Community-based organizations perform an important role in shaping the urban landscape of New York City—from establishing community gardens, to opening up streets for pedestrians to celebrate and exercise together, to supporting the development of healthier lifestyles and creating connections.
Please join the AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee for a special panel highlighting these contributions with three New York City-based grass roots organizations whose missions fall under the banner of field connections, an aspect of the AIA New York’s 2026 theme from President Mark Gardner “Repair: Democracy and Urban Space.”
The discussion will cover a range of learning opportunities for architects and planners, exploring transformational initiatives around nature reimagined and community engagement with and in the urban environment. Panelists will highlight how community-based organizations can best engage and teach their constituent communities about nutritious food, physical fitness, and self-sufficiency through literal field connections to nature’s many gifts.
The panel will also discuss models of advocacy through partnerships with community nonprofits. We’ll address questions about whether current methods are working and how we can improve them, and the panel will cover some of the methods used to accomplish the goals of field connection and how they may be successfully integrated into planning and architectural solutions. The outcome will be a thorough understanding of successful strategies for creating field connections, lessons learned thus far, and new approaches to inspire future planning initiatives with field connections in mind.
Additionally, and for those interested, members of the AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee also invite you to join us and get your hands dirty on Saturday, November 7, by volunteering with Concrete Safaris—one of the highlighted community-based nonprofits. Volunteers will meet at Jefferson Gardens on November 7, 2026 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. If you choose to join us please register here.
Meeting Location: 300 East 115th Street just east of Second Avenue outside of the Jefferson Houses Management Office.
Speakers:
Christina Delfico, Founder and Emmy-nominated Executive Producer, iDig2Learn
Jason Duverney-Gaspar, Director of Horticulture and Operations, Edible Schoolyard NYC
Mac Levine, MPH, Founder and Executive Director, Concrete Safaris
Moderator:
Lindsay Campbell, PhD, Research Social Scientist, US Forest Service Northern Research Station
About the Speakers:
Lindsay K. Campbell is a Research Social Scientist with the US Forest Service Northern Research Station, based at the NYC Urban Field Station. She is also an affiliated faculty member and adjunct professor at City University of New York Graduate Center, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and a visiting scientist with the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. Her research explores the dynamics of environmental governance, civic engagement, and natural resource stewardship—with an emphasis on issues of environmental and social justice. In addition to contributing to scholarly understanding of civic capacity, social infrastructure, and networked governance, she aims to amplify the voices and experiences of stewards’ themselves through exhibitions (Who Takes Care of New York?), essays, and convenings. She co-led the Living Memorials Project research, which examined the stewardship of open space post-September 11, received the 2007 EDRA/Places Award for Research, and led to editing the Forest Service volume Green Readiness, Response, and Recovery: A Collaborative Synthesis. Campbell has developed a number of applied projects at the interface of research and practice in urban sustainability. Dr. Campbell holds a BA in Public Policy from Princeton University, a Master’s in City Planning from MIT, and a PhD in Geography from Rutgers University.
Christina Delfico garnered over 40 awards in children’s media and served as the Producer Guild’s Green Committee Co-Chair, supporting NYC’s 1st television and film sustainability initiative – NYC Film Green. A decades-long career with Sesame Workshop sparked an urge to provide green time over screen time. Using her “producer superpowers” Delfico now works for land, air and water. In 2012 she founded iDig2Learn to invite children to explore science and the origin of food through plant life. iDig2Learn runs urban farm programming, nature events, chef-led community meals and landscape designs that serve multi-species communities. Delfico is an avid gardener and a member of the Forest for All NYC coalition and the NYC Pollinators. Her milestone project was spearheading the creation of NYC’s first Miyawaki Method pocket forest in 2024, located on Roosevelt Island and consisting of nearly 1,500 trees and shrubs. The Miyawaki Pocket Forest was made possible by funding partner SUGi in collaboration with NYS RIOC, the Lenape Center, GRIN, the Yakama Nation and hundreds of volunteers. In 2026, as iDig2Learn kicks off year fifteen in 2027, Delfico is honored to join SUGi’s first ever Forest Academy to share ways to work with nature, restore biodiversity, and repurpose existing materials in an effort to improve life in cities worldwide for all.
Jason Duverney-Gaspar is a practicing horticulturist and educator. Currently he is the Director of Horticulture and Operations at Edible Schoolyard NYC where is oversees Edible’s core school gardens, garden builds and technical assistance. Duverney-Gaspar is passionate about growing productive, curious and ecologically minded gardens. For over a decade Duverney-Gaspar has worked with plants to engage diverse communities in NYC. His favorite garden activities are propagation and perennial plant maintenance.
Mac Levine founded Concrete Safaris in 2008 with 16 East Harlem children, and has since grown the organization to serve over 19,000 children, youth, and families. The organization offers school day and after school workshops for children, youth internships, national service roles for individuals ages 17+, and a growing volunteer program. Levine earned a Masters of Public Health in the Built Environment Track from Mailman School of Public Health, and a BS in Music with a Minor in Sociology from Northeastern University. She bike commutes daily, stand-up paddles and goes on long walks on streets or in forests just about every day year-round with her dog, Zipi, and can be found attempting to downward dog while her actual dog is lounging on her yoga mat.
AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee
