Urban Planning Newsletter, 2014-2015

Planning News Urban Planning Program I Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, 2014-2015

2014 2015

From the Director

The 2014-2015 year was a year of reflection and change for the Urban Planning program at GSAPP. Among the biggest changes was the new leadership for GSAPP brought by Dean Amale Andraos. As part of an effort to maintain the UP program’s edge Dean Andraos invited faculty and students to imagine the future of the urban planning profession and to consider what role UP might play in that future. To that end UP students organized a visioning group that met with alumni, faculty, and other students to envision the future for the planning program. Although a definitive vision for the UP program was not developed by the students several intriguing ideas did grow out of the discussions. These include strengthening the concentrations by better defining the skill sets associated with each concentration and developing a new concentration to address the increasing importance of “big data” and analytics.

To allow students to focus on the use of data and analysis a new Urban Analytics concentration has been developed. This concentration prepares students to conceptualize strategies for using the increasing abundance and availability of data to inform planning efforts, undertake architecture and design projects, and solve urban problems. Students enrolled in this concentration will acquire skills in data science, data visualization, geographic information systems, multivariate statistical analysis, research design, in addition to the planning skills taught in the core UP curriculum. The concentration will be offered first for the class of 2017.

In addition to our usual array of course offerings we have continued the recent practice of providing an advanced studio for second year students. These advanced studios give students the opportunity to hone their planning skills while working with a client to address a planning issue. You can read more about this studio project on the following page.

The Urban Planning program was fortunate to host Xin Li as a visiting professor for the entire 20142015 academic year. This was Professor Li’s second year as a visiting professor at GSAPP. Xin Li earned her Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, directed the thesis course and taught a course on planning in emerging economies. We bid farewell to Trisha Logan, the Assistant Director of the program for the past two years, as she took a new job as a Preservation Planner in Miami. Filling her role is Inna Guzenfeld, a preservation and planning graduate from the Pratt Institute.

We look forward to welcoming the class of 2017 this fall. The 45 accomplished students joining us hail from eleven countries, from Pakistan to Chile.

Lance Freeman Director, Urban Planning Program Columbia University GSAPP

On the cover

Yangon at a Turning Point: Progress, Heritage, and Community As Myanmar undergoes political changes and economic liberalization, Yangon is a city in transition.

Foreign investment and democratization have led to increased real estate development in the historic central business district (CBD) of Yangon. The CBD’s mix of British era and modern buildings, affordable residences, and public spaces are facing pressures of change with fast-paced, ad hoc development.

This past fall, an Advanced Urban Planning Studio led by Professors Andrew Scherer and Erica Avrami studied the housing and community preservation concerns in Yangon. In partnership with their client, the non-governmental organization Yangon Heritage Trust, the team was charged in developing recommendations to protect existing communities from displacement while conserving the historic fabric of Yangon.

The studio was envisioned as a collaborative project with students from degree programs to add different expertise to the study. In addition to Urban Planning, the team included Historic Preservation, Real Estate Development, and Law degree candidates.

though they are clearly the experts,” Urban Planning student David Perlmutter remarked. “We were able to contribute knowledge and learn from our clients in a very meaningful way.”

As this era of development is still in its early stages, the team envisions their timely recommendations will help the YHT in advocating for appropriate development and conserving spaces of value. The strategic plan focuses on issues of transparency and equity, economic diversity, cultural inclusiveness, habitability and affordability, and community integration. Using international case studies, the team developed a framework to explain factors that contribute to displacement which guided their strategic recommendations.

“Our vision for a future Yangon foresees a city whose unique built heritage is conserved, in which current residents and businesses are able to remain in a sustainable place, and whose modernization fosters the growth of an equitable, habitable and vibrant city,” the final report concludes. The final report will be published with generous support from the World Monuments Fund.

“My primary reason for wanting to participate in this studio was the fact that it was a collaborative project between urban planning and other programs,” commented participant Jet Richardson. As a dual candidate in Urban Planning and International Affairs, Jet valued the opportunity to partner with other programs on Columbia’s campus.

Only so much background research could guide the team; a site visit to witness the development and meet the community was essential. The studio traveled to Yangon for ten days in October and immediately realized their research was breaking new ground and reaching community members.

