Cities in Crisis: Ecological Transformations February 11, 2013

On the one hand, cities can be the epitome of sustainability, reaping the benefits of proximity, efficiency, and innovation. On the other hand, they can be graveyards of dreams and sources of contamination. In Cities In Crisis: Ecological Transformations, six lectures at The Cooper Union, Dr. Steward Pickett, past President of the Ecological Society of America and a plant ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, will present an integrated view of cities from an ecological perspective and explore the frontiers of promoting the transformation of a more sustainable urban trajectory.

WHEN: February 11: Globalization and the Changing City - What is urbanism? What is urban from an ecological perspective? How is the urban reality evolving in a global era? What is the nature of contemporary urban crisis? How can that crisis be met as an opportunity?
February 18: Cities as Ecosystems - How do ecologists think about cities? What ecological processes occur in cities? What’s wrong with the idea of open space in cities?
February 25: Natural Disturbance and the City - How common is natural disturbance in the urban context? What is the nature of natural hazard in cities? How does this play out in terms of social and other kinds of vulnerability?
March 4: From Sanitary to Sustainable City - How did the “sanitary city” solve social and environmental problems? What are the limits to the sanitary strategy? How does the sustainable city envision solving the problems of the sanitary city, or even of cities that are created from scratch?
March 11: Ecology for Urban Design - What does ecology have to say to urban design? What ecological principles underwrite ecological urban design? How do the ethics of sustainability shape ecological application in cities?
March 18: A Land Ethic for the Urban Era - Does Aldo Leopold’s ethical viewpoint apply to cities? Is there a problem with our contrast between wilderness and “urbanness”? How do we facilitate the benefits of cities and incorporate them into ethical urban thinking?

Official Website: http://www.cooper.edu