Core Research Areas
The Core Research Areas: An Overview
Urban sustainability encompasses many elements. The physical and biological environment, the built environment, economic activity, and cultural choices all interact to shape the city as artifact and as concept, from the scale of the neighborhood to the scale of the global network of cities. The Institute has developed three Core Projects, each led by seasoned researchers, to serve as umbrella projects for research, education and outreach. They have been broadly conceived so as to generate a range of questions that will engage varying disciplines and constituencies, linking researchers to students, fellow researchers and the public. The Core Research Areas will evolve to reflect the evolution of public and academic interest.
Below are short summaries some of our recent work in each respective Research Area.
Cities by the Coast- A Historical Perspective on Water in New York City with Focus on Jamaica Bay E.E. Cummings once wrote, sitting near the long-since forgotten edge of Minetta Water in Greenwich
Village,
…For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
it’s always our self we find in the sea.”
In this talk, Dr. Eric W. Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society will attempt to find the part of the soul of New York ...
- Bill Solecki and Cynthia Rosenzweig Co-Author NY Times Op-Ed Piece on Rising Sea Levels CISC Director Dr. Bill Solecki and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Senior Research Scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig co-authored a response to today’s New York Times “Room for Debate” section on sea gates, sea walls and other proposed solutions to sea level rise in the aftermath of “Super Storm” Sandy:
“Since 2001, when “Climate Change and a Global ...
- Turning the Tide: New York’s Waterfront in Transition
The Turning the Tide: New York’s Waterfront in Transition event series has come to a close. CISC would like to thank all those who helped make this such an amazing series; the speakers, the hosts, and of course all those great citizens who attended the events.
If you missed any of the events, frett not! You ...
- Cities by the Coast Even native New Yorkers sometimes need to be reminded that our city really is a city of water. With the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and the New York Bight bathing our four island boroughs and one peninsular borough, we are an urban archipelago. All of these highly urbanized waters have a long history of ...
- Greening Manhattan’s Waterfront: A New Perimeter Park for the 21st Century An evening panel and discussion featuring noted author Phillip Lopate, Urban Planner Ann Buttenwieser, Biologist John Waldman, and Public Policy Scholar Rutherford Platt, dedicated to tracing the history of Manhattan’s 26 mile waterfront and looking ahead to its future potential. An audio recording of this event can be found at the CISC Podcast ...
- Jamaica Bay Bioblitz The Institute was a co-sponsor to this 24 hour Bioblitz, which served to catalogue the diversity of organisms in a particular area. This Bioblitz was part contest (racing against the 24 hour clock), part educational event, and part scientific endeavor.
From the Jamaica Bay Research and Management Information Network:
Jamaica Bay has ...
Consumption Cities- Dr. Peter Marcotullio Lead Author of Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report Chapter on Energy Systems
Institute for Sustainable Cities Director Dr. Peter Marcotullio Lead Author of Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report Chapter on Energy Systems
On November 23, 2018, the U.S. Global Change Research Program released the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2). SOCCR-2 serves to evaluate the major factors in the global carbon cycle across North America, ...
- Dr. Peter Marcotullio Awarded ASRC Seed Grant for Study of Heat Vulnerability in NYC Dr. Peter Marcotullio, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, and Professor of Geography, was awarded a seed grant from the CUNY Advanced Science and Research Center for a study of the role of urban forests in mitigating heat vulnerability in New York City.
The project, titled “Estimating the potential role of trees ...
- Research workshop in Beijing on cities, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions
Research workshop in Beijing on cities, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions
On November 15 and 16, 2018 Professor Peter Marcotullio, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, and George Golub, MA Geography candidate, participated in a research workshop in Beijing, China for the project Tracking Influences of Asian Urban GHG Emissions for ...
- Reduce, Reuse, Rethink: The Future of Waste in New York City
Reduce, Reuse, Rethink: The Future of Waste in New York City
Thursday, June 21 at 6:30 PM at the Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue)
The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), as part of its ongoing program New York’s Future in a Changing Climate, will present a panel discussion on ...
- CUNY Food and Urban Agriculture Working Group The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) last fall convened the CUNY Food and Urban Agriculture Working Group (FUAWG), as a core research effort in the Consumption Cities Project area. The FUAWG, including faculty, students, and stakeholders from around the University, and beyond, is preparing to initiate a food and urban agriculture assessment for New ...
- Long Island 2035 Long Island 2035 is a project that aims to create broad consensus for how Long Island should develop over the next generation and works to create an action strategy to achieve this vision. The initiative builds off of three years of related work that has occurred at the local level with many vested stakeholders. Led ...
- Multi-scaled Environmental and Social Impacts from Meat Demand in the New York Megacity
This project attempts to examine trends in meat production, distribution and consumption and the associated environmental and social impacts. We define environmental impacts by scale; local, regional and global. Local impacts include changes to the urban ecosystem biogeochemical cycles (particularly nitrogen, carbon and phosphorous). Regional impacts include water consumption, water quality degradation and land use ...
