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Cities and Social Justice

EVENTS | FACULTY | CURRICULUM & COURSES

For the first time in history most of the world’s inhabitants reside in cities. Urban centers are where change is happening – in the economy, finance, technology, culture and the environment. The rapid and unprecedented transformations force policy-makers, citizens, and communities to understand how they are linked together, and how they can be managed to promote social justice and improve the welfare of communities, cities, and nations. The Cities and Social Justice Concentration (CSJ) at GPIA trains practitioners and researchers to address these issues and produce innovative change. Using the context of history and the imperatives of current problems, the Concentration prepares students to design and lead the urban future.

The Cities & Social Justice curriculum focuses on how global factors interact with local environments, actors, and institutions to produce new urban forms, problems, and opportunities. The coursework and practical training within the Cities and Social Justice Concentration enables students to focus on a diversity of topics and issues affecting urban centers, including urban development and infrastructure, urban governance, citizenship and human rights, technology and culture, and sustainability. Students take courses informed by economics, political science, anthropology, urban planning, and architecture. They gain skills in geographic information systems, architecture and design, urban economics and finance, impact analysis, and critical analysis.

You can sign up to the CSJ listserv, if you want to receive more information about the concentration, by sending an email to [email protected].

“Change Strategies for Sustainable Cities” Class Provides Recommendations for PlaNYC

*Reposted from the Sustainable Milano blog:

planyc-300x300In the Spring 2014 semester, Professor John Clinton, founder of the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management M.S. program, taught a one-time offering called “Change Strategies for Sustainable Cities”. In class, graduate students from Milano andParsons engaged in discussions of what “sustainability” really means, what it looks like when cities take sustainability seriously, and how New York City can be more sustainable. The class encouraged collaboration between students, and sought to understand the many dimensions of shaping public policy. Guest lecturers from across the university joined the class to lend their expertise to the process.

Guest lecturers and topics included:

Brandon (Biko) Koenig, PhD Student at The New School for Social Research – Research Methods

Ricardo Gotla, Director of Public Engagement at Regional Plan Association, Milano alumnus –  The role and influence of the New York League of Conservation Voters

Nevin Cohen, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, The New School for Public Engagement – The power, role, and legality of various city “plans”

Timon McPhearson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, The New School for Public Engagement – The interplay of people and environment in urban ecologies

Jeff Smith, Assistant Professor of Politics and Advocacy, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy – Navigating the political arena

Mary Watson, Executive Dean, The New School For Public Engagement – Implementing change through collaboration and identification of individual strengths

Students examined the 2013 Progress Report on PlaNYC  and supporting documents in order to identify opportunities to strengthen the city’s efforts to be more sustainable and resilient. Over the course of the semester, each student translated class discussions and personal research into policy memoranda with the intent to engage Mayor Bill De Blasio’s administration with issues of sustainability, and connect the identified opportunities to promote sustainability with the Mayor’s goals for increasing social justice in the city.

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Student Opinion: Nicole Brownstein, Urban Policy Student, on the NYC Mayoral Candidate Forum on the Future of Food

3_photoUrban Policy student Nicole Brownstein published an article for PolicyMic outlining some of New York City’s mayoral candidate opinions on food policy and food justice. Six candidates attended the Mayoral Candidate Forum on the Future of Food, held in Tishman Auditorium on July 17th and co-hosted by several city food policy agencies.

You can read the article here.

 

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NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets: Evaluation of New York City’s Garden to Cafe Pilot Project

Media
Report
Presentation

Team
Klara Ibarra
Daniel Clason-Hook
Patricia Bowker

Organization
NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets

About
Students worked with the NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets to conduct a process evaluation to assess the feasibility and implementation of scaling the New York City School Food Garden-to-Café Pilot project. Garden to Cafe is a collaboration of city and state agencies and community groups to integrate student-grown foods into the school menu during educational “Harvest Day” events.  The pilot aimed to promote consumption of school lunch plant-based menu items; build awareness of local food and farming; and connect students to their communities’ natural environments.

Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs: Immigration History Week 101

Media
Report
Presentation 

Team
Tali Wojnowich
Stacey Stecko
Julio Schuback

Organization
Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

About
New York is a city that over eight million people call home. As of the census taken in 2000 over two million of this population was born outside of the United States. This is a staggering amount, and many believe it is what makes New York City such a vibrant place to live and work. In 2004, Mayor Michael Bloomberg created an initiative to devote one week each year to celebrating and recognizing the contributions of this foreign-born population. Now, in its third year Immigrant History Week (IHW) organized by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) has continued to realize the vision of Mayor Bloomberg. With sponsors such as the New York Times, Goya, 1-800 Mattress, ConEdison and Citibank, IHW has evolved into a culturally enriching experience and portrays of some of the most vibrant communities in New York City. There were thirty-seven events related to IHW that took place during the week of April 17- 23, 2006 in all five boroughs. The week itself was a success and attendees praised the programs. In order to aide in the organization and promotion of IHW 2006 three consultants from The New School, Graduate Program in International Affairs were hired. The consultants were responsible for the day to day communication with participating community-based organizations (CBOs) in order to contextualize their proposed projects in order to be consistent with MOIA’s vision. In addition to this duty, the consultants provided MOIA with an objective view of IHW 2006 by preparing various documents such as a diversity assessment as well as a media distribution plan.

International Field Program Projects

Organization
International Field Program

About
Many International Field Program participants return from their summer with the desire to continue working with their organization. This PDPM / PIA section would be for IFPers who wish to further develop their summer project as a Practicum (starting in PDPM in Fall and continuing in Spring as Practicum).

Most Practicum projects are done as a team, however in this case, we might form a team of individuals who are all working on their own IFP projects. A decision on this will be made when we see how many IFPers wish to pursue this.

The Practicum requires a client; you therefore must make sure your IFP organization approves of your continued work. You should also draft a project description that includes –

  • Client organization
  • Project objectives
  • Project rationale
  • Principle outcomes expected by client
  • Primary student work activities through the next semesters
  • Deliverable(s) expected

For Media and Culture students, or anyone interested in producing media content for their organization, in addition to PDPM, GPIA instructor Nerina Penzhorn is teaching her course Producing Short Form Documentaries this Fall, and has also offered in Spring to supervise any Practicum film projects that come out of the IFP. Three such Practicum teams have come out of the Rio IFP, supervised by Peter Lucas: Media Advocacy and Outreach Campaign for Mundo Real and Global Video Letters in Spring 2011 and Video Letters in Spring 2010.

If you feel you might like to participate in this section, email Mark Johnson.