Tracking Environmental Justice in New York City

On April 29, 2024, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) released the Environmental Justice NYC (EJNYC) Report, the city’s first comprehensive study on systemic environmental inequity across all five boroughs. The report was accompanied by the EJNYC Mapping Tool, the city’s first-ever interactive online resource that provides policymakers, community leaders, and everyday New Yorkers with detailed analysis of the environmental hazards in their own neighborhoods. The new report and mapping tool are a significant step in the Adams administration’s efforts to embed environmental justice into the city’s climate work.

This panel discussion, hosted by the Social Equity and Resiliency sub-committee of AIANY Committee on the Environment (COTE), will share insights on the creation of the EJNYC Report and Mapping Tool. Four firms that led the development of the report and mapping tool will share the process, key findings, and opportunities to deploy the EJNYC tools towards planning and design initiatives in New York City, followed by a moderated discussion and questions from the audience.

Moderator:
Shefali Sanghvi, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Amb., ENV SP, Director of Sustainability, Associate Principal, Dattner Architects

Speakers:
Paul Lozito, Deputy Executive Director, New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice (MOCEJ)
David Bigio, EJNYC Project Manager, Associate, Buro Happold
Somto Uyanna, EJNYC Program & Policy Analysis Lead, Buro Happold
Isella Ramirez, EJNYC Co-Lead on Research, Analysis, Report Development, Hester Street
Lida Aljabar, LEED AP, EJNYC Engagement Co-Lead, Ki Strategies
Chris Rhie, Technical Director, Rhie Planning LLC

About the Speakers:
David Bigio is an Associate within Buro Happold’s Cities team in New York. A sustainability expert, team leader, and applied economist, Bigio advises governments, public authorities, and private investors on urban decarbonization and climate resilience initiatives, economic development, and sustainable infrastructure development. Most recently, Bigio served as Project Manager for the EJNYC Report and Mapping Tool with the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) and Lead Economist for the Green Economy Action Plan with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

Somto Uyanna is a Senior Consultant on Buro Happold’s Cities team in New York. In her role, Uyanna predominantly works on water and climate resilience projects. Uyanna has a range of interests and experience in sustainability and environmental consulting, advising public and private sector clients on water resources management, sustainable urban infrastructure, and climate action. Uyanna’s work is driven by a desire to improve quality of life through the physical environment. Uyanna earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering with a focus on water resources and climate risks at Columbia University. Uyanna is a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum.

Isella Ramirez brings extensive community organizing and leadership development experience to Hester Street. She grew up in the City of Commerce; a community overburdened with industrial pollution a few miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. For seven years, she worked with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, a community-based organization working to promote a healthy and safe environment in Commerce, East Los Angeles, and Long Beach. There she also held the role of Co-Executive Director, where she managed the organizational work-plan, and led organizing and leadership development. Most recently, she worked with Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark, NJ as an environmental justice program manager, where she developed an extensive leadership training program for local leaders. She is passionate about environmental justice and is interested in identifying and implementing planning practices, tools and frameworks to more effectively be an agent of change in underserved communities. She holds a B.A in Latin American & Latina(o) Studies from Vassar College and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. She makes amazing pico-de-gallo and has a fun earring collection.

Meliha [Lida] Aljabar is an internationally recognized leader in urban sustainability and climate adaptation. ​Aljabar takes an equity-centered and systems view in navigating a just transition to a green economy. She holds 10+ years delivering strategic solutions in equitable climate adaptation, disaster recovery, clean energy and decarbonization across the United States. As Director of Climate Resiliency Planning at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Aljabar led initiatives at the intersections of climate equity, affordable housing and neighborhood infrastructure in New York City. Previously, she managed the national Climate-Smart Cities program at The Trust for Public Land, advancing green infrastructure and civic technology for climate action, and has expanded public realm through community-engaged design and cultivating public-private partnerships in the Washington, DC area. Aljabar is an AICP certified planner, LEED Accredited Professional and an educator of climate resilience planning and community development at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Chris Rhie (he/him) is an independent urban planner with over 16 years of experience shaping equitable, place-based strategies to combat global climate change. He is a nationally recognized expert on urban sustainability and has worked with leading cities, regions, and NGOs across the United States. Rhie has led the consultant teams for New York City’s first comprehensive environmental justice report and the award-winning Los Angeles Countywide Sustainability Plan—widely recognized as the nation’s boldest, most inclusive regional sustainability strategy. Before his experience as an urban strategy consultant, Rhie served as an energy manager for the Cities of Oakland and New York and studied urban planning and real estate development at MIT. Rhie currently serves as the President of the Board of the Westside Urban Forum in Los Angeles and as a Board Member at Urban Environmentalists. He sits on the Climate and Housing Research Advisory Committee at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley and previously served as the energy and emissions lead at the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Cities and Communities Working Group. In 2022, Coro Southern California recognized him as its Lead LA Alumni Honoree. A second-generation Korean American, Rhie strives to center equity in every project and embrace a collaborative approach to help communities become carbon neutral whilst furthering social, economic, and environmental justice.

As Dattner’s Director of Sustainability, Shefali Sanghvi serves as a thought leader across the firms studios, and beyond, championing sustainability as integral to architecture. She establishes the direction of our research and leads the exploration and application of sustainability in-house by facilitating knowledge sharing amongst project teams, firm leadership, and our professional development groups. Sanghvi has over 19 years of experience working on sustainable projects, with an emphasis on resiliency, occupant health and comfort, and energy efficiency. An expert on urban Passive House projects, she is dedicated to designing buildings that are socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable.