CUNY Institute For Sustainable Cities

This talk looks at the challenge of the Sustainable Megacity through Sao Paulo’s experience as a city of 20 million people, with expansion that ranges from formal urban development to the informal context of huge slums. This work signalizes parameters for a city that is reinventing itself through eco-urbanism after the "expanding and exhausting" model of the 21st Century when the city grew by 27,000% in population and 40,000% in urban territory. Carlos Leite is an Architect and Urbanist with a Master and PhD in Urban Design from the University of Sao Paulo and a Postdoc from California Polytechnic University where he was Visiting Professor. He is Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo. He is releasing his first book: Cidades Sustentaveis, Cidades Inteligentes in Brazil (Bookman). He is principal at Stuchi & Leite Projetos:www.stuchileite.com

This program is the first in a series designed to increase awareness and dialogue between residents and stakeholders of New York City and other communities in the Hudson Watershed. Recording of a panel discussion held at Roosevelt House, NYC on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 - 1PM-5PM.

Session 4 Wed. April 28, 2010 Reviving the Estuary: Science, Politics, and Education Moderator: Dr. John Waldman, Queens College Speakers/Panelists Deborah A. Mans, Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper Christopher J. Collins, Executive Director, Solar One Cortney Worrall, Director of Programs, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance Murray Fisher, Urban Assembly New York Harbor School William Kornblum, Author, At Sea in the City: New York at the Water’s Edge In 1609, New York’s future waterfront was an arcadian shore of forests, wetlands, beaches, and sand bars, according to Eric Sanderson's book Mannahatta. That landscape is lost forever, but visions of a post-industrial, neo-natural waterfront are longstanding. In 1944, futurists Paul and Percival Goodman proposed that Manhattan "open out toward the water," lining its gritty waterfront with new parks. They were prescient: today the water’s edge of Manhattan is evolving from a "no-man's-land" into a "highly desirable zone of parks," in the words of writer Phillip Lopate. The newly designated "Manhattan Waterfront Greenway" is cobbled together from many bits and pieces like Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South, restored Harlem River parks, and tiny Stuyvesant Cove Park––each with its own chronicle of past and present struggles among property owners, community groups, developers, politicians, planners, lawyers, and other stakeholders. Elsewhere in the city, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Governors Island, the South Bronx Greenway, Pelham Bay South Waterfront Park, the Bronx River Greenway, and Gateway National Recreation Area are among many waterfront works in progress. The colloquium series will address selected topics and issues relating to what has been achieved and what remains to be done to continue the transformation of New York’s waterfronts.

Session 3 Wed. April 7, 2010 Seizing Opportunities: Waterfront Works in Progress Moderator: Dr. Melissa Checker, Queens College, CUNY Speakers/Panelists Robert Pirani, Regional Plan Association and Governors Island Alliance––Governors Island Kate Van Tassel, NYCEDC and Miquela Craytor, Sustainable South Bronx––South Bronx Greenway Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel, Four Freedoms Park Nancy Webster, Acting Executive-Director, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy Joshua Laird, Asst. Commissioner, NYC Parks and Recreation Background In 1609, New York’s future waterfront was an arcadian shore of forests, wetlands, beaches, and sand bars, according to Eric Sanderson's book Mannahatta. That landscape is lost forever, but visions of a post-industrial, neo-natural waterfront are longstanding. In 1944, futurists Paul and Percival Goodman proposed that Manhattan "open out toward the water," lining its gritty waterfront with new parks. They were prescient: today the water’s edge of Manhattan is evolving from a "no-man's-land" into a "highly desirable zone of parks," in the words of writer Phillip Lopate. The newly designated "Manhattan Waterfront Greenway" is cobbled together from many bits and pieces like Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South, restored Harlem River parks, and tiny Stuyvesant Cove Park––each with its own chronicle of past and present struggles among property owners, community groups, developers, politicians, planners, lawyers, and other stakeholders. Elsewhere in the city, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Governors Island, the South Bronx Greenway, Pelham Bay South Waterfront Park, the Bronx River Greenway, and Gateway National Recreation Area are among many waterfront works in progress. The colloquium series will address selected topics and issues relating to what has been achieved and what remains to be done to continue the transformation of New York’s waterfronts.

