Learning about and engaging with the environment involves the integration of many disciplines and combines the classroom experience with work in the field, fusing theory and practice. At The New School the nucleus of this engagement is the Tishman Environment and Design Center. It is a place for students and faculty from all colleges and schools to gather, interact, and explore shared experiences. It facilitates research, curriculum development, internships, and fieldwork opportunities. It stimulates critical thinking and builds relationships through lectures, public programs, workshops, and conferences.
The center is exactly that, a center of creative work and experience that allows students and faculty to explore the curriculum, share and interact on projects, and research and work with the community at large to explore opportunities for collaboration.
Our environment is the larger New York metropolitan area. There are many opportunities to work with towns, cities, states, non-governmental groups, corporations, other universities, and other organizations. Through the Tishman Environment and Design Center, we hope to connect students and faculty to this broader coalition to enhance learning, civic engagement, and research.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School University presents:
Urban Food and Urban Ecosystems Research and Scholarship
Three talks by the TEDC Post-Doctoral Fellows: Peleg Kremer, Kristin Reynolds, and Sanpisa Sritrairat
Thursday, April 12, 2012| 6:00pm-8:00pm
The New School University, 2 West 13th Street, Orientation (Bark) Room, 1st floor
Social-Ecological Urban Systems: A Spatial Perspective
Peleg Kremer, Urban Ecosystems Post-Doctoral Fellow, The New School for Public Engagement
Social-ecological systems approaches are proposed as a useful theoretical framework to address urban sustainability and urban resilience. The integration of ecological and social systems, however, is complex in concept, theory and application. In practice, slow advancements are being made in operationalizing the concept. Using the example of NYC vacant lots, this talk discusses the use of spatial analysis and a place-based approach to the application of social-ecological systems as a planning and decision making tool in urban spaces.
Participatory Research as Food Systems Pedagogy and Scholar-Activism: Collaborations with Two NYC Urban Farms
Kristin Reynolds, Sustainable Urban Food Systems, Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, The New School for Public Engagement
Urban agriculture is an increasingly popular activity, and practitioners continually innovate new approaches to work toward social, ecological, and economic goals. At the same time, many urban universities are integrating research and teaching on food systems with a variety of public engagement activities. With attention to process, these university-community collaborations can provide experiential learning opportunities for university students, work toward farmer and gardener goals, and contribute to the wider food systems movement by linking theory and practice. This presentation discusses participatory research collaborations involving NYC urban farms and students in two Environmental Studies courses at The New School, which were designed to achieve both pedagogical and action-oriented outcomes.
Restoring Urban Ecosystems Services: The Million Trees NYC Reforestation
Sanpisa Sritrairat, Urban Ecosystems, Andrew W Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, The New School for Public Engagement
U.S. Forest Service estimates that NYC’s forest provides over five billion USD compensatory value from its role in carbon sequestration, cooling benefits, pollution control and storm buffering. Million Trees NYC initiates further forest restoration around NYC to enhance these benefits as the growing population and urbanization is threatening these ecosystems. In collaboration with PlaNYC and New York City Parks and Recreation, we established undergraduate-involved, long-term, research plots around New York City to monitor the influence of restoration strategies on plant diversity, invasive species expansion, carbon accumulation, plant-soil interaction, and toxic metal accumulation. The presentation discusses application of environmental sciences to better understand plant-soil-human interactions to provide a guideline to improve forest restoration management efforts in heterogeneous urban environments.
See you there!!
