MULTIPLICITY Volume 3/ Issue 2
Spring 2012
School of
Architecture
Table of Contents 1. Commentary from the Editors 3 2. Introduction 4 3. Student and Faculty Articles How to Occupy Wall Street: Curbing Oligopolies 5 Profiles of Spontaneous Urban Plants 6 Planning by General Assembly 7 Design-Based Learning in Brooklyn 9 4. 2011 Summer and Fall Studios Fundamental Planning for the Lower East Side 11 Community Planning in Mt. Morris, NY 13 Gowanus Works: Planning for Preservation 15 Giving a Voice to the Voiceless 18 Scandinavia by Design 20 5. Letters HPD Director of Sustainability 22 The CSI Annual Convention 23 Water Infrastructure Planning in Grand Bois, Haiti 24 6. Accomplishments 26 7. Announcements 29 8. Alumni Spotlight 30 9. 13 Ways to Give Back 31
Ana Fisyak and Kyle Kozar
PSPD Graduate Students
Commentary from the Editors
The theme of this issue, Planning with the 99%, like many of our imaginations is inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Last fall when Kyle and I began to work on the newsletter we were concerned with the question of how planners fit into the discourse coming out of Zuccotti Park. What is our role as planners in this critique? Should we work as negotiators, as advocates or as activists? For whom are we planning? That very question went through a thorough revision inspired by Professor Eve Baron’s Introduction to this issue. We were confronted by the implications in the use of the word “for” in our original theme. What does it mean to plan “for” versus to plan “with”? The vitality of democracy depends on a civil society comprised of citizens knowledgeable of and engaged in the democratic process. To plan “with” is to empower residents to exercise their voice regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, language, education or class. Our role is not only to represent those who are missing from the discussion, but more importantly to empower them to take part in the discussion. At its very foundation equity grows from supporting those
whose place is the most uncertain or precarious within our system. Our role is to amplify the voices of the 99%. To plan “with” is a valuable exercise in organizing the mass of our 99%, the work that results from engaging hundreds of us under the action to change. To plan “with” is a call to democracy.
Ana Fisyak is a second year CRP student interested in the political and civic implications of public space. She is a Fellow at the Pratt Center for Community Development where she is currently working on a GIS baseline analysis of Brooklyn neighborhoods and the Bedford Stuyvesant BOA. Joseph “Kyle” Kozar is a second year CRP Student. He is a Research Intern at the Regional Plan Association where he works in the Open Space Department with a focus on the Jamaica Bay Greenway.
/3/
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Eve Baron
Introduction
This is Pratt, and students don’t get too far without being reminded that we are planning with the 99%, not for the 99%. Planning with people is a big part of learning how to ensure there is equal access to the city for all its dwellers regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or income. Planning with the 99% means removing barriers to participation in education, housing, employment, political representation, and communication. Occupy Wall Street vividly brought home the importance of considering the spatial dimension of access. The struggle to secure adequate space for protest situated in proximity to the symbolic epicenter of decision-making was a huge barrier to the right of assembly. The intricacies of the city’s plaza bonus program created the park and allowed the local community board to negotiate the rules that govern its use (i.e., that it remain open 24/7). But the intricacies involving the maintenance of the park also fashioned the loophole allowing the police action to eject protesters. How we organize and create access to our public space is truly a reflection of our vision for society. Democratic expression can be noisy and chaotic, especially if it confronts prevailing norms and standards, and can all too easily be perceived as a threat. Commodification of public spaces has the tendency to fragment the public and to silence dissent. Imposition of order will protect private investment in the built form (as is the case with Zuccotti Park) but unless basic controls are balanced with true opportunities for expression of basic freedoms then our public spaces are destined to reflect only the needs and concerns of the 1%. The next generation of planners will be design-
ing, planning, and setting policy for public space. It’s going to be up to you in part, to make or re-make our Zuccotti Parks of the future. The responsibility lies in planning for social inclusion and overcoming marginalization and all forms of exclusion. Planning sometimes involves struggle and often challenges authority, or requires deconstruction of power relationships. The articles in this quarter’s newsletter spell out the ways planners and others are working to challenge prevailing norms and remove political, economic, and cultural barriers. City Council Member Lander describes NYC’s first experience with direct democracy—constituents are shaping local projects and directly voting to fund them. Claire Nelischer writes about a workshop in East New York where the tables were turned to allow kids to be the planners and designers. Moshe Adler reminds us of how corporate strangleholds over the economy can result in job discrimination and inequality and gives us some strategies for unmasking power relations. Lisa Brunie writes about the ways in which participatory mapping will result in access to clean water supply in Haiti. These are excellent examples of how to begin planning for social inclusion by creating inclusionary processes and removing obstacles and barriers.
We are planning with the 99%, not for the 99%.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Eve Baron is a Senior Fellow for Planning and Policy at the Pratt Center for Community Development and has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt since 2004.
/4/
Moshe Adler
An Excerpt from a Faculty Article
How to Occupy Wall Street:
Curbing Oligopolies 1. Occupying the Boardroom The first thing to recognize about our big corporations is that they have thousands and even hundreds of thousands of owners; as a result, there is nobody to mind the store. Nominally, every corporation has an independent board of directors. But as Ross Perot observed long ago, in 1985, “The managers of mature corporations with no concentration of owners have gotten themselves into the position of effectively selecting the board members who will represent the stockholders.” And how does a board that is loyal to the CEO behave? Perot was intimately familiar with the relationship between the board of GM and its CEO at the time, Roger Smith, because he was trying to take over the company. “Is the board a rubber stamp for Roger?” Perot asked. “Hell, no!” he said, answering his own question. “We’d have to upgrade it to be a rubber stamp.” The victims of these corporate hijackings are everywhere. Executives fleece both shareholders and workers, paying themselves enormous salaries that bear no relationship to the work that they do, and dipping into company funds to finance political candidates who side with them against the interests of both shareholders and workers (many shareholders are of course workers themselves). Germany faced this very problem before the rise of Hitler and has some interesting lessons to offer. The stock market crash of 1929 had even more dire consequences for Germany than it did for the US. The German government had a budget deficit at the time, and it financed it by short-term loans from US banks. After the crash the banks could not
This article is reprinted with permission from Counter Punch (http://www.counterpunch. org/2011/10/25/curbing-oligopolies/) October 25, 2011.
renew the loans and the German government wanted to raise taxes. At first, German executives supported the policy because it would have balanced the budget. But when the Nazi executive of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (United Steelworks) Fritz Thyssens pointed out that forcing the government to cut its expenses would increase unemployment and weaken unions, they withdrew their support. The government then cut its expenditures and unemployment and suffering soared just as the executives hoped they would. Workers concluded that they had no choice but to vote for prolabor parties. But they were no match for the executives who used their corporate coffers to finance Hitler who promised to crush the unions. Whether a similar fate awaits the US is impossible to know, but the horrors of Hitler and his regime convinced even conservative Germans that the unchecked power of executives is incompatible with both prosperity and democracy. The consensus was that corporations should be forced to pay their workers decent wages that would nevertheless not jeopardize their financial health, and that they should also be prevented from meddling in politics... [Read this article in its entirety.]
The call to “occupy Wall Street” is a call to occupy corporations. But how do we actually do that? Here are three ways.
Moshe Adler teaches Urban Economics and Statistics in the CRP Program. He is the author of Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science That Makes Life Dismal (The New Press, 2010).
/5/
Volume 3/ Issue 2
David Seiter
An Excerpt from a Faculty Article
Profiles of Spontaneous Urban Plants
This article is reprinted with permission from UrbanOmnibus (http://urbanomnibus. net/2011/12/profiles-of-spontaneous-urbanplants/) December 7, 2011.
