Urban Planning Newsletter
November 15, 2019
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Contributions or ideas for the newsletter can be submitted to Lorraine Liao. For jobs, internships, and fellowships, please refer to the career portal.
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Dean’s Lecture: Richard Sennett
“Climate change is going to force us to deal at this deep level with how we relate abundance and nature to the way we live. Nature is not fecund.”
-Richard Sennett
This year’s GSAPP Urban Planning Dean’s Lecture Series featured Richard Sennett, Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and a Senior Fellow of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University.
His talk, entitled Climate Change in Cities: A Problem in Urban Ethics, called upon a cultural change in “living with less” for meaningful solutions that could have wide scale impact if fully practiced by the majority of the population. Sennett also raised critical points about the high cost of technology centered solutions that is increasingly sought after by many developing countries today. Instead, he offered examples around the world that dealt with climate change issues in cities through adaptation and mitigation strategies of the built environment. One of the examples presented was the Koolseal Goo, a water based, titanium infused material that can be coated onto tarmac so that the streetscape can maintain a cool temperature and could mitigate climate change related issues such as the urban heat island effect. Ultimately, Sennett believes that a shift in cultural attitude so that a sustainable, eco-friendly diet and minimal consumer spending habits are practiced to “undo the notion of the cornucopia.”
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Alumna Anjali Signhvi Wins News and Documentary Emmy Award
Anjali Singhvi (M.S. UP'16) was part of the New York Times team that won a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the project “One Building, One Bomb: How Assad Gassed His Own People” in the category of Outstanding New Approaches: Current News. The project can be found here
“One Building, One Bomb” is the most definitive reconstruction of a chemical attack in Syria that killed dozens of civilians. Using exclusive analysis of visual evidence and a 3D reconstruction of the crime scene, the story cut through government denials to reveal how the attack took place and assign blame to the Syrian authorities. The video and graphics teams in the newsroom partnered with Forensic Architecture to produce the 3D version of the crime scene, and the investigative group Bellingcat who shared visual evidence.
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Student Update
Mariya Chekmarova (M.S. UP'20) had helped work on the 2nd edition of the NYC Planning - Geography of Jobs Report during her summer internship with the DCP (Department of City Planning). The report was recently published and can be found here
The report offers great insight to the regional jobs, housing, and transportation market of NYC.
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2019 UP Thanksgiving Potluck
Program Council is excited to host the annual Thanksgiving Potluck on Thursday, November 21 at 8pm. The event will take place in the UP lounge. Please RSVP via this form and be sure to sign up in the spreadsheet what you would like to bring to the potluck.
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APA Transportation Division: Student Paper Competition
The American Planning Association’s Transportation Planning Division (APA TPD) is seeking applications for its annual Student Paper Competition.
APA TPD seeks to reward graduate students for outstanding research papers of relevance to topical transportation planning issues.
Papers must have been written by a single author for a class in a PAB-accredited graduate planning program during the 2018 or 2019 calendar years. The program chair, a faculty member, or the APA liaison must nominate a paper by forwarding it to Catherine Duffy, AICP. Students may not nominate their own paper and doctoral students are not eligible for this award.
First prize award is $1,000, second prize award is $500.
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First-Year Student Spotlight
Haoran Zhang
Where are you from?
Tianjin, China
Where did you study for your undergraduate degree? What was your major?
Urban Design and Planning, Tianjin University
Do you have any professional experiences?
I’ve worked for around a year at an urban design and consulting company after undergraduate.
Why did you choose to study at Columbia University?
One of the best Urban Planning programs in the States, and the opportunity to explore the New York City
What is your interest within the urban planning field?
Resilience and Mapping
What’s your favorite city you’ve ever visited? and why?
San Francisco, CA. The food is quite good!
Where’s your favorite study spot in the city?
Butler Library
If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
Programming as a Data Scientist o((>ω< ))o
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Second Year Student Spotlight
Kate Galbo
Where are you from?
Philadelphia, PA
What and where did you study for your undergraduate?
Double Major in Environmental Analysis and Policy and International Relations, Boston University
Why did you choose to study at Columbia University?
I liked that the MSUP program had an emphasis on data analytics, something that is not prevalent in other urban planning programs. I also liked that the school allows you to take courses in other departments because I wanted the opportunity to take classes at the Earth Institute.
What has been your favorite urban planning class so far and why?
Sustainable Planning and Design. The class provided a comprehensive overview of sustainable planning and design techniques. Jonathan Martin is an excellent professor and is great at fostering lively discussions.
What is your interest within the urban planning field?
I am most interested in green infrastructure and ecosystem-based strategies for climate adaptation, as well as sustainability of the built environment.
What is one advice that you have for the first-years?
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s easy to take on every opportunity during your first year. Make sure you still have time for self care.
What is your favorite spot in New York City?
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Piers 1 and 3. The park has beautiful gardens with over 100 native species of plants and many hidden grassy areas to escape to.
Tell me something that most people don’t know about you.
I’m an avid hiker/mountain climber. Before moving to NY, I was trying to hike all 48 4,000 footers in the White Mountains. I’ve climbed mountains in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Iceland.
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Upcoming Events
“Compression: Steven Holl with Sanford Kwinter,” Tuesday, November 19, 192 Books, 192 Tenth Ave.
Compression is the fifth volume in the same format, all by Princeton Architectural Press, following Anchoring (1989), Interwinning (1996), House (2007), and Urbanism (2007). In it, Holl applies concepts from neuroscience, literature, social science, and philosophy to develop the idea of compression: the condensation of material and social forces to create meaningful and sustainable architecture. Steven Holl is founder and principal of Steven Holl Architects, with offices in New York and Beijing. Considered one of America’s preeminent architects. Sanford Kwinter is a Canadian architectural theorist, writer, and editor. More info
“The Megaprojects That Transformed New York,” Wednesday, November 20, Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave.
As a new generation of “Master Builders” transform our city at a breakneck pace, we take stock of the megaprojects that have shaped New York, from Rockefeller Center and Roosevelt Island to the newly-minted Hudson Yards. Distinguished urban historians Lizabeth Cohen, Daniel Okrent, and Samuel Zipp join urban planner Regina Myer to consider the complex legacies of NYC’s sprawling real estate projects, then and now. Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger moderates.
This program is part of Dr. Lizabeth Cohen’s tour for her new book, Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2019), which will be available for purchase and signing. More info
“Hindsight Conference: Urban Planning Through the Equity Lens,” Friday, December 6, New York City College of Technology, 285 Jay St, Brooklyn.
The Hindsight Conference is an all-day conference in New York City on urban planning through an equity lens. Hindsight Conference 2019 is themed Erasure, Remembrance, and Healing. The conference will consist of workshops, performances, panels, and a walking tour, all of which will challenge attendees to reflect upon how our narratives shape our built environment. For more information please email Hindsight Conference
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