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It Turned Into A Bioblitz: Urban Data Collection For Building Scientific Literacy And Environmental Connection, Kelly O'Donnell, Lisa Brundage Jan 2023

It Turned Into A Bioblitz: Urban Data Collection For Building Scientific Literacy And Environmental Connection, Kelly O'Donnell, Lisa Brundage

Publications and Research

In 2013, Macaulay Honors College redesigned its required science curriculum to focus on scientific literacy skills rather than content. Central to this shift was inclusion of a data collection event, a BioBlitz, to provide students with the basis for their own semester-long research projects. Students are teamed with naturalists in an urban green space to find as many species as they can in 24 h and to contribute to a global biodiversity database via the app iNaturalist. We have learned two important lessons: (1) developing an interdisciplinary curriculum with a high degree of experiential learning is more successful when both …


Studying Factors Of Environmental Injustice And Ways To Achieve Equity, Arham Hussain, Reginald Metellus Dec 2022

Studying Factors Of Environmental Injustice And Ways To Achieve Equity, Arham Hussain, Reginald Metellus

Publications and Research

In today's day of age, the biggest concern for current and future generations: the environment. The urban heat island (UHi) with its significant energy, health, and societal impacts is among the major environmental issues in urban regions, especially in historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs). In the 1930s, the former federal agency, Homeowners' Loan Corporation (H0Lq, created ''Residential Security" maps of major cities, known today as "redlined" areas. These neighborhoods were often designated as "hazardous" due to the high percentages of people of color living there, leading to systematic disinvestment based on race. While the program ended in 1968, …


Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski May 2021

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …


The Tale Of Two Community Gardens: Green Aesthetics Versus Food Justice In The Big Apple, Sofya Aptekar, Justin S. Myers Jan 2020

The Tale Of Two Community Gardens: Green Aesthetics Versus Food Justice In The Big Apple, Sofya Aptekar, Justin S. Myers

Publications and Research

There has been a vibrant community gardening movement in New York City since the 1970s. The movement is predominantly located in working class communities of color and has fought for decades to turn vacant land into beneficial community spaces. However, many of these communities are struggling with gentrification, which has the potential to transform access to and use of community gardens in the city and the politics around them. Drawing on separate multi-year ethnographic projects, this article compares two community gardens in food insecure communities in Queens and Brooklyn: one that is undergoing gentrification and one that is not. We …


The Housing Crisis And The Rise Of The Real Estate State, Samuel Stein Oct 2019

The Housing Crisis And The Rise Of The Real Estate State, Samuel Stein

Publications and Research

This article — an excerpt from my book, Capital City, with elaborations on a number of key points — argues that the housing crises endemic to contemporary capitalism must be understood as a result of the concentration of global capital into real estate and the the re-orientation of state planning capacities around the demands of the real estate industry. The first half of the article explains the dimensions of the crisis in the US and the rise of "the real estate state." The second half explores policy alternatives to contemporary urban neoliberalism and the kinds of movements necessary to …


Progress For Whom, Toward What? Progressive Politics And New York City’S Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, Samuel Stein Dec 2017

Progress For Whom, Toward What? Progressive Politics And New York City’S Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, Samuel Stein

Publications and Research

In both its historical Progressive Era roots and its contemporary manifestations, U.S. urban progressivism has evinced a contradictory tendency toward promoting the interests of capital and property while ostensibly protecting labor and tenants, thus producing policies that undermine its central claims. This article interrogates past and present appeals to urban progressive politics, particularly around housing and planning, and offers an in-depth case study of one of the most highly touted examples of the new urban progressivism: New York City’s recently adopted Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. This case serves to identify the ways in which progressive rhetoric can disguise neoliberal policies. …


The Influence Of Urban Development Dynamics On Community Resilience Practice In New York City After Superstorm Sandy: Experiences From The Lower East Side And The Rockaways, Leigh Graham, Wim Debucquoy, Isabelle Anguelovski Jan 2016

The Influence Of Urban Development Dynamics On Community Resilience Practice In New York City After Superstorm Sandy: Experiences From The Lower East Side And The Rockaways, Leigh Graham, Wim Debucquoy, Isabelle Anguelovski

Publications and Research

While (urban) resilience has become an increasingly popular concept, especially in the areas of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), it is often still used as an abstract metaphor, with much debate centered on definitions, differences in approaches, and epistemological consider- ations. Empirical studies examining how community-based organizations (CBOs) “practice” resilience on the ground and what enables these CBOs to organize and mobilize around resilience are lacking. Moreover, in the growing context of competitive and entrepreneurial urbanism and conflicting priorities about urban (re)development, it is unclear how urban development dynamics influence community- based resilience actions. Through empirical …


Connecting The Point(S), Hunts Point, Bronx, New York, Corey Clarke, Jocelyn Dupre, Leah Feder, Sarah Gelder, Nate Heffron, Stephanie Printz, Josh Thompson, Laxmi Ramasubramanian Jan 2015

