Sandy+10

SANDY+10 - Resilience, Equity, Climate Justice

New York
October 28, 2022

10 years ago, the global climate crisis gave New York a wake up call. 44 people died. Tens of thousands of people displaced. 17% of the city flooded. Over $18 Billion has been spent on federal, state, local, and philanthropic initiatives focused on recovery and resilience. What worked and what didn’t? Who has benefited and who has been left behind? What have we learned? This conference will create a space for reflection, collective learning and calls to action for a community of storm survivors, activists, practitioners, public servants, and academics whose life and work changed to meet the challenges of Hurricane Sandy recovery. The event will consist of:

  • Roundtable discussions with local leaders, policymakers, and activists, covering a range of topics including preparedness, emergency response, housing and infrastructure recovery, community resilience, long-term planning for climate change adaptation, and governance.
  • Side sessions and workshops on coastal resilience and adaptation efforts from around the New York region.
  • Celebration of local leaders who helped their communities through the storm, the trauma of recovery, and are reenvisioning the future of New York

This event is hosted by the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Columbia Climate School, Columbia World Projects, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Environmental Justice and Climate Just Cities Network, Resilient Cities Catalyst and the Red Hook Initiative. The event will be held at the Columbia Forum on 125th Street and Broadway. It is free and open to the public. 

Schedule and Room Assignments

PROGRAM AND SPEAKERS: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2022

8:00 Registration & Coffee 

8:30 Welcome, Objectives, and Introductions - Auditorium

  • Alex Halliday, Founding Dean, Columbia Climate School
  • Dan Zarrilli, Special Advisor for Climate and Sustainability, Columbia University
  • Wafaa El-Sadr, Director of Columbia World Projects
  • Thad Pawlowski, M.C. and Co-Director of Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes
  • Karen Blondel, Community Organizer, Public Housing Civic Organization

9:30 Voices of the Children of Sandy - Auditorium

  • Christina Torres, Ph.D candidate in the Science Education program at Teachers College
  • Keanu Arpels-Josiah
  • Ajani Stella
  • Helen Mancini
  • Darielle Samson
  • Sora Borisute
  • Devjani Paul

9:45 Move to breakout sessions

10:00 Roundtable 1: What caused Sandy? - Room 315

  • Adam Sobel, Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  • Michael Marrella, Director of Waterfront and Open Space Planning at the NYC Department of City Planning  
  • Eric Sanderson, Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society
  • Phil Orton, Research Associate Professor at Stevens Institute
  • Juan Camilo Osorio, City Planning Commission and Pratt Institute
  • Dariella Rodriguez, Director of Community Development at THE POINT 

10:00 Roundtable 2: Were we prepared? - Room 316

  • Jeff Schlegelmilch, Director for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School
  • Kelly McKinney, AVP, Emergency Management + Enterprise Resilience at NYU Langone
  • Heather Roiter, Assistant Commissioner at NYC Emergency Management
  • Tevina Willis, Community Organizing Manager at Red Hook Initiative

10:00 Roundtable 3: Where did displaced people go?

  • Tom Chandler, Deputy Director & Research Scientist at National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School
  • Cynthia Barton, Resilience and Response Professional at Hagerty Consulting
  • Ilya Azaroff, State Disaster Coordinator at AIA-NY and Director of Design at +LAB
  • Vivian Louie, Chief Housing Officer, Community Housing Innovations

10:00 Side Session: Displacement map for NYC (Rebuild by Design, Georgetown University) - Room 213

  • Amy Chester, Managing Director at Rebuild by Design
  • Molly Barth, GIS Analyst at Milliman
  • Sheila Foster, Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University

10:00  Side Session: Prioritizing the Public Realm in Climate Change Advocacy - Municipal Art Society - Auditorium

  • Genesis Abreu, Youth Environmental Leadership Manager at Futures Ignite
  • Amy E. Turner, Senior Fellow, Cities Climate Law Initiative at Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
  • Siobhan Watson, Deputy Director of Sustainability Programs at NYCHA
  • Thomas Devaney (Moderator), Senior Director of Land Use and Planning at the Municipal Art Society of New York

11:00 Roundtables Report Back - Auditorium

11:00 Side Session: Renewables Post-Sandy: Decarbonizing for a Just Future with Karp Strategies - Room 315

  • Karen Imas, Public Policy Manager at Attentive Energy (moderator)
  • Sarah Dougherty, Senior Consultant at Karp Strategies
  • Benjamin Baker, Managing Director at Greenbacker Capital
  • Daphany Rose Sanchez, Kinetic Communities Consulting
  • Dina Elkan, SolarOne

11:00 Side Session: NYC Adaptation Futures by Barnard College and Urban Systems Lab - Room 301

  • Timon McPhearson, Professor of Urban Ecology and Director of the Urban Systems Lab, The New School
  • Elizabeth Cook, Research Fellow at the Urban Systems Lab and Assistant Professor at Barnard College

11:00 Side Session: Flood Net - NYU, CUNY, and City of New York - Room 213

  • Tega Brain, Assistant Professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

11:00 Side Session: NYC Climate Resilience Plan Mapper with RPA - Room 301

  • Hilary Ho, Planning Intern, Energy and Environment at RPA

12:30 Side Session: Columbia Climate Action Collective - Listening Sessions - Room 316