Although we tend to think of our cities as scape urbanism firm based in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Our concrete jungles, our post-new urban environment is studio seeks to make urban interventions that reveal awash in plant life. This becomes especially apparent the nuances of our urban landscape in subtle, poetic when you begin recognizing all the wild urban plants ways that provide clues to the complex ecology of citthat have taken root along roadsides and chain-link ies. Working out of a post-industrial neighborhood fences, between cracks of pavement, and within vacant replete with sidewalk cracks, remnant gravel vestiges lots, rubble dumps and highway medians. Spontane- and dead end streets, overgrown urban weeds are ubiqously propagating, these resilient plants find distinc- uitous in our daily experience. tive niches to thrive in and inhabit our most derelict In colloquial terms, of course, these plants landscapes. The environmental are most commonly referred to benefits of these “weeds” go widely as “weeds,” but are also known as unrecognized when, in fact, this “invasive,” “alien” and “exotic.” often invisible urban ecology can Culturally, the prevailing usage offer a fresh perspective on how of “weeds” relegates these urban cities perform. plants to an inferior botanical cat With that in mind, we egory because humans did not staged an intervention to reveal the intentionally cultivate them at the overlooked nature of urban weeds particular site in which they have to the passerby: we painted rough, appeared. It is an understandable bright geometries onto the sidehuman reaction, as we have been walk along 3rd Street in Brooklyn, taught, generally, that things which outlining spots where spontaneous require little to no effort to grow, urban plants have made a home. create, or maintain are worth less. Using a typical street paint yellow, But competing perceptions of cerwe drew circles around particutain plants reflect the need to think larly important weeds that have differently about the stigma we Future Green Studio Illustration of Comemerged up through our sidewalks melina Communis (Asiatic Dayflower). Photo attach to these weeds. For example, and tree pits – essentially taking a courtesy of Urban Omnibus. Dandelion is perceived by suburhighlighter to the streetscape. Most ban homeowners as an omniprespeople walk by unaware, only to stop for a brief second ent lawn invader. But by children Dandelions are seen to consider why someone would be drawing attention as a thing to play with, and by urban foragers they’re to the weeds in the sidewalk. Sometimes, observant understood as food... [Read this article in its entirety.] urban wayfarers linger long enough to glimpse the inconspicuous museum placard identifying the plants name, origin and characteristics. David Seiter is founding principal of Future Green Studio “Profiles of Spontaneous Urban Plants” is a and teaches Productive and Performative Landscapes in the project conceived by Future Green Studio, our land- UESM Program. Volume 3/ Issue 2
/6/
Brad Lander and Michelle Conway
Alum Article
Planning by General Assembly? Building a New York City by and for the 99%
When activists first took over Zuccotti Park this fall, many of us wondered what impact the Occupy Wall Street movement would have on our city’s political climate. Would it disappear into popular memory as a loud but short-lived outcry against corporate greed, inequality, and nonresponsive government? Or would it become a longer-lasting force in city politics, affecting public policy decisions? A few months later, it seems clear that—at a minimum—the Occupy movement has transformed the national debate around growing inequality. Instead of a Tea Party focus on fiscal austerity, we are talking again about economic fairness, about progressive taxation, about holding banks accountable for the harm they did to homeowners, communities and the global economy. Occupy Wall Street also sent another message to policy makers, one that is especially relevant for planners: the 99 percent should have the power to make key decisions about the future. We need transparent, inclusive planning that not only directly addresses the city’s striking inequalities, but also that empowers community members to participate meaningfully in the process.
PSPD Students facilitate a Participatory Budgeting meeting for NYC’s 39th City Council District.
In NYC’s 39th Council District in Brooklyn, we are hard at work on two initiatives to address both of those objectives. Along with Council Members Melissa Mark-Viverito, Jumaane Williams, and Eric Ulrich, we launched “participatory budgeting”—an exciting new program that we believe has the power to renew New Yorkers’ faith in local government. Beginning with a series of neighborhood assemblies across the district in October, we’ve been amazed by the level of enthusiasm the process /7/
has inspired. Nearly 1,000 people contributed ideas—from subway station improvements, to new community spaces, to upgrades to local playgrounds. Constituents have told me they have never felt so engaged in the decisions being made about their neighborhood and they are hungry for more, to be involved in the decisions about transit, education, and policing in our neighborhoods. More than 100 district residents stepped up to serve on committees—to research and evaluate Volume 3/ Issue 2
Participatory Budgeting Events in the weeks to come.
these ideas, figure out which ones are feasible and how much they cost, and to select the projects that will appear on the participatory budgeting ballot. Some got involved because they are excited about one or two ideas that were proposed by their neighbors; others because they want to be part of this ambitious experiment in grassroots democracy. These “budget delegates” have been given the chance to make powerful decisions, and they are putting in the time and developing the expertise to use that power responsibly. Along the way, a few of them have documented their experience in some really compelling blog posts that you can check out at BradLander.com/PB. In addition to engaging the “99%” at the neighborhood level, we also need a broader planning process that is inclusive of all communities, and concerned with whether the outcomes of planning are fair. One area in desperate need of change in this regard is NYC’s soVolume 3/ Issue 2
called “fair-share” process for siting municipal facilities—including both “undesirable” (e.g. waste transfer stations) and “desirable” (e.g. parks) uses. It is no surprise, sadly (certainly not to students and practitioners of environmental justice), that the least desired, often environmentally harmful land uses are disproportionately found in lower-income communities of color—while desirable land uses like libraries are more likely to be placed in upper-income and white neighborhoods. We held the first oversight hearing on the fairshare rules in their 20 year history, filed extensive FOIL requests to gather fair-share statements from city agencies, and are preparing a report that will show how flaws in the law prevent agencies from being held accountable for their locational decisions. We will also make recommendations for policy changes so that the decision-making process for city facilities is more transparent, more inclusive, and— /8/
most important—more fair. Planning by and for the “99%” can channel the energy of the Occupy movement toward change in the decision-making processes that shape our city. It can give people the power to affect the future of their neighborhoods, and force us all to thoroughly examine and challenge the urban inequalities that have shaped our cities for far too long.
Brad Lander is a City Council Member representing the 39th District in Brooklyn and the former director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. He is an alum of the CRP Program and currently teaches housing policy at Brooklyn Law School. Michelle Conway is an intern in Mr. Lander’s office and a student at Columbia University majoring in Urban Studies.
Claire Nelischer
PSPD Graduate Student Article
Design-Based Learning in Brooklyn Progressive, communitybased planning approaches encourage planners to meaningfully engage communities, to solicit active participation in planning processes, and to inspire residents to plan for their own futures. But, despite these well-intentioned objectives, the position of “planneras-professional” perpetuates the disconnect between citizens and the planning process. This disconnect calls for creative solutions to equip communities with the tools necessary to investigate urban issues and formulate positive solutions. LA-based urban planner James Rojas’ tactile, design-based method for community visioning presents one such solution. Inspired by Doreen Nelson’s concept of “Design-Based Learning,” Rojas’ method seeks to democratize the practice of land use planning by translating its complex language and tools into activities that are visual, tactile and engaging. His workshops allow participants, working alone or in groups, to build small models of their community vision using thousands of small, colorful found objects. By stacking blocks, twisting pipe cleaners and balancing bottle caps, participants are able to visually express their emotions and experiences of place into a design that clearly communi-
12 and 13-year-olds designing their ideal city during a James Rojas workshop.
cates its meaning to viewers. Rojas’ method focuses on accessibility to people of all ages and experiences and equips ordinary people with the tools to build their own solutions to complex urban problems. On November 1st, the Pratt Center and PSPD welcomed James Rojas to Brooklyn to conduct two workshops based on his method. In the first workshop, hosted at IS 302 in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, a group of 12 and 13-year-olds participating in an after-school program were invited to play the role of the urban planner and to build their ideal city. Fully engaging with the materials, /9/
James Rojas. Photo Courtesy of Gilda Haas, Dr.Pop Blog.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Conceptual plan produced by students.
students built models that truly expressed their emotional connection to the built environment and incorporated personal experiences, memories and ideas. The students did not create replicas of real environments, but produced imaginative designs centered around experiences and interactions, inspired by the realities of their daily lives. The second workshop, preceded by a lecture on Rojas’ method, invited Pratt students, faculty and friends to create a collective city. Without any maps or guidelines, participants were free to let their imaginations and intuitions guide the design of their models. Working in larger groups, participants shared values, experiences and ideas while constructing and explaining their models. Some were idealized versions of urban realities, others were imaginative Volume 3/ Issue 2
Flier for the Place It! planning design workshop.
and other-worldly, but all models communicated a certain hopefulness for the future of our cities. In both workshops, it was
James Rojas will be visiting Pratt this summer to work with PSPD students on developing a new participatory planning game. incredible to see how readily participants engaged with the materials —reaching across tables, searching for pieces small and large, stacking blocks, and clustering objects. It was clear that this method is truly effective in breaking down the barriers of professionalism, allowing everyone to participate in the planning / 10 /
process in an instinctive, emotional and tactile manner. The resulting models, built responses to the urban issues presented, revealed the collective values, needs and ideas of the participants, and allowed these sentiments to be communicated and understood through design. Rojas’ method represents a positive solution to traditionally rigid and expert-led approaches to urban planning and is an inspiring example of how citizen participation can be fostered through creative engagement. For more information about the James Rojas workshop and the Urban Latino Forum. Claire Nelischer is a first-year CRP student. She is a Fellow at the Pratt Center working on the Arts, Culture and Sustainability Project, and also an intern at Fourth Arts Block.
