What was present day New York like before it was New Amsterdam? What are the current environmental challenges we face? What will this place look like in 100 years? Join us for a day of reflection and conversation on New York’s past, present, and future with some of the city’s most important environmental thinkers and historians.

Featured Talks

• Martin V. Melosi – An Overview of Environmental Infrastructure History 
• Eric Sanderson – Shaping the City 
• Robert Pirani – The City Today 
• Rohit Aggarwala – Planning for a Resilient NYC 
• Robert Sullivan – A Tree Grows in the Bronx Too 
• Dennis Suszkowski – Coping with the Big Necessity: Harbor Water Quality 
• Betsy McCully – The Changing Nature of Newtown Creek 
• Owen Gutfreund – No Getting Around It: Transportation 
• Rutherford Platt – Transforming New York’s Waterfront 
• Daniel Walsh – The Endless Stream: Waste 
• Eric Goldstein – Tapped Out: Water Supply: New York’s Most Valuable Capital Asset 
• Cynthia Roszenweig – Ill Winds & Rising Tides: Climate Change 
• William Solecki – Sustainability, Resilience, and Crises: A Summary

Conference Scope: In recognition of the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage up the Hudson River, a one-day conference will be held that examines New York City as a landmark case history in environmental sustainability. The conference will trace the arc of the region’s profound environmental changes, from its pristine beginnings to its nadir near 1900 to today’s surprising (but still incomplete) recovery and into the future and 500th anniversary of the voyage in 2109. The conference will focus on the current state and trends of natural and physical world and how those living in the city have dealt with negative environmental consequences of growth. The goals for the conference are to generate and synthesize knowledge and to develop educational and policy related materials on the subject. In turn, conference results will address and propose solutions to a set of tensions emerging from the current and planned activities associated with creating a more sustainable New York including conservation and development, governance, and equity.

Schedule: The conference includes presentations by leading scholars in the fields of urban environmental change and sustainability. The event will be held on November 16th at the main campus of Hunter College, 68th and Lexington Avenue. The day will include an analysis of the current dynamics of environmental change, both the past and the future. Session titles include: The Arc of History; Environmental Fabric; Climate Change, Sustainability, and New York; Environmental Transitions and Crises – Lessons Learned; Cities as Solutions.

Who Should Attend: Researchers, stakeholders, and decision-makers interested in urban environmental change and sustainability.