12:30 Side Session: Superstorm Sandy Alumni (Lessons from Pratt Institute students supporting community resilience) - Room 301

  • Roxanne Earley, Executive Director at Hoboken Business Alliance and Pratt Institute Alumni
  • Helen Harman, MS Candidate in City & Regional Planning at Pratt Institute
  • Matea Kulusic, Senior Acquisitions Associate at CREA, LLC  and Pratt Institute Alumni
  • Leonel Lima Ponce, Academic Director of MSc. in Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt Institute
  • Delaney Morris, Planner II: Resilience and Waterfront at Boston Planning & Development Agency
  • Sarah Varghese, MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt Institute

12:30 Side Session: Columbia Climate Action Collective - Listening Sessions - Room 213

    1:30 Roundtable 4: How did communities respond? - Room 316

    • Malgosia Madajewicz, Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia Climate School
    • Donovan Finn, Assistant Professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stonybrook University

    1:30 Roundtable 5: What rules changed? - Room 301

    • Michael Burger, Executive Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Law  (moderator)
    • Howard Slatkin, Executive Director for Strategic Planning at NYC Department of City Planning
    • Deborah Morris, Adjunct Assistant Professor + Researcher at Columbia GSAPP
    • Seth Pinsky, Executive Director of the 92nd Street Y and former NYC EDC

    1:30 Roundtable 6: How did the government change? - Auditorium

    • Michael Berkowitz, Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst (moderator)
    • Kate Orff, Founding Principal of SCAPE, Professor at Columbia GSAPP, and Co-Director of CRCL
    • Judy Rodin, Author of The Resilience Dividend and former President of The Rockefeller Foundation
    • Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands

    1:30 Side Session: Strengthening Communities Together, NYC Emergency Management - Room 213

    • Moriah Washington, Director of Community Management at NYC Emergency Management Department

    2:30 Roundtables 4-6: Report Back - Auditorium

    2:30 Side Session: Alternative Energy Futures - University of Pennsylvania + One Architecture - Room 316

    • Nicholas Pevzner, Assistant Professor at Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania, 
    • Matthijs Bouw, One Architecture; Professor of Practice at Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania

    2:30 Side Session: Columbia Frontline Communities Project - Room 316

    • Jenna Davis, PhD candidate, Columbia GSAPP
    • Lidia Cano Pecharroman, PhD candidate, MIT DUSP
    • Hugo Sarmiento, Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP
    • Laurie Schoemen, Enterprise Community Partners

    2:30 Side Session: Shoreline Resiliency Project - Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery - Room 213

    3:30 Roundtable 7: Who recovered and who did not? - Room 316

    • Hugo Sarmiento, Assistant Professor at GSAPP (moderator)
    • Rachel Meltzer, Plimpton Associate Professor of Planning and Urban Economics at Harvard GSD
    • David Mazzuca, Lead Instructor at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness
    • Christie Peale, CEO & Executive Director at the Center for New York City Neighborhoods
    • Paul Lozito, Chief Strategy and Program Officer at Governor's Office of Storm Recovery
    • Laurie Schoemen, Enterprise Community Partners

    3:30 Roundtable 8: What challenges were faced - Room 301

    • Karen Blondel (moderator), LOEB Fellow and Founding and Executive Director at Public Housing Civic Association
    • Amy Chester, Managing Director at Rebuild by Design 
    • Joy Sinderbrand, Senior Vice President for Capital Programs at NYCHA
    • Alison Branco, Climate Adaptation Director at The Nature Conservancy
    • Elijah Hutchinson, former New York City Economic Development Corporation
    • Matthijs Bouw, One Architecture; Professor of Practice at Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania

    3:30 Roundtable 9: Are neighborhoods more resilient today - Auditorium

    • Paul Gallay, Senior Staff Associate, Center for Sustainable Urban Development (moderator)
    • Pamela Pettyjohn, Co-Founder and President of the Coney Island Beautification Project
    • Damaris Reyes, Executive Director at GOLES
    • Arif Ullah, Executive Director at South Bronx Unite
    • Melissa Miles, Executive Director ar NJ Environmental Justice Alliance
    • Kelly Vilar, Chief Executive Officer at Staten Island Urban Center

    3:30 Side Session: Interim Flood Protection Management with Emergency Management - Room 213

    • Yael Levine, NYCEM Mitigation Director

    4:30 Side Session: Youth at the Center - Teachers College, Center for Sustainable Future’s Storytelling Project - Room 316

    4:30 Side Session: Encounter at Farpoint (Futuring Workshop) - Room 301

    • Nancy Nowacek, Assistant Professor of Design at Stevens Institute of Technology and Artist & Designer

    4:30 Side Session: Congregant Shelter Charette - Collaborative Communities and AIA-NY - Room 213

    • Illya Azaroff, State Disaster Coordinator at AIA-NY and Director of Design at +LAB
    • Laura Clemons, Collaborative Communities

    4:30 Roundtables 7-9: Report Back with Elected Officials (Is the city prepared for what’s next?) - Auditorium

    • Kate Orff, Co-Director of Center 
    • Crystal Bergemann, Senior Director for Resilience, Council on Environmental Quality at the Whitehouse
    • Khaleel M. Anderson, New York State Assembly Member for District 31 (Rockaways)
    • Mark Levine, Borough President of Manhattan

    5:30 Closing - Auditorium

    For questions, please contact the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes at [email protected].