Andrea Devening
PSPD Graduate Student
Fundamental Planning for
The Lower East Side The neighborhoods that comprise Manhattan’s Community District Three (CD3) —the Lower East Side, East Village, Two Bridges, and parts of Chinatown—hold a unique place in New York City history. Once home to many of the city’s immigrants upon their arrival in the 1840s and a vibrant commercial sector servicing the entire city, today the area is losing its cultural diversity to rampant gentrification and redevelopment. For the past thirty-five years, the Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) has been a central force in CD3 addressing these concerns through tireless advocacy and organizing efforts, direct services, and education surrounding the issues of tenants’ rights, affordable housing, retail diversity and unemployment. Under the leadership of Professors Mercedes Narciso, Juan Camilo Osorio and Ayse Yonder, the Fundamentals of Planning Studio had the opportunity to work with GOLES, providing an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to CD3 and formulating recommendations that address the group’s core concerns. CD3 contains the secondlargest public and subsidized housing district in Manhattan. This area
STUDIO: FALL 2011 Fundamentals of Planning Instructors: Mercedes Narciso, Juan Camilo Osorio, and Ayse Yonder
Conceptual Green Infrastructure Sketch of the Lower East Side.
also encompasses a large part of the East River Waterfront and serves as a major transportation nexus for NYC. Residents must contend with storm surges and other disaster risks associated with severe weather events and climate change as well as heightened air pollution and associated public health risks. On top of these overriding concerns, recently the residents of the public housing units and GOLES’ prime constituency have experienced a noticeable upsurge in the population of rats and a definite increase in sewage problems. Charged with these concerns and based on their analyses of existing conditions in CD3, the studio class developed nineteen objectives and a total of fifty recommendations. These are categorized into five focus areas including Disaster Risk and Environmental Justice; Public / 11 /
Health, Resiliency, Gentrification; Green Infrastructure; Green Jobs, Businesses, and Economic Development; and Public Health and Environmental Justice. A snapshot of the accompanying recommendations include developing a disaster preparedness network, creating a database showing expiration dates of building subsidies, advocating for an integrated greenway system, developing incubator kitchens in existing kitchen spaces, and promoting energy efficient heating. In formulating these recommendations, students reached out to relevant agencies, researched global case studies, observed street-side garbage conditions, filmed differentiation in daytime and nighttime commercial activity, and conducted a full land use survey of the area. While select students attended NYCHA meetVolume 3/ Issue 2
The Lower East Side contains high densities of residents living in inundation zones that are particularly vulnerable to storm surge and sealevel rise.
NY State Storm Surge ZonesMN-05
Cat 1: surge 6.1-10.5 ft, winds 74-95 mph Cat 2: surge 13-16.6 ft, winds 96-110 mph Cat 3: surge 14.8-25 ft, winds 111-130 mph Cat 4: surge 24.6-31.3 ft, winds 130+ mph MN-06
Utility/Transportation NYCHA/Subsidized Housing
Co Su n Ed Man b Statison atta ion Sta n Pum tion p
ston
ncey
dw Broa East
ry Cher
MN-01
FDR Drive
Dela
ue
Hou
Ave n
MN-02
D
Ave n
ue
MN-02
B
Firs t
Ave nu
e
Hurricane storm surge zones are based on NOAA's "Sea, Lake andOverland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH)" model predictions of sea level rise (surge height) associated with category 1 - 4 hurricanes.
St
Willia msb Bridg urg e
ay
nt of e rtme ag Depation Gar a Sanit
EAST RIVER
Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) - Sample Data MapPLUTO copyrighted by the New York City Department of City Planning. Sources: NYC Dept. of City Planning (DCP), 2010; NYC Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT), 2009.
Vulnerable Land Uses in CB3 0
500
1,000
2,000
3,000 Feet
In order to address many of GOLES’ concerns, Oscar Nunez created the above COOK Initiative as a potential marketing tool.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
/ 12 /
°
ings, the studio class as a whole received expert advice on combined sewage overflow concerns in NYC from Pratt faculty Kate Zidar of the Newtown Creek Alliance and learned firsthand about green infrastructure initiatives from alum Vlada Keniff of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. At the final presentation, GOLES representatives including Director Damaris Reyes expressed optimism about the potential implementation of many of the studio’s recommendations. At Ms. Reyes’ invitation, representatives from the studio class will present to the entire GOLES staff. The opportunity to work with an esteemed community-based agency such as GOLES has proven to be an invaluable one for the first-year students in the Fundamentals Studio, whose recommendations contain the real potential for creating a positive impact on CD3. [For access to the full report, feel free to contact Andrea Devening at adevenin@pratt.edu.] 302
302
Andrea Devening is a first-year CRP student with an interest in historic preservation and sustainability. She is a fellow at the Pratt Center for Community Development where she has been working on several projects related to food policy and economic development issues.
Jennifer Gardner
PSPD Graduate Student
Community Planning
INTENSIVE STUDIO: FALL 2011 Instructor: Ron Shiffman
in Mt. Morris, NY
In October 2011, a group of PSPD students traveled with Professor Ron Shiffman to the Village of Mt. Morris, in Livingston County, NY, for a five-day intensive course with the purpose of exchanging ideas about community engagement, economic development, and downtown revitalization. Set in the rich hills of the Genesee Valley in western New York, Mt. Morris (pop. 3,266) is a small town where decades of decline have left its Main Street empty and desolate. But a recent revival of interest and investment—stirred by former NYPD officer and DIY Red Hook real estate developer Greg O’Connell—is beginning to transform downtown and galvanize the community around planning and economic development strategies that will likely be the start of significant change. Main Street, Mt. Morris is four blocks long. By now, O’Connell owns most of it. O’Connell began buying buildings in Mt. Morris in 2007, when he “retired” to Livingston County from his real estate and development practice in Brooklyn. Known for projects like Red Hook’s Fairway Supermarket and residential development that recycled chunks of the West Side Highway, O’Connell has a reputation
PSPD Students meet with Mt. Morris community stakeholders.
for being something of a developer renegade. He greeted us with lunch and a slideshow at the Theatre 101, a community space and home to a local theater group, where our group later led a mini-visioning session with about 50 community members. The community meeting was both a precursor to the planning process we would later recommend, and to our own visit in Mt. Morris—a crash course in local issues: from the high property taxes and the loss of the younger population to other areas with more jobs, to the effects of state interstate construction and big-box retail on the area’s downtowns. / 13 /
On our first full day in Mt. Morris, we toured the county with O’Connell and Livingston Co. economic development officials, and met with business owners and other local government officials, many of whom, like O’Connell, were making major personal and financial commitments to reviving the towns that they love. An example is the Schmidt family, whose Star Theater in the neighboring town of Dansville has been lovingly restored by hand, and where first-run movies play on the single screen of the only locally owned movie theater in the area. We also learned that Mt. Morris and the county have both Volume 3/ Issue 2
PSPD students visit local Mt. Morris business owners to discuss downtown revitalization.
faced a number of challenges in the recent past: loss of local industry and agriculture, the opening of a prison, questions about how to handle immigration and undocumented workers, and a state DOT project that closed downtown through construction and a bypass. With O’Connell’s ongoing investment and curatorial approach to attracting and fostering new tenants and their businesses, there is a great deal of hope that the downtown will turn around for good. However, it became clear to our student group that long-lasting change could only come about through additional community involvement in a committed planning process and through the implementation of strategies that would extended into the region. Livingston County government, Chamber of Commerce, business associations in Mt. Morris and other downtowns, local schools and colleges like SUNY Geneseo, state parks and nature conservancies, and area service providers all Volume 3/ Issue 2
have an opportunity to connect. The village is at a turning point in terms of redevelopment and there is an opportunity to use existing resources to better connect the community. O’Connell has helped provide the impetus to create big community impacts through smallscale change, but revitalization downtown depends on developing and achieving goals for the broader community, and a parallel revival of the area’s economic base. In presentations to the community at the end of the visit, we offered our impressions, initial assessments, and some ideas and strategies for Mt. Morris that came from our experiences during our stay. Recommendations included concepts for improvements to the physical fabric of Main Street, ideas for building businesses on Main Street and developing value-added regional products, and connecting downtown Mt. Morris to the natural, historic and cultural resources that are nearby, but just out of / 14 /
reach. The presentations aimed to give the community a kind of toolkit to use in a continued planning process. Taken together, our strategies tried to take a holistic look at how Main Street, Mt. Morris could be an anchor for business and production as well as for a wealth of natural resources, and as a result better meet some of the needs of the community. While we as students took a great deal away from the five-day experience and hope we were able to offer a fresh perspective, five days isn’t a planning process. This spring semester, students from the fall course and others will revisit the Mt. Morris project, potentially providing ongoing support for a more comprehensive community visioning later this year. Jennifer Gardner is in her final semester of the CRP Program. Her thesis focuses on New York City’s small manufacturers and big industrial infrastructure. She is a Fellow at the Pratt Center for Community Development.