GreenHome NYC is pleased to announce their February 17 monthly forum, The Women of Green, at a location to be determined. In this 1.5 hour presentation, attendees will meet 12 women in the green field, established professionals who are trying and succeeding in changing the environmental movement. The presentation will be done in Pecha Kucha format, where each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds - giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to present. This is a forum for women (and maybe well-behaved men) to see the breadth of careers in the sustainable field that don’t involve what we like to call the green “bling” (ground source heat pumps, solar, wind, bamboo, green roofs, and the like). This will be held as the regular monthly forum meeting of GreenHomeNYC (www.greenhomenyc.org) an all- volunteer organization dedicated to helping people in the NYC region green their lives. It is being done in cooperation with Hunter’s CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities; Admission is free but attendees can make a tax-deductable contribution to GreenHomeNYC at the forum. The Women of Green Chris Benedict, Chris Benedict, RA: Doing more with Less Catherine Bobenhausen, Veridian Energy and Environmental: Greening Professionals Erica Brabon, Steven Winter Associates: Health and Safety Mary Brennan, Community Preservation Corporation: Green Lending Annie Chadwick, Clinton Community Garden: Community Gardening Sharon Griffith, NYSERDA: 30 + NYSERDA and Weatherization Maureen Mahle, Steven Winter Assoc.: Green Design and LEED Certification Ariella Maron, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services: Greening a Government Charlotte Mathews, The Related Companies: Big and Green Tatiana Morin, NYC Soil and Water Conservation District: The water we waste Lesley Patrick, Hunter CUNY ISC: Trees or Global Warming

Session 2 Wed. March 17, 2010: Waterfront Parks: Old, New, Green, Blue Moderator: Dr. Rutherford H. Platt Speakers/Panelists Amy Gavaris, Executive Vice President for the New York Restoration Project Dr. Vicky Gholson, Friends of Riverbank State Park Peter Mullan, Planning Director, Friends of The High Line Greenway Connie Fishman, Executive Director, Hudson River Park Trust Jeanne DuPont, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Queens In 1609, New York’s future waterfront was an arcadian shore of forests, wetlands, beaches, and sand bars, according to Eric Sanderson's book Mannahatta. That landscape is lost forever, but visions of a post-industrial, neo-natural waterfront are longstanding. In 1944, futurists Paul and Percival Goodman proposed that Manhattan "open out toward the water,” lining its gritty waterfront with new parks. They were prescient: today the water’s edge of Manhattan is evolving from a "no-man's-land" into a "highly desirable zone of parks," in the words of writer Phillip Lopate. The newly designated “Manhattan Waterfront Greenway” is cobbled together from many bits and pieces like Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South, restored Harlem River parks, and tiny Stuyvesant Cove Park––each with its own chronicle of past and present struggles among property owners, community groups, developers, politicians, planners, lawyers, and other stakeholders. Elsewhere in the city, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Governors Island, the South Bronx Greenway, Pelham Bay South Waterfront Park, the Bronx River Greenway, and Gateway National Recreation Area are among many waterfront works in progress. The colloquium series will address selected topics and issues relating to what has been achieved and what remains to be done to continue the transformation of New York’s waterfronts.

Session 1: Wed. Feb. 24, 2010: "Opening Out Towards the Water"– The Big Picture Moderator: Dr. William Solecki, Director, CISC Speakers/Panelists Dr. Rutherford H. Platt, Senior Fellow, CISC Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association Linda Cox, Executive Director, Bronx River Alliance Wilbur L. Woods, Director, Waterfront and Open Space Planning, New York City Department of City Planning Roland Lewis, CEO, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance In 1609, New York’s future waterfront was an arcadian shore of forests, wetlands, beaches, and sand bars, according to Eric Sanderson's book Mannahatta. That landscape is lost forever, but visions of a post-industrial, neo-natural waterfront are longstanding. In 1944, futurists Paul and Percival Goodman proposed that Manhattan "open out toward the water,” lining its gritty waterfront with new parks. They were prescient: today the water’s edge of Manhattan is evolving from a "no-man's-land" into a "highly desirable zone of parks," in the words of writer Phillip Lopate. The newly designated “Manhattan Waterfront Greenway” is cobbled together from many bits and pieces like Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South, restored Harlem River parks, and tiny Stuyvesant Cove Park––each with its own chronicle of past and present struggles among property owners, community groups, developers, politicians, planners, lawyers, and other stakeholders. Elsewhere in the city, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Governors Island, the South Bronx Greenway, Pelham Bay South Waterfront Park, the Bronx River Greenway, and Gateway National Recreation Area are among many waterfront works in progress.