- Consumption Cities Today, more than half of the world’s 6 billion inhabitants live in cities. And this number is only growing. By 2050, 80% of the world’s population will reside in urban centers. This is the first time in history that the majority of people on the planet are living in cities. What does this mean for ...
Climate Change and Cities- Dr. Peter Marcotullio Lead Author of Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report Chapter on Energy Systems
Institute for Sustainable Cities Director Dr. Peter Marcotullio Lead Author of Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report Chapter on Energy Systems
On November 23, 2018, the U.S. Global Change Research Program released the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2). SOCCR-2 serves to evaluate the major factors in the global carbon cycle across North America, ...
- Dr. Peter Marcotullio Awarded ASRC Seed Grant for Study of Heat Vulnerability in NYC Dr. Peter Marcotullio, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, and Professor of Geography, was awarded a seed grant from the CUNY Advanced Science and Research Center for a study of the role of urban forests in mitigating heat vulnerability in New York City.
The project, titled “Estimating the potential role of trees ...
- Dr. William Solecki Contributing Author of Fourth National Climate Assessment Chapter on the US Northeast
Institute for Sustainable Cities Founding Director Dr. William Solecki Contributing Author of Fourth National Climate Assessment Chapter on the US Northeast
On November 23, 2018 the US Global Change Research Program released the second volume of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. NCA4 Volume II, Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States will assist decision makers ...
- Dr. William Solecki Coauthors “Landmark” UN Report on Climate Change
Institute for Sustainable Cities Founding Director Dr. William Solecki Coauthors “Landmark” UN Report on Climate Change
A new report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounds a sobering alarm about the risks of climate change, but Institute for Sustainable Cities Founding Director Dr. William Solecki remains hopeful: “The window of opportunity ...
- Precipitation & Storm Recurrence Trends in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain Regions in NY State Precipitation & Storm Recurrence Trends in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain Regions in NY State
Summary and data compilation by Simon Gruber, April 5, 2018
This fact sheet summarizes information about precipitation trends and the changing size and frequency of rain and snow storms and flood events in the southern Hudson Valley and Catskill mountain regions, ...
- Yale Alumni Public Health Initiative Presents: Health and Climate Change
Interested in environmental health and climate change?
In this seminar featuring Institute of Sustainable Cities Fellow and City Atlas Co-Founder Richard Reiss we will explore the interplay of global health and the environment, in particular the significant impact of climate change on health outcomes. Further, we will take on questions of what can and should be ...
- William Solecki coauthors Nature article on growth and resilience of small and mid-sized cities Small and mid-size, not mega cities, are growing quickest and need protection against extreme events – says a new study
Stuttgart, New York, Kampala, 28th September 2016 – 18 days before the UN conference on Cities (UN-Habitat III) a new study and an article in NATURE by an international team of researchers shows that fast-growing small ...
- UCCRN Empowers Cities on the Frontline of Climate Change COP21, PARIS – The Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) released the Summary for City Leaders of the upcoming Second UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.2) at the COP21 Climate Summit for Local Leaders. UCCRN is dedicated to providing the information that city leaders–from government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and the ...
- Hydrology, Vulnerability and Adaptation Implications of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee: Case Study of the Mid-Hudson Valley and Greater Catskills Regions CISC Director Bill Solecki is the project leader on an initiative by researchers at the City University of New York, Rutgers and Penn State Universities to investigate the hydrological, vulnerability, and adaptation implications of recent climate extremes (particularly Hurricane Irene – August 2011 and Tropical Storm Lee – September 2011) on an exurban area of ...
- Climate Change and Cities The 20th century saw the average temperature in the New York metropolitan region increase by 2oF, and the Arctic ice cap shrink at a rate that alarms most experts in the field. Scientific models indicate that this warming trend will continue in the 21st century. Even small changes in climate can alter the environmental baseline ...
- New York City Panel on Climate Change
Convened by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the NPCC advises the Mayor on issues related to climate change and adaptation. Made up of climate change and impacts scientists, legal, and insurance and risk management experts, the NPCC is modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Among its ongoing activities, the NPCC is working to ...
- New York City Water Resources Project Director: Dr. Allan Frei
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP), which controls New York City’s water supply, started a project several years ago, the goal of which is to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on New York City’s water supply in the twenty first century. Under contracts between NYCDEP and ...
- 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 ...
- Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Sustainable Water Use in the Hudson River Valley
Project Directors: Dr. Allan Frei, Simon Gruber
CISC has ongoing research projects associated with climate variations and water resources in the Hudson River Valley, just north of New York City. CISC Deputy Director Frei collaborates with CISC Fellow Simon Gruber looking at the potential impacts of climate change on water resources in the Hudson River Valley, ...
