The following is a transcript of Jay Wu’s interview with Denise Hoffman Brandt, Professor at CCNY’s Anne Spitzer School of Architecture and Director of Graduate Landscape Architecture from 2010 to 2020. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Q. Many of my classmates don’t come from either environmental or urban studies backgrounds, yet we’re all here studying Urban Sustainability. Given that context, I thought it was really interesting that you first earned degrees in art history and painting before studying landscape architecture. Why did you become a landscape architect after studying art, and how does that background inform …
Introducing Our Big Sibling/Little Sibling Program!
A priority of our Sustainability Program is creating an interdisciplinary community of professionals addressing the many issues surrounding equitable climate change mitigation and adaptation in our cities. Especially in the current era of remote learning, creating that sense of community is more challenging and more critical now than ever before. That is why two of our students, Navida and Kathy, came to the Program with a spectacular idea to support our incoming students. The Sustainability Big Sibling/Little Sibling program will pair each new student with a current Sustainability Student or recent Program graduate based on interests to help guide them …
Final Capstone Presentations, 2020
Below see the video recordings for the final capstone reviews for the Fall, 2020 semester. Following each presentation is the abstract for the project. Open Passive House: Making a business case for multifamily affordable Passive House Summary (Abstract): There exists a highly compelling case for promoting Passive House building standards for the affordable multifamily sector in New York City. In addition to deep energy and carbon reductions that align with the goals of New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act, increased occupant comfort and climate resiliency will greatly benefit some of New York City’s most vulnerable populations. There is great interest in Passive …
Happy Holidays from Sustainability
2020 can be a difficult year to feel holiday cheer. While we would ordinarily gather in-person, we can at least celebrate together from afar! Featuring some of our current students and recent alumni, wherever you are and how ever you’re able to celebrate, we wish you a safe, healthy, and happy 2020 holiday season! The languages represented in the video are (in order) Spanish, Turkish, Urdu, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Marathi, Hebrew, Bengali, and English.
Research Guide on Sustainability Topics: A Post from Professor Nilda Sanchez-Rodriguez
Sustainability in the Urban Environment program at the City College of New York is fortunate to have the support of two knowledgeable liaisons to a trove of sustainability-related information: Professor Nilda Sanchez-Rodriguez, Chief Librarian of Architecture division [nsanchez@ccny.cuny.edu; Drop-In Zoom; (212) 650-8767] Professor Philip Barnett, Reference Librarian, Science & Engineering Library pbarnett@ccny.cuny.edu As the librarian liaison for Sustainability in the Urban Environment, I am pleased to provide library services and support for an extremely diverse population of students, faculty, and alumni. Providing equitable access to digital resources is increasingly critical to as CCNY Libraries continue to serve their communities amid …
Events: Division of Science Student Research Panel and Research Opportunity Fair
On Tuesday, October 13th, 2020 the Division of Science held a student research panel with representation from each Program including Sustainability. The video of the full event is below. Students had the opportunity to present and discuss how they’ve gained research experience in their field and fun facts about themselves and their work. Also discussed was the Division of Science Student Council and the forthcoming graduate student club: Masters of Science. On October 20th, the Division of Science Student Council hosted a Research Opportunities Fair. The video is below to learn more about opportunities (many of which occur annually) at …
Alumni Profile: Jennifer Bloom Leone, Class of 2018
After practicing as an architect for over twenty years, and building a small firm focused on design-build and sustainable design, I decided to refocus my energy. I was interested in rethinking the scale at which I was working with the hope of having a greater impact on the city. I chose CCNY’s Sustainability in the Urban Environment Program for several reasons, but primarily because I planned to stay and work in NYC and focus on issues particular to the city. In addition, I was familiar with and very interested in the work of the program director Hillary Brown and her …
Alumni Profile: Katia Lucuy, Class of 2019
Originally from Bolivia and currently living in Westchester, she loved the multicultural environment of the program and the case studies highlighted in classes. She completed her sustainability studies as a Fulbright scholar and is now doing her STEM-OPT as an Intern at HLW in Manhattan. She completed her capstone work on community resilience in Puerto Rico with Professor Jorge Gonzalez-Cruz. The team had the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico and interview local community leaders and stakeholders. In addition to presenting their findings at the NSF Enhancing Resilience of Island Communities (ERIC) symposium in October of 2019.
Student Project: A Comparative Analysis of Coastal Community Adaptation Strategies
Intro The US Atlantic Coast is one of the most vulnerable areas in the world to sea level rise (SLR) because of its low elevation, large population concentration, and economic importance. In addition to SLR, coastal communities like New York City can expect an increase in flooding events and unpredictable weather patterns in coming years. Under current emission trends sea level will continue to rise throughout the twenty-first century. The Northern Hemisphere is expected to experience an increase of up to 30 percent maximum precipitation (Banholzer et al. 2014). NYC and the North East Coast of the United States is …
Panel: Pollution and Black America: The Struggle for Environmental Justice
The Colin Powell School at CCNY hosted this lecture on environmental justice on October 1st, 2020 as a kick-off to their second year of the undergraduate Climate Policy Fellows Program. It can be viewed the Colin Powell School YouTube channel below. Additional information is also copied below from the Youtube post. Speakers: Linda Villarosa, Director of CCNY’s Journalism Program Shawn Rickenbacker, Associate Professor of Architecture at the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture. Moderated by Trevor Houser, CCNY alumni and Director of the Climate Policy Fellows program, Partner, Rhodium Group – Kickoff of Climate Policy Fellows – While Black communities are …