Martin V. Melosi is Distinguished University Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History at the University of Houston. He was born in San Jose, California, and received his PhD in History at the University of Texas in Austin. His primary fields of study are environmental history, urban history, and the history of energy. He is the author or editor of sixteen books and more than 80 articles and book chapters, including the award-winning The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present (2000, 2008). In April/May, 2008, he was visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. In 2000-01 he held the Fulbright Chair in American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, and also has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Paris, University of Helsinki, Tampere Technological University, Peking University, and Shanghai University. In 2005 he was awarded the Ester Farfel Award at the University of Houston in recognition of career achievement in research, teaching, and scholarship. He has been president of the American Society for Environmental History, the Urban History Association, the Public Works Historical Society, and the National Council on Public History.

Dr. William Solecki's research focuses on the urban environmental change and urban land use and suburbanization. Solecki is the Director of the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and a professor in the Department of Geography at Hunter College, CUNY. He has served on several U.S. National Research Council committees including the Special Committee on Problems in the Environment (SCOPE). He currently is a member of the International Geographical Union (IGU) Megacity Study Group and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP), Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Scientific Steering Committee. He currently serves (has served) as the co-leader of several climate impacts and land use studies both statewide and in the New York metropolitan region, including the New York City Panel on Climate Change, the Statewide Integrated Assessment for Effective Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (ClimAID) project, and the Metropolitan East Coast Assessment of Impacts of Potential Climate Variability and Change. He holds in degrees in Geography from Columbia University (BA) and Rutgers University (MA, Ph.D).

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig is a Senior Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies where she heads the Climate Impacts Group. She has organized and led large-scale interdisciplinary regional, national, and international studies of climate change impacts and adaptation. She is a co-chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the Mayor advising the city on adaptation for its critical infrastructure. She has co-led the Metropolitan East Coast Regional Assessment of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, sponsored by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. She is a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report observed changes chapter, and served on the IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenarios for Impact and Climate Assessment. Dr. Rosenzweig's research involves the development of interdisciplinary methodologies to assess the potential impacts of and adaptations to global environmental change. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she joins impact models with climate models to predict future outcomes of both land-based and urban systems under altered climate conditions. She is a Professor at Barnard College and a Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia Earth Institute.

Owen Gutfreund is an Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College. Previously, he was on the faculty at Columbia University, where he taught urban history, urban planning, and international affairs, and served for many years as Director of the joint Barnard-Columbia Urban Studies Program. A specialist in urban history, Owen has published Twentieth Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape (Oxford University Press, 2004), and was one of the authors of Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York (W.W. Norton, 2007). He is an Associate Editor of the forthcoming 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of New York City, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Urban History. He is currently working on Cities Take Flight: Airports, Aviation, and Modern American Urbanism, a book about the impact of airports and air travel on American cities. Before earning his doctorate, Professor Gutfreund was a Vice President at the investment banking firm Lazard Freres & Company, where he worked in public finance, assisting states, cities, and government agencies in financing infrastructure projects. Professor Gutfreund’s areas of specialization, besides general American urban history, include transportation policy, suburbanization, sustainable development, sprawl, public finance, and comparative urbanization. He is a widely acknowledged expert on urban issues, and has appeared on PBS and NPR, in the New York Times and in other major media outlets. He has been invited to speak at Middlebury College, NYU, Columbia, University of Delaware, Ohio State University, the Municipal Arts Society, the Center for Architecture, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the New America Foundation. He has also presented his research to a wide range of academic groups, including keynote addresses to the Conference on the Small City and to the International Forum on Metropolitan Development (in Shanghai), and has been a plenary speaker for the Urban History Association.

Eric A. Goldstein is a senior attorney and New York City Environment Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. ("NRDC"), a national, non-profit environmental organization. At NRDC, he has worked for more than twenty-five years exclusively on urban environmental issues, including air pollution, solid waste, drinking water and environmental justice. He gained nationwide attention in the early 1980's for spearheading the public campaign to reduce levels of toxic lead in gasoline. Over the past two decades, he has been intimately involved with public policy efforts to protect the New York drinking water supply via pollution prevention and watershed protection. Mr. Goldstein is co-author of award winning New York Environment Book and has written numerous studies and articles on urban environmental issues. In addition to his work at NRDC, he co-teaches the Environmental Law Clinic at New York University School of Law.

Rutherford H. Platt is Professor of Geography Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and also is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Cities, City University of New York (CUNY). He directs the Ecological Cities Project, a program of research and outreach based in Northampton, Massachusetts (www.humanemetropolis.org). Dr. Platt holds a B.A. in political science from Yale and both a J.D. (law) and Ph.D. (geography) from the University of Chicago. He specializes in public policy concerning urban land and water resources. He is author/editor of many publications on cities, nature, and people, most recently: The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City and a companion DVD (University of Massachusetts Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2006). In 2002, he was honored as a Lifetime National Associate of The National Academies and he is listed in Who’s Who in America.