“There is a very small number of Westerners, period, who have done research in Yangon, so instantly we became plugged into a tight-knit network of academics who seemed to hang on our every word - even

From left, planning student Peter Erwin, preservation student Alex Corey, and planning students Jet Richardson and David Perlmutter on site in Yangon.

Graduation On Wednesday May 20, 57 talented individuals entered the Urban Planning profession. The Class of 2015 included three dual Historic Preservation/Urban Planning graduates, two Architecture/Urban Planning graduates, two SIPA/Urban Planning graduates, and one MBA/Urban Planning graduate. For their academic achievements, thesis work and travel proposals, the students listed below were awarded the following honors. Congratulations and best wishes on their future endeavors!

Charles Abrams Thesis Award for a thesis that best exemplifies a commitment to social justice Yesmin Vega Valdivieso Service Provision in the Slums: The Case of La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico Advisor: Robert Beauregard Planning Challenge Award for a thesis that makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of a contemporary planning issue Philip Betheil Community Involvement and the Reuse of Rail Rights-ofWay Advisor: Elliott Sclar Planning Research Design Award for a thesis that exemplifies a commitment to research methodology and/or planning techniques Anna Oursler Mining Urban Heat Advisor: Elliott Sclar

American Institute of Certified Planners Outstanding Student Award for outstanding attainment in the study of Planning Franziska Grimm Urban Planning Program Award for high academic attainment Jessica George New York Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Award for academic excellence and leadership in Urban Planning Olivia Jovine Peer to Peer Award for outstanding service to classmates, faculty, and school Matthew Do

William Kinne Fellows Traveling Awards These awards are granted on the merit of proposals submitted for travel abroad incorporating the study of architecture, including planning and other specialized aspects of architecture.

Bordering: A Typological Study of the USA-Mexico Border as a Construction Difference Ushma Thakrar (UP) Yesmin Vega Valdivieso (UP)

Visualizing Economic Restructuring in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Chihuahua Peter Erwin (UP) Maxwell Holdhusen (UP) CURE Award To graduates who have excelled in the advancement of transdisciplinary research in urban development Jordanna Lacoste (UP) Serena Li (M.Arch/UP)

The Siege of Sarajevo: Erase, Memorialize, Replicate or Reinterpret?

Anna Oursler (M.ARCH/UP) with Sabrina Barker (M.Arch/ RED)

Percival Goodman Fellowship Winner: Houman Saberi An architect, planner, and artist, Percival Goodman built and unbuilt projects inspired by his strong commitment to social ideals. Raymond Lifchez, M. Arch.

‘57, GSAPP Faculty 1961-70 generously funded the Percival Goodman Fellowship in honor of his former teacher, colleague, and friend at Columbia. The Fellowship annually provides $20,000 for a GSAPP student to undertake a project of social significance upon graduation. This year, Urban Planning student Houman Saberi is the recipient of this prestigious award, becoming the first planning student to win the award on his or her own since its inception in 2008.

Houman argues his project’s topic has not been adequately addressed by planners but is a major urban concern: unequal internet access. “My proposed project seeks to add to the planning practice by re-conceptualizing the digital divide as a natural arena for activist planners to deploy their skills,” says Houman. His project partners with the Red Hook Initiative, an organization working to expand the limited network of free public WiFi in Red Hook Houses, the

city’s second largest public housing development.

Roughly 82% of Red Hook’s population lives in the development, meaning the access to the preeminent infrastructure of the 21st century is incredibly unequal in the neighborhood.

His project includes three deliverables. First, he will develop a site analysis of Red Hook Houses creating a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine where future WiFi nodes should be installed. Not only is this a logistical measure, but Houman intends to recommend sites where WiFi will activate physical spaces and enrich community activities.

Secondly, he will train three Red Hook Houses residents to be “Digital Stewards,” using GIS to problem-solve within their community in the future. Finally, Houman will develop a training program for other residents on the basics of WiFi connectivity and how to access the network in the event of an emergency.

Congratulations to Houman and his use of Urban Planning as a discipline to address the digital divide.

