The next Urban Salon will focus on resiliency, both in the material sense and in the social sense. We will explore models of the “future New York” in the face of climate change and (other yet to occur crises) and the lived experience of past events, most memorably and recently, Hurricane Sandy.

How have New Yorkers stood up in times when resilience is required? How can you plan for community response for future events? How can New York continue to grow in an equitable and sustainable way? How do we see issues of equity surface at moments such as Hurricane Sandy and in the government’s response?

Given the recent election and the uncertainty around federal support for urban infrastructure projects, how can and should New York plan for the future?

The panel will be held in Package Free Shop, a recently opened mecca for living zero-waste.

Panel:

AMY CHESTER is the Managing Director for Rebuild by Design, an organization formed to run the Hurricane Sandy Design Competition, which resulted in over $1 billion in awards from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to seven projects to address structural and social vulnerabilities. Now working with 100 Resilient Cities, Rebuild is bringing its approach to cities in the U.S. and around the world. Amy brings her nearly 20 years in municipal policy, community engagement, real estate development and communications to advocate for the urban environment.

Previously, Chester worked for NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Legislative Affairs and as a Senior Policy Advisor where she was responsible for the public engagement strategy of PlaNYC, the Mayor’s sustainability agenda, which included initiatives such as the Million Trees Campaign, congestion pricing, and the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan. Chester has worked at the NY City Council and more than a dozen electoral and issue based campaigns, as well as working to build affordable housing and provide benefits to freelance workers.

GOLDI GUERRA is a community organizer and veteran of both the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Sandy movements helped lead the recovery movement in Staten Island following Hurricane Sandy.

DANIEL ALDANA COHEN is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research examines inequality, social movements and climate politics in global cities. He is a founding member of the Superstorm Research Lab, and the co-host of Hot & Bothered, a podcast on climate politics hosted by Dissent magazine. His research and writing have appeared in Nature, Public Culture, Jacobin, Dissent, Public Books, Metropolitics, NACLA Report on the Americas, and elsewhere.

DANIEL STEINBERG is currently the Senior Policy Analyst in the Mayor’s Office of Operations. He has been instrumental in the development of the current OneNYC plan.