Betsy McCully is the author of City at the Water’s Edge: A Natural History of New York (Rutgers University Press, 2007). Spanning a billion years, the book offers a “deep time” perspective on New York, casting the city as a human habitat in the Lower Hudson Bioregion—a place shaped by powerful natural forces over eons and a place more recently reshaped by human hands. Her new book (now under contract with Rutgers UP) treats the environmental history of New York since colonial times, with particular focus on how New Yorkers have not only reshaped the city’s topography to accommodate their city, but also tried to address pressing environmental problems even as they were creating them (under contract with Rutgers UP). McCully began researching both books twenty years ago, and has amassed a wealth of materials drawn from libraries, archives, interviews, and years of “walking the terrain” of New York. She has given numerous talks on New York’s fascinating and complex natural and environmental history. An Associate Professor of English at Kingsborough Community College/CUNY, she coordinates an annual Eco-Festival, which won the 2008 CUNY Sustainability Award. She also maintains an educational website, www.NewYorkNature.net. When she is not writing, lecturing, or teaching, Betsy finds time to go birdwatching with her husband in the environs of New York City and beyond.

Rohit T. Aggarwala is Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability. This office was charged with the creation of PlaNYC A Greener, Greater New York, a comprehensive sustainability plan consisting of 127 separate initiatives to green New York City. Dr. Aggarwala is now charged with implementing the plan and supporting other efforts related to the sustainability of New York City. Under his leadership the City has begun implementing over 90% of the 127 initiatives in PlaNYC, including regulations to make the City’s taxicabs and black car fleets clean, planting a million trees throughout the five boroughs and overseeing the investment of $80 million a year to reduce City government’s greenhouse gas emissions. A native of Manhattan, NY, Dr. Aggarwala holds BA, MBA, and PhD degrees from Columbia University, as well as a Master’s from Queens University in Ontario. Prior to joining the Bloomberg administration for the City, Aggarwala was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. During the Clinton Administration, he worked at the Federal Railroad Administration. Aggarwala is also the author of several articles on transportation policy and on the history of New York City.

Robert Pirani is Regional Plan Association's Director of Environmental Programs and Executive Director of the Governors Island Alliance. His responsibilities include developing and directing programs in parks and open space advocacy, land use management, water quality protection, and recycling and waste prevention. The nation's oldest regional planning organization, Regional Plan Association has worked since 1929 to improve the quality of life in the 31-county, 13,000 square mile New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan area. On the basis of professional research, the Association recommends policy improvements, fosters cooperation among various government and private organizations, and involves the public in considering and shaping its own future. The Governors Island Alliance is a coalition of civic, environmental, and preservation organizations working to celebrate the Island’s rich history, create memorable parks and public spaces, and ensure appropriate reuse of the Island and its historic structures. Before coming to RPA in 1986, Mr. Pirani worked as a county planner in western Massachusetts and for several national and regional environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Connecticut River Watershed Council, and the National Audubon Society. Mr. Pirani holds a Master's Degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from Hampshire College.

Saturday, September 5 Prof. Bill Solecki, Hunter College "Environmental Town Hall" Join Professor Bill Solecki, Director of the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, in a moderated town hall for all New York City residents to discuss environmental issues that affect every borough and neighborhood of our great city.

Saturday, August 29 Jeremy Friedman, NYU Sustainability Task Force "Green NYU, Green City, Green World" Learn how NYU is greening their campus and office space and how the exciting changes made there can be made everywhere.

Saturday, August 15 Bilen Berhanu, Green Thumb NY "Gardening in the City? Of Course! Window Box and Container Gardening 101" Want to eat from your own garden, but think you don't have enough space? Learn the design elements for a good container or window box—the perfect solution when you're short on growing space—as well as soil mixtures that work well, and tips for planting and maintaining containers all year.

Saturday, August 1 Dan Miner, Chair of Sierra Club New York City "Easy Ways Everyone Can Green Their Workplace" Since we spend a majority of our time in our workplace, wouldn't it be nice if it was not only a little more earth friendly, but also healthier and more people friendly? Learn why workplace greening is critical—even the smallest steps count—and how to do it for yourself and your workplace.

Saturday, July 25 Andy Padian, Community Preservation Corp. "How To Curb Catastrophic Waste in Your Home, Condo, Co-op, or Multi-Family Building" Learn 10 things that you can do in your apartment, building, and office to dramatically reduce energy waste and make your cash flow increase. Money is the real green!

