Fight or Flight? Stemming the Tide

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

“Fight or Flight? Rethinking the Urban Footprint“ is a six-part series that will address how the urgency of climate change requires design professionals to rethink the built environment. Rising seas, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires are among the environmental stressors that will continue to affect communities throughout the United States and the world. We are now confronted with the urgent need of creating relocation strategies for individual households, communities, and cities.  

As architects, planners, landscape architects, and related professionals, it is our ethical responsibility to integrate thinking about relocation into our practices. The economic, social, and environmental impacts associated with climate migration and relocation will be a large part of this conversation, along with equity and environmental justice. We recognize that it is incumbent upon us to find appropriate pathways forward as swiftly as possible. To that end, this series is organized into six sessions: 

• Session One – Fight or Flight? Communicating Science, Risk, and Urgency – December 14, 2020 
• Session Two – Fight or Flight? Overcoming the Crisis of Climate Grief – Janury 21, 2021
• Session Three – Fight or Flight? Pathways from Around the World – March 16, 2021 
• Session Four – Fight or Flight? Navigating Roadmaps to Success – April 1, 2021
• Session Five – Fight or Flight? Stemming the Tide – June 4, 2021 
• Session Six – Fight or Flight? Climate Justice and Equity– June 11, 2021

Stemming the Tide

This program in the Fight or Flight series will focus on community-scale visioning and strategies across cultures and community systems. Speakers will discuss how American cities are gearing up for climate change challenges. What are the planning processes? Where are the gaps? How do cities make decisions about ways to support residents in locations of risk? How do cities and communities clarify differences between refugees and migrants and define migration, including forced migration, internal displacement, and planned relocation?

Speakers:

Panel 1: Housing solutions, buyouts, and upland community development
Fawn McGee, Director, NJDEP Blue Acres Program & Bureau Chief, State Land Acquisition, NJDEP Green Acres Program
Laurie Schoeman, National Director, Resilience and Disaster Recovery, Enterprise Community Partners
Amy Chester, Managing Director, Rebuild by Design (RBD)

Panel 2: Financing strategies, legal limits, and zoning issues
Katie Spidalieri, Senior Associate, Georgetown Climate Center
Scott G. Davis, AICP, Principal, SGD Urban Solutions
Michael Marrella, Director, Waterfront and Open Space, NYC Department of City Planning
Rob Freudenberg, Vice President, Energy and Environment, Regional Plan Association (RPA)

Respondent:
Eric Wilson, Deputy Director, Land Use & Buildings, NYC Mayor’s Office of Resiliency (MOR)