Krista Leahy
PSPD Graduate Student
Gowanus Works
STUDIO: FALL 2011 Instructors: Beth Bingham, Michael Haggerty, Laura Hansen, Ben Margolis, John Shaprio and Jaime Stein
Planning for Preservation
The fall 2011 Land Use Studio presented students with a unique opportunity to work with five instructors with expertise in economic development, environmental systems management, historic preservation, and urban design. Michael Haggerty, Laura Hansen, Ben Margolis, and Jaime Stein teamed-up with City & Regional Planning Chair John Shaprio and Gowanus Conceptual Map outlining the future development and preservation of the Gowanus Canal. EPA Community Advisory insight about community needs and change historically industrial parGroup member Beth Bingham to lead more than 20 students opinions surrounding development cels into residential parcels that from PSPD in the development of plans for the area. The end result, would accommodate much higher a plan for the Gowanus neighbor- a holistic plan, known simply as density than found in surrounding hood. The interdisciplinary team ‘Gowanus Works,’ was an alter- areas. Numerous plans for the area had a daunting task, as Gowanus is native to the numerous residen- have begun to reflect the proposed currently one of the most studied tial-centric plans currently being rezoning, and land speculation has pushed by eager developers. resulted in numerous vacant and areas in New York City. Students sought to offer underutilized parcels, while owners The 2010 designation of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund something different to the CAG and developers wait for the green Site by the US EPA led to the devel- and community of Gowanus and a light from DCP. Students, however, opment of a Community Advisory pushback against the 2007 Depart- found that despite what the City Group (CAG), a volunteer-based ment of City Planning (DCP) pro- and developers believed to be true, organization representing various posed rezoning of the northern the Gowanus neighborhood was stakeholders. The CAG acts as a portion of the Gowanus Canal alive and working. One of the few liaison between the EPA and the sat the center of the studio’s final remaining industrial areas in NYC, community during the whole of four goals and 20-plus recommen- the studio’s research showed that the Superfund cleanup, which could dations. Although currently pend- Gowanus houses over 8,100 jobs, last over 15 years. Volunteers from ing the superfund cleanup, the half of which are industrial or the CAG provided the studio with DCP proposed rezoning would manufacturing jobs that pay nearly / 15 /
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Photos from the Gowanus Works Final Presentation illustrating the multiple challenges and opportunities facing the area.
twice as much as retail jobs, with benefits. Recommendations to protect industry and jobs came in a variety of forms, some focused on utilizing the scrap metal yards and other manufacturing resources while promoting shared work and storage spaces to minimize costs; others focused more on job training and creating an incubator space to promote growth of small local businesses. Additionally, students chose to say “no” to as-of-right residential development and instead proposed planning regulations that allowed residential housing under very specific criteria and only after industrial and manufacturing uses were ruled out. Other planning tools were created to promote preservation and ownership of buildings in the area to maintain affordability
for producers, manufactures, and artists and to ensure a productive Gowanus, now and for the future. On-the-ground research and over 60 stakeholder interviews
age overflow (CSO), which would only worsen if the City moved forward with residential development. Due to the fact that residential units can consume and discharge upwards of one-third more water than industry on average, adding it quickly back into sewer pipes, the implementation of a watershed mandate was just and needed. The mandate would bring natural elements back to the Gowanus in order to manage stormwater runoff, including a redeveloped wetland at the 4th Street turning basin, much inline with the City’s Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Plan. Barging on the canal was a recommendation that sought to bridge environmental sustainability with economic development and increased neighborhood ties. Barg-
“A lot has been said about the Gowanus but many people seem to be unaware that there is a community living and creating here; that there are jobs here. We think Gowanus works but we also think it can work better.”
Volume 3/ Issue 2
also led to the recommendation of a Gowanus watershed-wide mandate that would require all future development to manage 100 percent of stormwater onsite. The canal has long been plagued by combined sew/ 16 /
Photos from the Gowanus Works Final Presentation illustrating the multiple challenges and opportunities facing the area.
ing would not only reduce the number of diesel trucks on the road, it would also require more communication between industry and local residents looking to use the canal for recreation. Sustaining the canal as a multifunctional waterway has been shot down in the past, however the idea that improved communication between all members of Gowanus based on the canal itself struck a cord with students, who saw the canal as a connector for the neighborhood, not a divider. The development of an environmental research lab and a community center were envisioned as a means to bring the talents of Gowanus together. GowanusLab and GowanusCENTER would strive to connect environmental education and apprenticeships to local industry. The two facilities would also aim to increase synergy between artists, production and remediation efforts. This set up would enable local industry and
manufacturing to move towards a more environmentally sound future with the help of local residents; it would also debunk the claim that only residential development can guarantee a clean canal and a successful future for the neighborhood. Health information for the Gowanus neighborhood was scant and plans to collect this data were collecting dust. As a result, a recommendation to create a community health-monitoring coalition was put forward. Using already existing community ties and the work of the CAG, the coalition would develop health guidelines. These guidelines would be used to help educate community members about health and environmental laws in order to put the Gowanus back into the hands of the people who live and work there. While the recommendations addressed a broad-range of issues, three main objectives were clear throughout the 16 weeks: maintain / 17 /
affordability for industry and current residents, ensure the preservation and empowerment of a neighborhood that helped build brownstone Brooklyn, and create an environment that is not only healthy for those who live and work in the area but is also resilient against future environmental degradation. The studio’s final report has taken other planning efforts to the next level by addressing issues of equity throughout the recommendations and simply highlighting that much of what the City is planning for in other areas already exists and is working in Gowanus.
Krista Leahy is in her final semester of the CRP Program. Her thesis focuses on stormwater management solutions and she currently interns at the NYC Department of Transportation. Volume 3/ Issue 2
Cara Stampp
PSPD Graduate Student
Giving a Voice to the Voiceless The concept of planning is not one-dimensional. It must incorporate a series of carefully planned steps that are carried out to accomplish desired goals. Planning is multifaceted. It requires you to look not just at the physical structures and design, but also at the social, economic, environmental and political structures as well. Ron Shiffman says it best—you build a community by an organized people, not with structures. In the fall of 2011 students were given the tremendous opportunity to work with and support the residents of the Gowanus, Wyckoff, Warren Street and Atlantic Terminal public housing communities in Brooklyn. These communities are, and will be, affected by the construction of the much talked about and controversial Forest City Ratner Atlantic Yards Development project, which includes the massive Barclays Center Arena that will house the New Jersey Nets, in Downtown Brooklyn. The studio consisted of PSPD graduate students and was led by professors Eddie Bautista, Stuart Pertz and Ron Shiffman, who led the class with a vast and invaluable knowledge of environmental, social, political and economic advocacy. Citizen participation is a Volume 3/ Issue 2
STUDIO: FALL 2011 Instructors: Eddie Bautista, Stuart Pertz and Ron Shiffman
PSPD Students facilitate a workshop with community residents to understand the community needs and concerns.
vital factor in the city planning process. All the stakeholders must be aware and have a say in the actions that will affect the place in which they live and work. The idea of citizen participation is good for us all and is the cornerstone of American democracy. I believe that it is the fundamental right of every citizen to demand equal treatment in his or her society. In most situations the client would ask to be helped, however in this situation the professors and the students where tasked with engaging community residents as their client. At first, the clients were hesitant about meeting with the Pratt students. They had met this kind of concern before in the / 18 /
past and were disappointed. Yet we knew and our professors made it clear to the community that we are here for the long term. Our task was to go into the communities and listen to the concerns and issues of the residents and be a resource for them. We facilitated a visioning session asking community residents to come and voice not only their concerns, but also to identify assets in the community. Our ultimate goal was to help give a voice to those who may not have had one before. We were there not just to speak for the residents, but also to give them the tools they need to speak for themselves. The residents expressed their concerns with us
Rendering of the Barclay’s Center, Atlantic Yards Development.
