming, the development of virtual curriculum for secondary and post-secondary students, explorations of the region through journalistic storytelling, mapping and data visualization—and, of course, preparations for our annual summit. We continuously cultivate new partnerships and outlets for all of our work. You can visit our Collaborate page for more information.

Please visit our Collaborate page, and contact Rae Ulrich at rae.ulrich@asu.edu to arrange a conversation.

ASU’s New American University model identifies a deep connection between place, idea and scale. Cited as the most innovative university in the U.S. for its continuous development of new technologies, partnerships and learning modes, ASU provides an essential launch pad for unique initiatives such as this one.

While Ten Across is a manifestation of many of ASU’s leading aspirations, it is designed as an independent platform for the collaborative work of partners throughout the region, including other academic institutions and the public, private and nonprofit sectors. While ASU is where we begin, this network is where Ten Across lives.

My experience of the city of New Orleans was pivotal—as was my graduate work on the predictability of major urban crises such as the hurricanes which threaten that city. Years later, as the dean of ASU’s College of Design in 2005, I oversaw the school’s response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and I reflected on the parallels between the “knowability” of inundation in the Gulf and the drought in the Phoenix metro. A close observation of the built environment offers us all clues which we too often choose to ignore.