Environmental Studies At The New School

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!!

Please join us: 

RSVP – events@sustainabilitypractice.net

Date:  June 21, 2011 

Time:  6:00 - 8:00pm
Venue:  The New School 65 West 11th Street Wollman Hall (5th Fl.) New York, NY 10011

Moderator:  Marielle Anzelone, Conservation Biologist & Executive Director, NYC Wildflower Week

Panelists: – The following are invited to participate –  Marcia Bystryn, Executive Director, New York League of Conservation Voters; Chris Garvin, Partner, Terrapin Bright Green & Senior Associate, Cook+Fox Architects; P. Timon McPhearson, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School; Samara Swanston, Pratt Institute Graduate School of Urban Planning and Hunter College Graduate School for Urban Affairs and Urban Planning

Biodiversity in Our Cities – The Case for Urban Nature:

Did you know that there is nature in New York City?  The five boroughs are rich with forests, marshes, and meadows – more nature than any other city in North America.  Yet these natural resources are threatened by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation - the same factors that threaten biodiversity everywhere.  In fact, about one-third of the native flora and fauna in the United States faces extinction.  In our urbanized world, the idea of cities as “concrete jungles” is inaccurate and only further alienates people from the natural world.  Conserving and maintaining the ecosystems on which cities depend is essential to the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of their citizens.

This panel will discuss the status of urban ecology in regional policies and national trends and especially the newly revised PlaNYC which mentions biodiversity and natural systems for the first time. The panel will examine how cities can develop comprehensive, collaborative, and proactive strategies for biodiversity conservation, management and restoration through government policies, public education, grassroots initiatives, business strategies and living systems design.

About SPN:

The Sustainability Practice Network (SPN) is a New-York-based forum for professionals working with corporate responsibility and sustainability issues to build community based on learning, discussion, information and idea exchange. There are over one thousand members on our list-serve, representing practitioners from industry, academia, government and NGO’s. For more information please visit: www.sustainabilitypractice.net