Spring Studios

The Feasibility of Micro Housing in Westchester County Studio, led by Eldad Gothelf, worked with the Planning Commissioner of Westchester County Edward Buroughs analyzing quantitative and qualitative data on a macro/county-wide level to understand changing demographics, state of housing availability, affordability, and migration patterns in and out of Westchester. Combined with research on micro-housing typology, their analysis determined the social, political, physical and financial conditions under which Micro-Housing would be feasible at a proposed site in Tarrytown. • In the context of a changing national healthcare system and a city plagued with unsettling health disparities, the Health Empowerment District: Recommendations for a Community Health Partnership in Bushwick, Brooklyn & Ridgewood, Queens Studio, led by Roberta Fennessy and Daniel Windsor, represents the convergence of three main themes: public health, the built environment, and a community-based partnership aiming to empower a population to take ownership of its well being. The contents of the report outline recommendations the studio team has developed as academic consultants for its client, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (WHMC), based in Brooklyn, New York. • Berlin / New York: The Legacy of Modern Era Housing Development Studio, led by Kaja Kühl, explored urban design and community research methods that support an economic, ecological and socially sustainable future for Neu-Hohenschönhausen, one of the last large-scale housing estates completed in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago. A topic not unique to Berlin, the multi-scalar framework developed by the studio to envision the future calls for more diversity, density and sustainability and will be valuable across the Atlantic to ensure this legacy of affordable decent housing. • The Resilient Island Culture Studio, led by Michael Fishman, addressed housing and resiliency issues on Staten Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy with client, Make the Road New York. The studio proposes a Community Land Trust on Staten Island’s East Shore, in conjunction with a Resiliency Land Trust, to ensure sustained housing security for the East Shore community, and perpetual environmental security for Staten Island as a whole. • The goal of the Planning for Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) Studio, led

by Ethel Sheffer, was to determine how to achieve intended functions of POPS – relieving density, facilitating circulation, and beautifying the city - through improving the regulation of their operation, design, and maintenance. Through researching and observing the 99 POPS in the study area for client, Manhattan’s Community Board 5, the studio found there is an opportunity to strike a greater balance between public benefit and private interest, and put forth recommendations that will allow more POPS to become true public amenities. • The Chengdu South Railway Station: Planning a New Hub Studio, led by Gary Roth, studied a 50 hectare site currently slated for redevelopment into a major transit hub for the city of Chengdu. Their proposal looks to use the built form of the site to create a functional transit-oriented development, which through the implementation of specific proposals including social institutions, green space, and housing, will also provide for equitable development that respects the identity and culture of Chengdu.

This spring, the Urban Planning program offered six studio sections for firstyear students. The studio course is always a highly anticipated though demanding portion of a student’s curriculum. These six projects covered timely issues of housing, transit-oriented development, healthy communities, public space, and post-disaster planning. The studies took students across the five boroughs, Westchester County, and beyond to Germany and China. Each of the studio’s full reports are published online and available for viewing: http://www. arch.columbia.edu/programs/urban-planning/studios

At left: The Micro Housing studio released a survey to gauge interest in small-scale housing and living in Westchester County. Above left: Students traveled to China to visit their site, the Chengdu Railway Station, in March. Above middle: The POPS studio visited all 99 privately owned public spaces in Community Board 5, taking note of user activity and compliance with policies. Above right: First-year students Patrick Kazyak and Irene Uy took to the field to develop the community profile for Bushwick and Ridgewood. Below: During spring break, students traveled to Berlin for fieldwork. On the back cover: The Resilient Island Culture studio surveyed Sandy-affected land parcels as part of their site analysis.

Faculty News Program Director Lance Freeman was appointed co-editor of the American Sociological Association’s City & Community Journal in December, 2014.

During the academic year, Professor Robert Beauregard he gave a number of invited talks including, “Making the City of the Future” at the Laboratorio Expo in Milan; “Shrinking Cities in the United States” at the School of Policy, Ryukoku University, Kyoto; “Planning in a Material World” at the School of Planning, National Taiwan University, Taipei; and “When Buildings Decay, and Cities Decline” at the Seminar on Decay sponsored by the Ax-Son Johnson Foundation at Harvard University. He published two articles: “Shrinking Cities” in the International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition, Vol. 21, and “The Political Complexities of Development” in Reviews in American History 43.

Professor Elliott Sclar published his article “The Political Economics of Investment Utopia: Public–Private Partnerships for Urban Infrastructure Finance” in the Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Fall 2014.

