Community-Based Climate Change Resilience Planning, Strategies and Case Studies
April 11th, 2019
Q&A only
This session will feature presentations of ongoing projects that are focused on community-led climate change planning efforts in the Northeast. The presentation will include findings from a multi-year planning process in New York City focused on social equity outcomes in sustainable development projects (now in The Upper Manhatta(n) Project book), and a new partnership between the High School for Environmental Studies and several environmental organizations in which students are prototyping rapid local solutions for the flooding, heat, and other impacts of climate change.
Presenters:
Aurash Khawarzad is an Artist, Educator, and Urban Planner. He has been practicing in New York City since 2009. His work emphasizes the combination of art, scientific research, and democratic participation, in the process of urban redevelopment. Most recently he released The Upper Manhatta(n) Project book, a multi-disciplinary strategy for preparing NYC for climate change. He currently teaches urban planning at the Pratt Institute and College of Staten Island in New York City. You can see his work at www.aurashkhawarzad.com.
Sean Abbott-Klafter is a history teacher at the High School for Environmental Studies in New York City. He has taught in the NYC DOE for seven years. Before that he worked in adult education and labor organizing. He comes to climate change work as an educator eager to find a way to help his students engage with the climate crisis. This semester he is developing curriculum for and teaching a course for 9th grade students called Preparing NYC for Climate Change. The aim of the course is both to educate students about the local impacts of climate change and to support them in developing solutions aimed at either mitigating or adapting to these changes.