and we not only offered to support, but also to provide them with the tools needed to have a sustainable resolution to their concerns. Access to quality healthcare is a human right and for the poor and disfranchised among us it is an essential part of survival. The most important thing to a community is the mental and physical health of its residents. If the residents are healthy then the community is healthy. The loss of services in all of these communities was and still remains a major concern. The loss of much needed medical facilities that serve the elderly was a major issue, since these residents are not physically able to visit their doctor, and further affecting their health. After talking to the residents and visiting the communities it was clear and remains to be that there is a need for a health center. The studio continues to work with health advocates who support and promote resident’s health care rights, healthy eating habits and an overall focus on the healthy lifestyle of the community. For the most part economic development projects in urban areas, like the Atlantic Yards Devel-
opment have not helped the lowincome residents in the surrounding communities. Help would usually come in the form of housing subsidies. However, these economic developments should focus more on the creation of businesses and jobs for the residents of these urban communities. Some of the residents in public housing have the opinion that the ultimate goal of these economic development projects is to price out the long-standing residents to create room for gentrification. Developers receive incentives and subsidizes that should really be called criminal. The City is cutting back on funding for programs in these housing communities leaving people in need out in the cold while giving economic developers the world—with millions of dollars in their pockets. Neighborhood investment in job training and job creation is essential. Questions that need further consideration are: what would be the impacts of the development on the residents and the surrounding are?; what will the traffic and environmental impacts be on the residents?; will the development lead to the gentrification of the community?; and will resi/ 19 /
Certain resident concerns are clear.
dents lose healthy food options to an increasing number of bars and restaurants in the community? Theory doesn’t always equal practice, however at Pratt theory must lead us to practice. Service to the community and the people who most need help is a cornerstone of the PSPD philosophy. We are now at the implementation stages; we continue to work with the residents in the community to put into practice what was once theory. We are currently working with resident volunteers in these communities to bring some of the ideas to reality. Some of the recommendations that stood out to us were the interaction between the youth and the seniors, working with health advocates to promote healthy lifestyles among the residents and engaging the youth. As Ron Shiffman says, “Planners should not only be interested in making plans, we should also be interested in making change.” Cara Stampp is a student in the CRP Program. She concentrates on community-based planning and hopes to return home to Jamaica to work on sustainable living and community development. Volume 3/ Issue 2
Krista Leahy and Jonathan Martin
PSPD Graduate Student and Faculty
Scandinavia by Design: An Urban Design Studio
For seven weeks last summer, Professor Jonathan Martin led six PSPD students and three students from other universities in New York and California in an urban design studio taught in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark. Hosted by the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), students visited world famous architecture and urban design sites that have inspired designers for decades. This was the first time that a significant number of students from PSPD had participated in the Denmark study abroad program, and also the first time the department was able to send one of its faculty members to conduct lectures and teach a studio. The program consisted of a Scandinavian design lecture course and an urban design studio. Studio work began with an analysis of precedent projects from planning, architecture and interior design students who worked together to research and analyze a significant Scandinavian building or urban public space. The students built a scale model of the building and made an informal presentation to faculty. These sites were then visited during study-tours throughout
the summer. The study tours took students to Oslo and Hamar in Norway, Sunne and Stockholm in Sweden, and Ebeltoft and Århus in western Denmark. The tours were used to not only advance student understanding of urban design principles and improve sketching and analytical techniques, but also to provide
Students also participated in a bike tour of Ørestad, a new and ongoing development area within the Copenhagen metropolitan area. All this learning was brought to bear in new design proposals for Nørrebro Square. Students presented their designs to a jury of Danish design professionals during three days of critiques. While all the projects were exceptional, Isabel Aguirre, a second-year CRP student, was awarded one of the three top architectural design awards given by DIS that summer among the 190 students who participated. The Copenhagen study abroad program was successful on many fronts and PSPD is offering students the opportunity to students the opportunity to experi- participate again this coming sumence a breadth of Scandinavian cul- mer. Students interested in studyture. ing in this exceptional program Final studio urban design in 2013 should contact Professor projects focused on a site in Nør- Martin at jmarti18@pratt.edu. rebro, a multicultural neighborhood in northwestern Copenhagen along the most heavily used bicy- PSPD participating students in the cle path in Europe. In preparation DIS Summer 2011 program: Iwona for their designs, students visited Alfred (CRP), Isabel Aguirre (CRP), Bo01, a world-renowned sustain- George Boueri (UESM), Michael able mixed-use waterfront redevel- Pedron (CRP), John Reclosado (CRP) opment project in Malmö, Sweden. and Michael Smith (UESM).
Isabel Aguirre, a second-year CRP student, was awarded one of the three top architectural design awards given by DIS that summer among the 190 students who participated.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
STUDIO ABROAD COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: SUMMER 2011 Instructor: Jonathan Martin
/ 20 /
Tr a C Center A
II
WALKWAYS
6
B
LIGHTING
A. CONNECTION
a
a
d
4 b
GREEN AREAS
b
5 g
c
CONTEXT Existing Elements Lyngsies Plads Adjacent public space. Nørrebro Parken 2 Former railroad track running through Nørrebro Nørrebro Station 3 Nørrebro district S-train ring line station. City Plans Loop City A Extended light rail system. New Metro Station B At Bendtsens Plads. TraC Project I TraC Center Hub of transportation andpublic activity, that connects the city through: II Mimersgade Shared Street Incorporation of integrated use of public space. III TraC Park Urban playground as a temporary use on adjacent site.
e
f
4 c
h
B. RESPONSE
1
2
5
2
The physical context around Nørrebro Station holds intrinsic urban potential. The site assigned for the Transportation and Community Center project is located on this strategic urban part of Copenhagen. The various existing and future elements analyzed below claim to be knitted through a people oriented space which would be able to work as a spatial magnet. The proposal creates joining axes that hold the program according to the preexistent functions and activities of the local population. Further, the urban design strategy aims to protect the user from vehicular traffic while generating multiple layers of activities.
I
B
LAYERS OF PUBLIC SPACE
1
“The shape of the Environment is a key determinant of social interaction” Richard Burdett
III
1 3
PROCESS DIAGRAM
A
Final Studio Project: TraC Center by Isabel Aguirre
f
SITTING
6 PLAZA
C. PROTECTION 1
2
Forum
b
Walkway
c
Terrace
d
Shops
e
Exhibition
f
Stage
g
Bathroom
h
Ticket Center
3
PROGRAM
4
Shops and stores
3
Bus Stop
4
Patio A, B and C
5
Bike parking
6
B
TraC a
A
D. SEPARATION
Connection to urban playground
BIKE PATHS AND RACKS
Bike lanes
E. COMMUNICATION
SITE S II T TANALYSIS E A AN NA AL LY YS S II S S S E A. MOVEMENT MOVEMENT MOVEMENT
bike bike bike path bike path bike crossing crossing bike
pedestrian pedestrian
cars cars
public public transportation transportation S.tog S.tog B5 bus bus B5
FUNCTION
B. FUNCTION FUNCTION
commercial commercial
mix use use mix
residential residential
utilities utilities
CLIMATE CLIMATE JJ
F F
M M
A A
M M
JJ
JJ
A A
S S
O O
N N
D D
17ºC 17ºC
TraC walkway
Exhibition area at TraC -1ºC -1ºC 3.72 m/s m/s 3.72
5.18 m/s m/s 5.18
number number of of days days with with rain rain 0/30 0/30
direction direction of of wind wind
temperature temperature 4:49 4:49
21:58 21:58
12/21 (10º) (10º) 12/21
3/21&9/21 (34º) (34º) 3/21&9/21
8:37 8:37
15:38 15:38
N N 6/21 (58º) (58º) 6/21
inclination at at zenit zenit inclination
sunset sunset
sunrise sunrise
3 4.5
3 9.5
Section A _ 1:200
4.5
Final Studio Project: The Culture House at Norrebro Station by Krista Leahy
isabel aguirre _ summer _ 11
Section B _ 1:200
9.5
(KNO 5VCVKQPGP
( VGZ
5+6'
0 TTGDTQ 5VCVKQP
/KOGT
$QTIOGUVGTXCPIGP
#
L UUWPFUXG
(TGFGTKM
DTQIC FG
FV
GP
EO OGVGTU
2N P U UG
0 TTG
0
T $ NOG (Q
#
/ 21 /
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Christopher Mahase
Letter from a PSPD Alum
Making Strides in Sustainability: A Letter from HPD Director of Sustainability
The Department for Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is responsible for most of the affordable housing that is produced in New York City. HPD is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the nation. At the end of FY 2011, more than 15,800 units of housing were financed by HPD and its development partners, which brings the total number of housing produced under the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to 124,510 affordable units. The recent Housing Vacancy Survey showed that from 2005 to 2008, gross housing costs (rent + utilities) rose by 4.2%, while contract rents rose by 1.6%. This data showed that the increase in utility costs were out pacing the increase in rents. In January 2011, HPD instituted a comprehensive green building policy aimed at providing deeper affordability in the housing the agency produces. All new construction and substantial rehabilitation funded by HPD is required to achieve the Enterprise Green Communities green building certification. In addition, all moderate rehabilitation are required to comply with the HPD Standard Specification, which was upgraded to produce more energy efficient housing. As the Director of Sustainability at HPD, I am responsible for all of the agency’s sustainability initiatives. I am a 2010 graduate of the Urban Environmental Systems Management program at Pratt. The program gave me a broad foundation in sustainability, while providing enough flexibility for me to pursue my
specific interest in building performance and energy efficiency. The program at Pratt in conjunction with my history at HPD enabled me to transition into this role at the beginning of 2011. My main function at HPD is to devise, implement and assess the agency’s green policies and initiatives. I have the opportunity to work across the various divisions at HPD to help reassess current functions and implement more sustainable practices. One aspect of the job I find engaging is working with the agency’s public and private partners. Effectively developing affordable housing in New York City requires strong public/private partnerships. It is an exciting time to be in the sustainability field in New York City. There is a visible push to tackle the sustainability issues of our time. PlaNYC 2030 is an ambitious attempt to address these issues in NYC. Legislation like the Greener Greater Buildings Plan is attempting to push the NYC market in a more sustainability direction. We have seen the rise of services to address the need created by the legislation. On HPD green buildings most architecture firms do not yet have the capacity to provide the needed energy consulting services. Typically specialized energy and engineering firms provide the required energy audits and energy modeling. In addition, projects often need support to go through the green certification process. To fill this need, most projects bring in specialized “green consultants” to facilitate the green
The program gave me a good broad based foundation in sustainability, while providing enough flexibility for me to pursue my specific interest in building performance and energy efficiency.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
/ 22 /
certification process. The greening of HPD’s development pipeline has and will continue to pose challenges. There is constant tension between the need to keep development cost under control, while providing more energy efficient and sustainable housing. There are great examples of this balance in some recent residential affordable buildings designed by inspired architects. While HPD has made some strides in a more sustainable direction, there is certainly much more to be done. The challenge for the agency is to continue in the direction of a more sustainable future, while dealing with the realities of shrinking budgets and reduced resources. Despite these hurdles it is a worthy endeavour and I am happy to have the opportunity to make a contribution.
Christopher Mahase is the Director of Sustainability at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and a recent graduate of the UESM Progam.
Letter from a PSPD Student Joseph Montebello The Construction Specifications Institute
Annual Convention
I am a student in the Construction Management program at Pratt Institute. Last month, I was given the opportunity to attend the CSI’s annual convention in Chicago. While there I met many interesting people, and was privileged to attend six education sessions, ranging from Forensic Evaluation Techniques for Masonry to The Challenges of High Performance Building Envelopes. The convention was not what I had expected. I expected to see more construction students like myself. What I found was many educated and informed professionals eager to share their knowledge about the construction industry. The convention turned out to be greater then I ever imagined. I’ve become familiar with the CSI over the past year, as they encourage students within the construction program to become members. Each month I receive the catalog, and read it on the train as I ride back and forth from school. Being in Chicago, fully involved with the members of CSI I realized its importance to the industry. The CSI is a place for students and professionals to come together to learn about the construction industry. Participating in the convention, speaking with professionals, / 23 /
listening to the lectures, and visiting the many booths at the show, gave me the unique opportunity to learn more about the industry and recognize just what makes it tick. Being inside McCormick Place accompanied by people with years of experience in designing and building, I felt very lucky. Although most of my peers know what the CSI is, I do not think they understand the importance of being involved at such a young age. I have realized that in building my construction knowledge, being around those with more experience then I have is extremely important to my development as it allows me to benefit from their experiences and mistakes. Going to the convention expanded my horizons and has made me realize how much opportunity exists within the industry today. Thank you to everyone who I met at the show, I had a wonderful time and I hope to see everyone next year in Phoenix!
Joseph Montebello is a Construction Management Program Student. This letter was published on the Construction Specifications Institute Website, 2011. Volume 3/ Issue 2
Lisa Brunie
Letter from a PSPD Alum
Water Infrastructure Planning In Grand Bois, Haiti
This Thanksgiving I traveled to Grand Bois, Haiti to volunteer with an organization called Serve Haiti. Serve Haiti has been providing health services to the community of Grad Bois for almost 10 years and is working to provide access to clean water, job skills training and education. Grand Bois is a rural region of approximately 65,000 residents, located just 40 miles from Port-auPrince. Although Grand Bois is not far in terms of distance, it is very removed from the chaos of the city. It is only accessible by a single, unpaved road around five hours from Port-au-Prince that leaves you holding your breath at every cliff ’s edge. The area is extremely remote and has little modern infrastructure, no sanitation system, a severe lack of access to employment, major water quality concerns, and extreme poverty. I traveled to Grand Bois to map the region’s watershed and water resources, focusing on surface water sources that could potentially provide a viable drinking water supply, very limited existing water infrastructure (much of which is in disrepair due to lack of maintenance), and existing well locations. In planning for this trip, I submitted a general proposal for a comVolume 3/ Issue 2
munity-based water management program and felt that mapping the water sources through a community mapping process would be the first step in understanding the watershed and the water related issues that the people of Grand Bois face. To my surprise, community mapping is the only way things are done in Grand Bois—one gains information about a local water source by asking the people that use it. In some ways, it was an amazing ethnographic experience and provided me with a better understanding of not only the present conditions, but / 24 /
also the people of Grand Bois. I am currently using the information to develop a usable map of the area and doing rough calculations around the supply available. With the help of another organization, I will soon begin testing the water sources that we mapped. This organization has the potential to provide essential engineering services including localized capture, distribution, and treatment systems.  This project was an important first step in the long-term project goal of providing Grand Bois with access to safe water and is just the beginning. Putting the area on the map, assessing the existing water sources, and understanding the people’s connection to them will hopefully help to make intelligent decisions for implementing water solutions in this area.
Lisa Brunie graduated from the UESM Program in May 2011 and is currently working as an Environmental Scientist at Hazen and Sawyer.
Photos were taken by Lisa Brunie on her trip to Grand Bois, Haiti. Her trip focused on developing a communitybased water management program.
/ 25 /
Volume 3/ Issue 2
PSPD Accomplishments Alumnus Michael Amabile was awarded one of the ten 2011-2012 German Chancellor Fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The fellowship is for practitioners from various fields who have subsequently gained work experience and have already shown outstanding leadership potential in their career. As a German Chancellor Fellow, Michael is working with the European Institute for Sustainable Transport to research how different planning and policy decisions encourage sustainable transportation and land-use through interviews and surveys in a number of cities throughout Germany and Northern Europe. Prior to the fellowship Michael worked for the New York City Department of Transportation’s division of planning and sustainability. Click LINK for more information on the German Chancellor Fellowship. In April 2011, Professors Eve Baron and Jonathan Martin, and CRP students Lacey Taubler and Alexis Rourk-Reyes presented a follow-up to the Fall 2010 East Harlem studio, titled The Semester Ends but the Community Challenges Do Not: A Legacy to Continue the Work in East Harlem, at the 2011 Erasing Boundaries Symposium at Hunter College. The resulting paper is now under consideration to be part of the symposium’s publication. The Waterfront Justice Project, spearheaded by Visiting Assistant Professors Eddie Bautista and Juan Camilo Osorio, Professor Emerita Eva Hanhardt, and student Nata-
Volume 3/ Issue 2
sha Dwyer will present at the 2012 National Training Conference on the Toxics Releasse Investory and Environmental Condition in Communities: Understanding the Past and Promoting a Sustainable Future in Washington DC on April 10-13. Click LINK for more information. Visiting Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Eddie Bautista, received the 2011 APA New York Metro Chapter Lawrence M. Orton Award for leadership in city and regional planning. At the Environmental Justice Alliance, Mr. Bautista organizes member groups to advocate for the empowerment and just treatment of environmentally overburdened neighborhoods. His recent successful campaigns include the reauthorization of New York State’s power plant siting law, a referendum amending the City Charter to include private infrastructure facilities on the City’s “Fair Share” map, and the inclusion of environmental justice provisions in the State Climate Action Plan. He is currently spearheading the group’s campaign to reform the NYC Waterfront Revitalization Program’s designation of Significant Maritime Industrial Areas, which currently encourage the clustering of polluting infrastructure and heavy industries in waterfront communities of color vulnerable to storm surges and sea level rise. Visiting Assistant Professor Carl/ 26 /
ton A. Brown was featured in The New York Times for the development of My Image Studios, a new 20,000 square foot cultural space at 40 West 116th Street. Brown teaches “green” real estate development in UESM and is currently helping develop PSPD’s real estate development courses. Click LINK to read article. Visiting Assistant Professor and Commissioner of NYC Department of Design and Construction, David Burney, received mention in The New York Times and New York Magazine for the Department of Design and Construction’s role in bringing qual-
ity and enlightened designs to NYC infrastructure. Engine 277, Bushwick. Photo: New York Magazine, Courtesy of NYCDDC and STV The work of Tyler Caruso, ’10 UESM, and Erik Facteau, ’10 UESM, gathering quantitative research on urban farms as green infrastructure was featured in Urban Omnibus. Click LINK to read article.
