Power and Space
through Scales of Governance

Power and Space through Scales of Governance

Urban design requires traversing multiple scales of environmental, spatial, geographical, social, and cultural systems, including the decisions and regulations that shape these systems. Panelists will share their experiences navigating the numerous jurisdictions through and in which design operates. The challenges of scale in governance and shifting definitions of power will emerge through discussion.

Nans Voron, Associate, SCAPE Studio and Adjunct Professor, Columbia GSAPP
Claudia Herasme, Chief Urban Designer, Department of Urban Planning, NYC
Julianne Herskowitz, Vice President, Economic Development Corporation, NYC
moderated by Shin-pei Tsay

Nans Voron is an Urban Designer and Associate at SCAPE Studio. Drawing upon his prior training as an Architect, Nans brings his cross-disciplinary experience in the fields of urban design, architecture, and graphic design to urban projects of all scales. At SCAPE, he has led community engagement efforts for Living Breakwaters and led the design of SCAPE’s Venice Biennale Exhibition. He is currently managing the Chattahoochee River Greenway Study. Nans holds both a Bachelor and a Master of Architecture from the National Superior School of Architecture Paris-Val-de-Seine; he is a licensed Architect in France where he received the Tony Garnier Urban Design Award from the Academy of Architecture. Nans also holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University. At Columbia, he was awarded with the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, the school’s highest design award, for his project Might[Y] Spaces in Rio De Janeiro and won the GSAPP Prize for Excellence in the Urban Design Program. At Columbia, Nans held the position of adjunct professor for the Urban Design Program teaching both in the urban design studio and Reading New York Urbanisms.

Claudia Herasme is the Chief Urban Designer and Director of the Urban Design Division at New York City’s Department of City Planning. The Department of City Planning’s mission is to plan the future of the city of New York. One of the core values of the mission is a concern for the livability of New York City’s neighborhoods and quality of the urban design that shapes them. As the department works to advance comprehensive neighborhood planning and the review of land use applications, the urban design office is charged with providing a clear and consistent perspective and advocacy in all matters that will affect the public realm.

Julieanne Herskowitz is a Vice President at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she leads public-private planning and development projects for the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. In this capacity, she led the East New York Industrial Business Zone Plan, which led to over $16 million in new public investment being allocated to the industrial area. She recently oversaw the successful passage of a new comprehensive plan for the Garment Center to support fashion production and commercial office expansion in Midtown Manhattan. Ms. Herskowitz received her Master in City and Regional Planning with a Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. In 2014-2015, Ms. Herskowitz was selected as an urban and regional policy fellow of the United States German Marshall Fund, during which she traveled to London to research transportation infrastructure financing models and how they could help address New York City’s infrastructure funding gap.

Shin-pei Tsay is Founder and CEO of Make Public, a firm that specializes in social impact assessments of the public realm. Previously she served as executive director of Gehl Institute where she built the non-profit organization from the ground up; bridged design and planning with critical issues such as public health, criminal justice, and equity; and led the development of a new data standard for public life. A serial social entrepreneur, Shin-pei has served as deputy executive director at TransitCenter where she contributed to its establishment as a national philanthropy, and she founded and directed the Cities and Transportation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she led a project with Senator Bill Bradley and Secretary Tom Ridge to reform and fund the federal transportation program. Shin-pei’s past roles include Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, Chief Operating Officer of Project for Public Spaces, and founding member of ZGF Architects’ NYC office. She also worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop Internet strategies. Shin-pei is on the Board of ioby and Transportation Alternatives and is a Commissioner for the New York City Public Design Commission. Shin-pei holds an MSc in Cities, Space, and Society from London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA with distinction from the College of Arts and Science at Cornell University.

Free and open to the public.
Organized by the Urban Design program.