Connecting The Point(S), Hunts Point, Bronx, New York, Corey Clarke, Jocelyn Dupre, Leah Feder, Sarah Gelder, Nate Heffron, Stephanie Printz, Josh Thompson, Laxmi Ramasubramanian

Publications and Research

Hunts Point is a notoriously over-planned neighborhood. As the exploration of recent plans on page 15 illustrates, Hunts Point has been both the beneficiary and victim of planning efforts that have left many in the community feeling over-surveyed with inadequate results to show for it. Our client made it clear from the beginning that the community did not need another plan to sit on a shelf. Therefore, the team chose to focus on small-scale, actionable interventions that could be implemented without significant capital outlays. To this end, we began by conducting an analysis of existing conditions, investigating both the physical …


Diy Urbanism As An Environmental Justice Strategy: The Case Study Of Time's Up! 1987-2012, Benjamin C. Shepard Apr 2014

Diy Urbanism As An Environmental Justice Strategy: The Case Study Of Time's Up! 1987-2012, Benjamin C. Shepard

Publications and Research

Time's Up! is a New York environmental group which promotes nonpolluting transportation and sustainable solutions to an urban problems. Over the last twenty-five years, the group has taken a do-it-yourself approach to an environmental activism, bridging neighborhood, global justice, and occupy movements. With roots in the squatter movement in New York, Time's Up! has built its own distinct brand of DIY urbanism to fight for community gardens, support group bike rides, and create sustainable approaches to an urban living. While the group makes use of a wide range of approaches to reclaim public space, direct action is its guiding principle. …


Cultural Competence In Urban Affairs And Planning, Tom Angotti, Marly Pierre-Louis, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Sigmund Shipp, Angela Tovar Jan 2011

Cultural Competence In Urban Affairs And Planning, Tom Angotti, Marly Pierre-Louis, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Sigmund Shipp, Angela Tovar

Publications and Research

In the Fall of 2009, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) undertook the Centro Cultural Competence Initiative (CCI) with the support of a one-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The goal of the CCI is to address the need for culturally appropriate work in a variety of professions by training students to be culturally competent practitioners. In the Fall of 2010, the Urban Affairs and Planning Department at Hunter College joined CENTRO as a partner in this initiative. Full time Professors Sigmund Shipp, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, and Tom Angotti worked …


Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Widely Available 3-D Visualization Tools In Support Of Public Participation, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Jennifer L. Weeks, Tim Case Jun 2009

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Widely Available 3-D Visualization Tools In Support Of Public Participation, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Jennifer L. Weeks, Tim Case

Publications and Research

There is a persistent need for improved tools and techniques to facilitate public involvement in transportation decision making. Despite continuous improvements in increasing public involvement at all phases of transportation decision making, transportation agencies are still seeking more affordable, accessible, and effective means of communicating with a wide range of stakeholders. The report documents a survey of a wide variety of transportation agencies on their use of interactive 3-D visualization for public involvement using an electronic survey. Supplemental qualitative data was generated through telephone interviews with selected survey participants. It concludes with three case studies illustrating applications of interactive 3-D …


It's All Happening At The Zoo: Children's Environmental Learning After School, Jason A. Douglas, Cindi Katz Apr 2009

It's All Happening At The Zoo: Children's Environmental Learning After School, Jason A. Douglas, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

Pairing dynamic out-of-school-time (OST) programs with zoos can encourage young people's relationships with and sense of responsibility for animals and the environment. The project presented in this article, Animal Rescuers, gave the authors the opportunity to examine how such a pairing can work. OST programs enable learning in settings that are generally unavailable during school time (Honig & McDonald, 2005). They provide space for collaboration among students, teachers, and others such as program visitors or outside educators. Taking advantage of the flexibility, location, and educational playfulness of an OST setting, the authors worked intensively with a small number of 10-12-year-old …


Ferry Parking And Landside Access Study: Implementing Public Outreach And Impact Assessment, Jochen Albrecht, Stephanie Camay, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Brandon Derman, Eric Bohn, William Milczarski, Maria Boile, Sotiris Theofanis Jan 2008

Ferry Parking And Landside Access Study: Implementing Public Outreach And Impact Assessment, Jochen Albrecht, Stephanie Camay, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Brandon Derman, Eric Bohn, William Milczarski, Maria Boile, Sotiris Theofanis

Publications and Research

Through federal regulations, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are mandated to perform public outreach and impact assessment. Although there are some established parameters, the quality and effectiveness of public outreach efforts vary widely, and in many instances information dissemination becomes the central focus of public outreach efforts. However, information dissemination, although essential, is not as effective as a two-way process of public involvement in which members of the public may provide feedback to shape agency initiatives. Research conducted for the Ferry Parking and Landside Access Study is used to describe best practices in public outreach, focusing on socio-economic and community impact …