Saturday, July 18 Dylan Gauthier, Stephan vonMuehlen, Ben Cohen: Mare Liberium & TheFreeSeas.org "How To Build a Boat From Recycled Materials in a Day" Join us as we build a true water-ready 15-foot boat from scratch in an afternoon—made from discarded plywood!—and learn how you can build one yourself.

Saturday, July 11 Carey Pulverman, Lower East Side Ecology Center "Composting in the City? Yes We Can!" The average New York City household discards two pounds of organic waste each day—more than a million tons of organic material a year! Composting is one of the most direct, accessible ways to reduce the amount of garbage you produce and we’ll even teach you how you can do it in your apartment!

Manhattan's 26-mile shoreline--long dominated by ports, power plants, waste facilities, and highways--is evolving into a chain of parks, greenways, and bike lanes. Join us in discussing what the rivers were in these vast transformations as we envision the future of this maritime counterpart to Central Park.

Senator Liz Krueger represents the east side of Manhattan (the 26th District) in the NYS Senate. She is a strong advocate for tenants' rights, affordable housing, improved access to health care and social services, more open government and campaign finance reform, and more equitable funding for public education, including higher education. She has dedicated her career to issues relating to poverty and she is a nationally recognized expert on the problems of hunger, homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, healthcare, and job training. She was one of just 5 legislators to receive a perfect score from the Drum Major Institute regarding legislation that affects middle-class families. A graduate of Northwestern University, with a Bachelors degree in Social Policy and Human Development, Senator Krueger also holds a Masters degree from the University of Chicago's Harris Graduate School of Public Policy. Senator Krueger lives on the East Side of Manhattan with her husband, Dr. John E. Seley, a professor of Urban Planning and Geography at The CUNY Graduate Center.

Joni Seager is the Chair of the Department of Geography at Hunter College and has joined the Hunter community just this year. We are very happy and lucky to have her here. Her research interests include feminist environmentalism, environmental costs of militaries and militarism, and international environmental policy. She has written extensively on varying topics of feminist geographies, ranging from reproductive rights to “natural” disasters. Joni will be the solo presenter for this session but will be taking time for Q and A at the end.

Tess Barton is the Program Manager for Community Energy, Inc. She specifically manages marketing efforts for Community Energy's Green Power Programs in NY State, such as the program with ConEdison Solutions. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Gettysburg College and is a neighbor to Hunter College.

Chris Neidl is the Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator at Solar 1 in Stuyvescant Cove Park here in New York City. He initially gained interest in renewable energy as a geography student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and has steadily increased his knowledge of and commitment to the subject through a number of volunteer and professional experiences. Before joining the Solar One Staff in March of 2005, Chris worked at the Solar Living Institute in California as an outreach intern, while receiving a hands-on education in photovoltaic installation. He is currently pursuing his MA at New York University’s Gallatin School.

Frank Buonaiuto is an assistant professor in the geography department at Hunter College. His major research interests include, oceanography, coastal processes, numerical modeling of waves, tides and sediment transport, and are apparent in his current projects including the Beach Monitoring Program, Storm Surge Prediction modeling and wave modeling and forecasts. He will be speaking following Ms. Breen and his presentation will certainly be linked to the following presentation on New York City and Climate Change vulnerabilities.

Laurie Reilly is the communications and special projects director for the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College. Ms. Reilly is also the Communications Director for the CUNY Sustainability Project and the author of multiple key sustainability documents. Ms. Reilly spent 18 years as a broadcaster and won five New York State Broadcaster's Awards as a writer, producer and anchor for providing in depth coverage on science, technology, health and politics on both television and radio.

Cathleen Breen is a staff member of the New York Public Interest Research Group. She is the Watershed Protection Coordinator and works for the implementation of the 1997 memo of agreement and federal filtration avoidance determinations. Essentially she spends her time working with varying groups of New Yorkers, with both upstate and downstate concerns about watershed protection. Ms. Breen will be speaking first in this session.

Bill Solecki is a professor in the department of Geography at Hunter College as well as the Director of the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities housed here at Hunter in the East Building. Bill’s research interests include urban environmental change and

Speaker:Stephen Pekar Description:What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.

Speaker:Nick Coch Description:What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.

Speaker:John Waldman Description:What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.

Speaker:George Hendrey Description:What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.

Speaker:Andy Revkin Description:What made the location of a city desirable in the past was certainly based on accessibility to water. It is no coincidence that most large cities are--or were--port cities. But today, this same proximity to water is perhaps a cause for concern. We certainly have seen the consequences of such urbanization during both the Tsunami and of course Katrina. But what is the real potential threat of rising tides to New York City? Join the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Queens College in welcoming Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, in discussion with a host of Queens College experts to discuss these important issues.