On January 18, Visiting Assistant Professor Carter Craft spoke at Expanding Public Access: A Panel Discussion of Goal #1 of the Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan at Cornell University. Presented by the APA Waterfront Committee the discussion focused on improving connectivity of the City’s waterfront, including active programming of our waterways and the creation of high-quality open spaces.
ning, Department of Ports and Trade and Department of Environmental Planning. She is one of the key people responsible for NYC’s first, comprehensive plan and land use regulatory regime for the waterfront. Her service is equally matched with non-profit and civic leadership in her involvement with the Community Service Society, Salvador Education Center on the Built Environment, ImagineNY, Municipal Art Society’s Planning Center, and NYCEJA.
On October 25, in conjunction with Celebrate Life, students from PSPD hosted an open discussion with the Pratt Institute student body about what New York City, or any built environment, might look like if it were actually for the 99%, rather than just the 1%. Students were encouraged to bring knowledge from their own disciplines and to consider their role in the development of and participation in the built environment. Different forms of communication were used— from chalk drawings in a physical built space, to pencil and paper, to photography and poetry.
Since 2000, Eva has been the moving force behind Pratt Institute’s leadership in sustainability. Eva was a founding member and served as coordinator for Sustainable Pratt, and was the institute’s Interim Sustainability Director. An inspiring professor to her students, she was also the re-creator and then Coordinator of UESM. The revitalized program was the first of its kind in NYC, and reflects Eva’s view that sustainability is equally about the environment, the economy and equity.
Visiting Assistant Professor Michael Haggerty spoke at the Urban Workshop Series entitled Participatory Planning and Informality in Indonesian Cities at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. The lecture centered around the legacy of decentralization in Indonesia and the impacts in municipal governments taking on the role for spatial and infrastructure planning. Professor Emerita Eva Hanhardt was awarded the 2011 APA New York Metro Chapter Paul Davidoff Award for leadership in housing and equal opportunity. Eva’s career spans the NYC Department of City Plan-
sor Elliott Maltby partnered with artist Mary Miss on an installation at The Noguchi Museum. Entitled R/ Call: If Only The City Could Talk, the installation is part of Civic Action: A Vision for Long Island City and was featured in Urban Omnibus. Professor William Menking spoke at the Austrian Cultural Form on a Sociopolitical Maps: A Participatory Public Discourse on the City, a panel discussion moderated by Visiting Professor Olympia Kazi of Van Alen Institute. Visiting Assistant Professor Gita Nandan was quoted on sustainable street lamp design in New York Magazine’s Fall Design Issue. Nandan wrote “The solar panels and the wind turbine on the PortaDyne-Lite each power a battery that allows the street lamp to operate at night, so it uses all the available resources. This is just
In February, NYC Council Member and Alumnus Brad Lander participated on the David G. Trager Public Policy Symposium. The full day symposium at the Brooklyn Law School focused on post zoning and alternative forms of public land use controls. In October, Adjunct Associate Profes-
Photo: Courtesy of Hybridyne-RHS Inc. Photo by from Urban Omnibus Bill Taylor, Courtesy of The Noguchi Museum / 27 /
another opportunity to fit green technology onto something we see every day.” Click LINK to read article.
Edward Re Jr., adjunct associate professor, was recognized by the Int. Facility Management Association of New York City with the organization’s Distinguished Educator Award at their annual Awards of Excellence Dinner on January 26 in Manhattan. Re is a Pratt alumnus (B.S. Construction Management ‘81; M.S. Facilities Management ‘97) and a principal at
In April 2011, PSPD presented ReConstruction: Rebuilding Dialogues, A Symposium on Diversity to discuss diversity issues in the curriculum, the classroom, and professional settings. The event featured workshops facilitated by the Urban Bush Women and Jovan Sage of the Audre Lorde Project, as well as participation by: Bed Stuy Farms, Center for Social Inclusion, Center for Urban Pedagogy, La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, Pratt Center for Community Development, Pearls of Wisdom and Super Interesting! Over 70 attendees enjoyed discussion and reflection, and talked about broad inclusion in Click LINK for more information. the fields of urban planning, sustainability, preservation and architecture.
Ron Shiffman co-presented a twopart panel at the Center for Architecture. Entitled Freedom of Assembly: Public Space Today the panel focused on issues brought to light by the forced evacuation of Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park. The panel also featured Pratt Almnus and Council Member Brad Lander among notables Rick Bell, Lance Jay Brown, Mindy Fullilove, Michael Kimmelman and Michael Sorkin. The panel has inspired a multi-authored volume, Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space, scheduled for release in August through New Village Press.
Out of 110 programs, Planetizen’s Urban Planning Graduate Program Directory ranked Pratt Institute 6th nationally of non-PhD graduate programs and ranked 22nd nationally by educators.
In Summer 2011, UESM premiered a new course, a green infrastructure design/build, focused on urban agriculture. Led by faculty Gita Nandan, Elliott Maltby and Tyler Caruso, students visited rooftop and community farms in Brooklyn and Queens, and used what they learned to generate ideas for a set of rooftop farms to serve the Bowery Mission, which has served homeless and hungry New Yorkers on the Lower East Side since 1894.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Con-Solid Contracting, Inc., where he specializes in large project management, corporate real estate, real estate investment trusts, facilities management, and real estate development.
Professor Ron Shiffman was appointed to an expert committee advising the Technical University of Vienna’s planning consulting team to the Sultanate of Oman on the Oman National Spatial Strategy.
/ 28 /
Mark Shavitz, ’11 CRP joint-degree program with Brooklyn Law School, had an article featured in City Limits. Co-authored with Marisa Jahn, the article, Green Cart Vendors Face Diet of Challenges, was a compendium of a six-month investigation of the City’s Green Cart program. Click LINK to read article.
Sabrina Terry, ’11 CRP, received the 2011 APA New York Metro Chapter Robert C. Weinberg Award. The honor is given to outstanding students at the four planning schools in New York City. Sabrina is currently a Policy and Transportation Justice Coordinator at UPROSE. Click LINK for more information.