His new book, Urban Access for the 21st Century: Finance and Governance Models for Transport Infrastructure, co-edited by Sclar, Mans Lonnroth and Christian Wolmar was released by Earthscan in late 2014.

In the first half of 2015, Assistant Professor Clara Irazábal delivered invited talks at University of California at Berkeley; Concordia University, Montreal, Canada; University College London, UK; and CUNY. She also edited Ordinary Places/Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, Democracy, and Public Space in Latin America in the series: Planning, History and Environment for Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, and co-authored “The Learning Alliance Methodology: Contributions and Challenges for Multicultural Planning in Health Service Provision. A case-study in Kent, UK” in Planning Theory and Practice.

In January, Adjunct Associate Professor Ethel Sheffer, FAICP, was appointed as the Mayor’s representative of the Public Design Commission for New York City. The PDC reviews permanent works of art, architecture and landscape architecture proposed on or over City-owned property, and acts as caretaker and curator of the City’s public art collection.

This year, Adjunct Associate Professor Andrea Kahn participated in various events related to the European Union Interreg-funded urban landscape and planning research project “Site Specific Design as a Driving Force for Harbor Transformation”: a study trip to the harbors of Nantes & St. Nazaire, a Harbor

Urban Planning faculty representation at GSAPP Events this year included Assistant Professor Stacey Sutton participating in the multidisciplinary panel for January’s We Can’t Breathe Event in Low Library and Assistant Professor Clara Irazábal moderating the session on Governance in the Housing the Majority conference in April.

Student-Author: Olivia Jovine To some students, the range of studies within the field of urban planning can make choosing an area of focus difficult. Not for Olivia Jovine, who graduated in May. She knew her goals for the Urban Planning program before even applying. While working for an architectural firm in China, she witnessed from afar the destruction Hurricane Sandy brought to the city. With an academic background in environmental science and urban studies, Olivia felt a call to action to pursue a career in disaster planning. “As a millennial, I feel it’s my duty to mitigate climate change,” she said.

During her time in the program, Olivia took an extensive course load in environmental planning including two studio projects which both evolved as a result of Hurricane Sandy. However she also found the time to do something not on most master students’ minds: publish a book.

Disaster Preparedness NYC, published in January by Skyhorse Publishing, is a 264-page guide of what to do “before and after the worst happens.” There are chapters on every kind of catastrophe, from severe winter storms to extreme heat, outlining how to prepare, respond and survive them all. Content for the book was pulled from Olivia’s course studies, outside research, and thesis work. Disaster Preparedness NYC is available at Columbia’s bookstore and through major book retailers. For her accomplishments, Olivia was featured this May in Columbia University’s Great Graduates series. To read more, visit: http://news.columbia.edu/Olivia-Jovine-Class-of-2015

(Faculty news, continued) Planning Workshop in Oslo, and a 2-day international symposium, “Beyond Best Practice: Appreciating Site-Specific Qualities”, in Malmö, Sweden as a keynote speaker, session moderator and panelist.

Adjunct Assistant Professor Marcela Tovar participated in the No Ceiling Report event this March, launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation. The event celebrated achievements and challenges of women around the world since the Beijing International Agreement 20 years ago. Tovar kindly included students in her Political of International Placemaking class; Secretary Clinton acknowledged publicly their presence during her segment on environment and climate change.

On behalf of the faculty, students, and administration of the Urban Planning program, we want to thank departing faculty members Stacey Sutton and Xin Li for their incredible service to Columbia GSAPP. Stacey Sutton joined the program as an Assistant Professor

in 2006. During her time at Columbia, she established the Community & Capital Action Research Lab and taught important courses in community development and neighborhood change. We wish Professor Sutton the best of luck as she joins the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. Visiting Assistant Professor Xin Li will also depart after spending the past two years at Columbia GSAPP, serving as a thesis advisor and teaching courses on urban development and planning in China. For the fall of 2015 we welcome two new visiting professors for the academic year, Joyce Rosenthal and Yuan Xiao. Rosenthal will be returning to Columbia after finishing her PhD in Urban Planning here in 2010. Mostly recently she was an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Xiao completed her PhD in Urban Planning at MIT and has worked as a research scholar at Columbia Law School and as a consultant for the World Bank.

