LW's Evan Mason and Bill Solecki from CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities will sit down with Brian Lehrer to talk about our environmental project "Urban Forests in Our Midst."
Did you know that there are 108 acres of open spaces hidden behind rowhouses on the Upper West Side alone? That is 13% the size of Central Park! These backyard open spaces convey a range of environmental benefits to the entire City—and yet these benefits are overlooked by the architects of public policy for NYC, environmentalists, building owners and tenants alike. This project will have significant implications for the entire City given the many neighborhoods in all five boroughs characterized by significant numbers of rowhouses with adjoining backyards.
To learn more about the project, check out this recently published Gotham Gazette article.
Typical New York City block showing green space comprised of adjoining backyards
"Urban Forests" Team:
This research study is a creative community-university partnership that brings together Landmark West!, a non-profit community-based organization committed to preserving the architectural heritage of Manhattan's Upper West Side with The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in order to develop evidence-based policies and best practices with regard to environmentally sound management of privately owned open spaces.
To donate to this project, please go to www.landmarkwest.org and click on "green initiatives" link, or call 212 496-8100 for more information. Help us meet our goal of $200,00 for this project!
Listen to the program:
The Humane Metropolis
Friday May 9th
Four-fifths of Americans now live in the nation's sprawling metropolitan areas, and half of the world's population for the first time is now classified as "urban."As metropolitan regions become the dominant living environment for humans, there is growing concern about how to make such places more habitable, more healthy and safe, more ecological, and more equitable - in short, more "humane".The talk will draw on themes from the 2006 book edited by Dr. Platt: The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City( University of Massachusetts Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy). Dr. Platt's work is in part inspired by and a tribute to the work of Distinguished Professor William "Holly" Whyte, a prominent Urban Sociologist and former faculty member of Hunter College . Whyte's famous observations and film analyses of corporate plazas, urban streets, parks and other open spaces in New York City made him achampion defender of the value of small public spaces.
Click here [PDF] for more information.
Melting Ice and Rising Tide, What Climate Change Means for the City of New York
April 29th, 2008
What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.
Click here [PDF] for more information.
Listen to the speakers from this event on the CISC Podcast
CISC Podcast Directory
CISC Podcast for iTunes
CISC Speaker Series
In 2007, CISC created a Speaker Series program inviting active figures from the environmental community of New York and beyond to present on their work to a diverse audience of students, faculty, and the public at large. Lecturers span the spectrum of careers ranging from architects to authors to researchers and community organization representatives.
Click here for more information.
Focus the Nation
On January 31st, Hunter College took part in what was dubbed the largest teach-in, in American history. Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America was born as a call to create dialogue and engage millions of students across the country in important environmental decisions that must be made now. As the organizer's stated, "In the next few years, we as a nation will make, or fail to make, critical decisions regarding global warming pollution and clean technology investments. These decisions will have far-reaching and irreversible impacts on the lives of today's students and the lives of their children." The 200 students who took time to visit Hunter College's Focus the Nation presentations, ranging from Watershed Protection to Potential for Renewables in NYC, to what CUNY's role is in the transformation to a sustainable future, certainly learned that the time to act is now.
Click here for more information.
Governors Island 2007
This past summer CISC was proud to co-sponsor the second annual CUNY Science Lecture Series and Exhibition on historic Governors Island. Developed in collaboration with the Department of Geography at Hunter College and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Queens College, this year’s program centered on the theme of Stabilizing the Climate in the 21st Century. For more on the summer 2007 event click here