Announcements Mentorship Program The APA New York Metro Chapter’s Young Planners Group (YPG) invites professional planners to participate in the third round of its Mentorship Program kicking off in early February 2012. The group is seeking both mentors and mentees interested in gaining valuable career advice, skill development, and networking opportunities. YPG will use a survey to pair participants with like interests and communication preferences, and will provide materials to help ensure the experience is professionally and personally rewarding for mentors and mentees alike. Professional planners of all experience levels are encouraged to participate. Interested mentors should have five or more years of professional planning experience while interested mentees should have less than four years of professional planning experience. This round of the program is open solely to professional planners who have already completed graduate school. For more information go to: http:// www.nyplanning.org/
in real estate practice. A proposal designed by Professor Daniel Hernandez (of Jonathan Rose Companies) and Professor Howard Albert (of the CM/FM Program) was presented for a program that will teach the for-profit foundation of real estate development, but also provide the opportunity for further study of green development, community and affordable housing, and/or preservation and adaptive reuse—issues that PSPD already addresses. The program will be referred to as Real Estate Practice as it will not be limited to development. The program will take a “triple-bottom line” approach to real estate development and start with intense study of four coursework areas in real estate—finance, development, investment and law. Students will then have the option of an inter-disciplinary set of courses that blend real estate development with one or a combination of concentrations, which draw upon other graduate programs at Pratt such as green development, community development, preservation and adaptive reuse, and construction and facilities management. Faculty PSPD Program in Real Estate and students will come together Practice with a commitment to exploring By Annie McQuillan and understanding the integration of Economics, Environment, The recent PSPD Faculty and Equity in real estate practice – Retreat included a roundtable dis- the Three Pillar Approach to Real cussion about the addition of a new Estate Practice. certificate and degree program There will be an option / 29 /
between earning a certificate in 15 credits (approximately one semester) or a Master of Science in 33 credits (approximately three semesters). It will be possible to pursue either of these options alone or in addition to another degree program at Pratt. The proposal met an overwhelmingly positive response by meeting attendees with a decision to go forward. There are still a series of approvals that the proposal must go through but if all goes well the new program in Real Estate Practice should be available in as little as two years. Green Week 2012 Cultural Perspectives on Sustainability A Panel Discussion exploring indigenous cultures and their perspectives on equity the economy and the environment. Location: Terian Design Center, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Campus Date: Friday, March 30th Time: 2 - 4pm Beginning Monday, March 26th, Green Week 2012 will consist of campus wide sustainability related events. As we celebrate the activities and initiatives taking place on campus we also aim to create a space for a global exchange of sustainability practice. Understanding that Pratt’s faculty, stuVolume 3/ Issue 2
dents, staff and their professional networks represent a diverse array of cultures and disciplines, professors form the schools of Architecture, Liberal Arts & Sciences and Fine Arts will collaboratively convene a panel of practitioners from North and South America, South Africa and Asia. Our intention is to begin a global dialogue surrounding environmental policy, science and design as well as issues of social and economic equity as experienced and practiced by diverse cultures. Through the panel we intend to engage faculty and students, Institute-wide, in a dialogue regarding what Pratt can share and learn on a global platform regarding sustainability issues. Infrastructural integration within the Andean and Atlantic Countries of Latin America and the emergent cultural paradigms, which represent conflicting views regarding environmental resources. Faculty Retreat PSPD held its third annual faculty retreat on January 20th at Pratt Manhattan. Professor Daniel Hernandez of Jonathan Rose Companies and Howard Albert (CM & FM) unveiled the new program in real estate practice. ESM Coordinator Jaime Stein led a meeting discussing the fledgling green infrastructure certificate program and recruitment. Professor David Burney led a roundtable about strengthening PSPD’s public realm pedagogy. CM Program Chair Harriet Markis discussed the forthcoming accreditation of the program.
Volume 3/ Issue 2
Alumni Spotlight Daniel Murphy (MSCRP, ’10) According to Daniel Murphy, to be a successful planning professional requires optimism, flexibility, and celebrating the small successes and also when to demand more. As the Executive Director of the Pitkin Avenue BID, Daniel’s day-to-day really brings these traits into a humbling perspective. One year ago, Daniel took the helm of the BID after working as the Brooklyn D.A.’s Community Coordinator and then for the planning firm Gedey-Nine Urban Planning, which gave him the opportunity to work on economic development projects in Park Slope and the Grand Army Plaza redevelopment plan. The charge for Pitkin Avenue, Daniel asserts, is to continue its uphill climb, reestablishing credibility with city agencies as life continues to improve from the 1980s. Daniel also knows it’s the community and dedicated business owners that will turn their community around, and with his Pratt planning skills grounding him, progress will be defined by its local impact. You can read more about the Pitkin Avenue BID and Daniel’s work in this January 14, 2012 New York Times article.
Daniel Murphy Executive Director of the Pitkin Ave. BID
vision? Water, our vital, precious resource, is one of the most sneaky (and leaky) to track. Vlada Kenniff in her capacity as Director of the Planning, Projections and Demand Management at NYC Department of Environmental Protection is currently leading the city’s water demand management strategy. Through her leadership, the city is developing a revenue neutral 5% water savings strategy, amounting to over 50 million gallons of water conservation a day! Her in-city water demand model uses GIS and other planning intelligence tools to track and understand water demand down to lot level. Last year, the city also adopted its Green Infrastructure Plan thanks to Vlada’s management of the plan’s development team. All of us New York City residents owe our fellow Pratt alum a debt of gratitude for pushing the Vlada Smorganof Kenniff city towards its greatest sustain(MSCRP, ’07) ability. Do you ever wonder how the City of New York manages to capture the gaps in their service pro-
/ 30 /
13 Ways to Give Back: Many of you have expressed interest in being more involved with Pratt and current Pratt students but are unsure how to do so. PPAA’s mission is to provide alumni with the opportunity to connect and give back to Pratt PSPD (Programs for Sustainable Planning & Development) planning community in ways that are sensitive to your time, busy lives and to your geography. Download our guide: 13 Ways to Give Back to walk you through three different tiers of opportunities to support current students in ways that you wanted to be supported while you were in school. You can simply give us an update or take on a mentor. The choice is yours, and we are here to help you.
ists and moderators for Pratt planning events relevant for both current students and alums. Do you know of a group/organization/ institution coming to New York City that should connect with planning students?
would be helpful to current students. Feel free to drop off books during regular office hours or leave them on the coffee table in the planning office on the weekend with a note indicating what they are for and whom they are from.
PPAA Newsletter Contribute to the PPAA newsletter. Let us know about job openings, upcoming events and exhibitions. Email us with your contributions at prattplanningalum@gmail.com.
Give a Financial Contribution For those of you who wish to contribute financially to the program, any level of contribution provides current students with a richer and more relevant graduate experience. By using this secure link you can contribute specifically to PSPD (as opposed to the Institute’s general fund). Please save this link to ensure any funds you so generously contribute now and in the future are directed to PSPD. Particular needs for the department include scholarship dollars and funds to support the professional development of current students to attend conference such as the annual APA National Conference and to travel outside of the NY Metro area for field trips. Again, ANY level of financial contribution ($10, $20, $50 . . . $500) provides current students with a richer and more relevant experience at one of the country’s most unique and innovative planning programs. Support our future planning generation today!
Attendance – a.k.a. Show Up! We love to have alumni attend the wealth of Pratt events offered throughout the year. Whether it’s a weekend workshop, speaker series, panel discussion, or social gathering, these events help establish connections between alumni and current students, faculty and alumni and the professionals in the field Contact Information of planning. The PSPD Spring Do you know any alumni who have Lecture Series is one such opportunot been receiving correspondence nity for those of you in NYC. Stay from Pratt? Please forward this up to date on the evolution of the email to them and ask them to share field of planning and network with their email addresses with us so we current students at the same time! can keep them in the loop. They can The PSPD Spring Lecture Series contact us at prattplanningalum@ is jammed with excellent speakers gmail.com and exciting topics covering environmental justice, climate change, Report Your Accomplishments Let us know what your accomplish- construction & management, and a ments have been, and expand your NYC development case study. professional network to your fellow Library Donations alums! We share your news in our Did you know that the planning monthly emails and in the biannual office has it’s own library of planPSPD newsletter. ning books? Donate your class text- Guest Critic books (which help to defray costs) Provide your expertise and helpful Suggestions/Connections Suggest an event, speakers, panel- or other planning publications that feedback during a final presentation
Level A
Level B
/ 31 /
Volume 3/ Issue 2
of a Pratt course. These are generally held three times a year at the end of each semester. Academic Papers and Presentations Would you like to be connected with alumni who are interested in proposing conference topics, academic paper proposals or magazine articles? We can connect you with like minded alumni who share this interest. Informational Interview A 30-60 minute informal interview at your work place or over the phone that allows current students to ask questions about your career trajectory and orientation with no pressure of an actual interview and no promise of employment. Office Tour Never underestimate the value of a quick tour of your office. Interested students will learn more about your work place and the type of projects that take place there, supporting them in their career development.
Level C Internship A formal internship of a length and level of participation of your choosing. The mission of an internship would be for your or someone in your office to serve as a mentor to a current student, allowing them to work on project in your offices and provide you with a deliverable at the end of the experience. The position could be paid or un-paid.
February. They are seeking both mentors and mentees interested in gaining valuable career advice, skill development, and networking opportunities. This year’s program they are taking a new approach to support only planning school alums rather than current students.
APA Mentorship The APA New York Metro Chapter’s Young Planners Group (YPG) invites professional planners to participate in the its annual Mentorship Program kicking off in every
Pratt PSPD Mentorship We are in the planning stages of developing a mentorship program for PSPD students and alumni that will not be dependent on geographic location. If you have had a
Volume 3/ Issue 2
/ 32 /
quality mentorship experience that you would like to replicate for others or even a poor experience that you would like to share, we want your input! Please contact us at prattplanningalum@gmail.com with your story/experience or suggestions. Please leave a phone number to contact you.