Sandy+10: Resilient Future

Ten years after Hurricane Sandy, New York City and the greater region are slowly increasing their resliency to coastal storms and their impacts. However, as we’ve learned in the years since Sandy, we cannot just respond to the latest disaster. As the impacts of climate change accelerate and become more frequent and intense, we must adapt to multiple hazards at once—from coastal storms to extreme severe heat and extreme rainfall—and ensure the well-being of our most vulnerable residents. Looking beyond Sandy, planning for a resilient future requires that we place a greater focus on community voices over top-down planning, correct historic injustices of the past while investing in the future, and incorporate more nature-based approaches.

AIANY and Regional Plan Association invite you to join us as we consider a post-Sandy vision of resilience for New York City. As New York City develops its next plan for resilience and adaptation, how do we ensure that all voices are heard? How can we protect the most vulnerable and historically marginalized? What designs will bring us to this more resilient future? These questions and more will be answered at this forward-looking event.

Keynote:
Daphne Lundi, Deputy Director for Living Streets & Public Spaces, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice

Speakers:
Casey Peterson, Senior Project Manager, Hester Street
Lauren Wang, Director of Climate Programs, The Trust for Governors Island
Siobhan Watson, Deputy Director, Sustainability Programs, NYC Housing Authority

Moderator:
Andrea Lamberti, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, 2022 President, AIANY; Partner, Rafael Viñoly Architects

About the Speakers:
Daphne Lundi is the Deputy Director for Living Streets & Public Spaces at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ). Her work focuses on advancing transit equity and expanding open space and green infrastructure investments that improve the quality of life for New Yorkers while also delivering heat mitigation and stormwater management benefits. Prior to her time at MOCEJ, she was an urban planner at the NYC Department of City Planning, working on resilient land use and zoning policies for coastal communities in Brooklyn impacted by Hurricane Sandy and managing projects undergoing ULURP in southern and downtown Brooklyn.

Casey Peterson is an urban planner with project management experience focused on climate adaptation and resiliency, open space planning and advocacy, and affordable housing. Peterson’s work is grounded in the ability to grasp complex systems and chart a course that will lead to positive change. Before joining Hester Street, Peterson served as Deputy Director of Resiliency Planning and Acquisitions at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, where she managed a Hurricane Sandy recovery buyout program and worked to embed resilient design principles within HPD’s pipeline and processes. Earlier in her career, Peterson developed an open space plan for a South Bronx neighborhood for New York Restoration Project, contributed to reports on sustainable infrastructure at the Urban Land Institute, and interned with the NYC Department of City Planning, the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development, and Steven Winter Associates. Peterson earned a Master Degree in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Architectural Studies from Middlebury College.

Lauren Wang is Director of Climate Programs at the Trust for Governors Island, a new role to launch and lead the Living Laboratory project as part of the Center for Climate Solutions on Governors Island. In previous roles she has worked with partners in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to embed climate and environmental justice principles in New York City policy and programs and to deliver housing recovery, neighborhood planning, and real estate services to homeowners and renters affected by Hurricane Sandy. Wang teaches as an adjunct professor at The City College of New York. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Master Degree in City and Regional Planning from UNC Chapel Hill.

Siobhan Watson is the Deputy Director of Sustainability Programs at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), where she leads teams focused on innovation in waste management facilities, achieving NYCHA’s goal of installing 30MW of solar by 2026 and designing and installing stormwater management infrastructure across NYCHA campuses. She previously led the development of NYCHA’s first climate adaptation plan and has worked in a variety of roles in climate programs and policy in both public and private sectors. Watson teaches a course on sustainability in cities in Columbia’s Sustainable Development program and holds a PhD in environmental planning and a Master’s of City Planning degree.

Andrea Lamberti has been involved in every aspect of Viñoly’s practice, from project conceptualization to project delivery, as well as strategic initiatives. She has worked with leading international educational, cultural, research, and healthcare clients to transform their organizations through projects that extend the public realm while optimizing program aspirations. She has also worked with institutional and commercial entities to propose complexes that create opportunities to strengthen community within, and external to, project boundaries. Currently the firm’s partners and she are striving to build on the firm’s foundational mission—to ensure each project delivers beyond its brief—and expanding the practice’s sustainable, social, and equitable approaches to design. As 2022 president of AIA New York, Lamberti is supporting the architectural community’s aspirations of achieving a Just Practice through their work and through the daily activities of their practices.

COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.