Urban Resilience

Topic: Urban Resilience Series – key elements of urban transit systems Guest & Organization: Christof Spieler, PE, LEED AP, is a Vice President and Director of Planning at Huitt-Zollars and a Lecturer in Architecture and Engineering at Rice University. He was a member of the board of directors of Houston METRO from 2010 to 2018,…

Topic: Urban Resilience Series – the next transformation of cities Guest & Organization: Peter Plastrik was born in Paris, grew up in New York City, and lived in four cities in Michigan. He is cofounder and vice president of the Innovation Network for Communities (INC), established in 2007. Along with John Cleveland, he was a…

Topic: Urban Resilience – design for social innovation Guest & Organization: Cheryl Heller is the Founding Chair of the first MFA program in Design for Social Innovation at SVA and President of the design lab CommonWise. She was recently awarded a Rockefeller Bellagio Fellowship, and is a recipient of the prestigious AIGA Medal for her…

Topic: Urban Resilience – heat impacts and cooling centers Guest & Organization: As Environmental Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Cynthia is tasked with advancing policy goals that align with WE ACT’s Northern Manhattan Climate Action (NMCA) project, which seeks to increase community participation, within and outside of the government and build neighborhood capacity in response to…

Topic: Urban Resilience – urban green spaces designed with a purpose Guest & Organization: Fred Smith is the Director of Stringfellow Health Fund Grants at the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama.  He has an Associate of Science degree from Southern Union Community College, Bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Master’s degree in Public Administration—both from…