Beyond the Classroom

Master’s and PhD students made the time to travel to conferences this year, particularly to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference and the American Planning Association Conference. Held in Philadelphia, the 2014 ACSP conference “Big Ideas, Global Impacts” brought exceptional Columbia representation by faculty and students. Ella Ver (MSUP ‘14) accepted the Don Schön Award for Excellence in Learning from Practice for her thesis, which she also presented, Teens and Improvised Gathering Spaces: A Study of Appropriation of Outdoor Places. Faculty present included Clara Irazábal, moderator for the session, Conflict and Social Movement in the Latin American City; Peter Marcuse, roundtable participant for The Evolution of Planning Thought; David King moderator for Managing Curb Access for more than Cars and presenter of the paper No Parking? Accommodating Multiple Users at the Curb; Elliott Sclar presenter of Public Goods and Private Goods: The Tradeoffs of Public Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Finance; and Lance Freeman presenter of White Entry into Black Neighborhoods: Advent of a New Era? The following papers were presented by doctoral candi-

dates: Food Access and the Brownsville Youthmarket (Dory Kornfeld); Are Barrios Good or Bad? The Effected of Metropolitan Area Segregation on Latin Access to Opportunity (Justin Steil); Housing Assistance and Neighborhood Satisfaction in a Comparative Perspective: Evidence from the US and UK (Adele Cassola and Lance Freeman); and Learning from Controversy: Finding the Democratic Potential in Technical Systems of Governance (John West).

Additionally, PhD student Alexis Perrotta organized the panel, Questioning the Boundaries of Public Transportation, moderated by fellow student Eric Goldwyn, recipient of a 2014 ACSP Travel Award.

Within the panel, Columbia students presented papers: Transit Fare Policy and the Welfare State: Findings from NYC (Alexis Perrotta); Does Centralized Planning Marginalize Niche Communities? (Eric Goldwyn); and Assessing the Rhetoric of Transit Oriented Development (Lauren Fischer). Over thirty master’s students also traveled to Seattle, Washington in April for the APA Conference, spending four days enjoying unseasonably beautiful weather while attending innovative sessions on topics from bicycle planning to waterfront design guidelines.

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The Urban Planning Program Council and the Planning Student Organization (PSO) had an especially active year. The Program Council, which is comprised of peer-voted class representatives, undertook a visioning process for the program (pictured top left).

This involved a student survey, meeting with faculty and Dean Andraos, and several informal discussions among program constituents to develop cohesive goals and an identity for the UP program. Many Program Council initiatives took the form of inaugural PSO events, including “What’s Your Day Job,” a pecha-kucha style presentation for adjunct faculty (pictured bottom left); a forum on the state of planning education with GSAPP faculty; and a “How to Charrette” activity with planner James Rojas, the recent recipient of the 2015 Planning Advocate Award of Excellence by the California Chapter of the American Planning Association. PSO still found the time to host events of a more social and community-building nature, from the annual Parking Day participation (pictured middle left) to an urbanism themed scavenger hunt and holiday pot-luck (pictured opposite page. Thanks to all student leaders for their efforts this year in both Program Council and PSO.

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In the spring of 2015, Dean Andraos and the UP Vision Group launched The Future of Planning Forum, a five part lecture series. During one-hour lunchtime talks, planning practitioners spoke on one key idea they felt to be integral to the future of the field. The talks included Operative by Leah Meisterlin of Barnard College and Office:MG; Privatization by Martin Murray of University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Urban Planning; Intensity by Craig Allchin of Six Degrees Urban; Uncertainty by Mary Kimball of NYC DCP; and Bureaucracy

by Finn Williams of the Greater London Authority.

A special end of spring semester issue of Urban Magazine was released in May, entitled First Person. Editors write that the issue “attempts to explore the lesser-seen sides of ongoing student work.” Stories include photo essays from studio travel, intricacies of thesis and dissertation research, and a reflection on the Vision Group’s efforts this year. The full issue, along with all past Urban Magazines, is available digitally at: http://www.arch.columbia. edu/programs/urban-planning/ urban-magazine

‘til next year!

Š2015 Urban Planning Program, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, 413 Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue New York, New York 10027