Metropolitics

A Construction Boom in an Urban Floodplain: Long Island City, Queens, NYC

Christopher Ryan — 2020-02-11T06:00:00Z

New York City has encouraged development in Long Island City, Queens, even as the neighborhood has not recovered from damage due to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and remains vulnerable to future flooding.
A high risk for flooding
With four of its five boroughs located on islands off the coast of the continental United States, New York City is particularly vulnerable to coastal impacts of climate change. The New York City Panel on Climate Change (2019) outlines multiple climate-change risks,

- From the Field / New York, Queens, resilience, vulnerability, flooding, natural risks, disaster, ecological disaster, catastrophe, environment, sea-level rise, climate change, transport, public transportation, Long Island City

Global Climate Crisis and the City: An Interview with Ashley Dawson

Ashley Dawson & Maura McGee — 2019-04-03T09:58:34Z

An interview with Ashley Dawson, professor of English at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY, about his most recent book Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. He talks with Maura McGee about the global convergence of urbanization and climate change, strategies to confront climate chaos, and how communities and social movements can act.
Cities are the defining social and ecological form of the 21st century. They are home to the

- Interviews / global warming, environment, anthropocène, climate change, sustainable development, Global South, Global North, sea-level rise, crisis, environmental justice, just transition

Climate Change and Social Change

Gregory Smithsimon — 2018-04-03T05:30:00Z

Cities are home to more than half the world's population and the source of most global CO2 emissions—and yet often occupy vulnerable sites particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. Out of necessity, cities have therefore become pioneers when it comes to responding to these changes. In this series, we examine not just the different strategies they deploy but also the associated social issues, and more specifically how questions of social justice and equity are taken into

- Series / environment, social justice, urban ecology, energy, climate change, sea-level rise, climate action plans, environmental justice, climate justice

Storm Recovery: Local Efforts, Municipal Constraints, and New Ways Forward

Michael P. McCabe — 2017-11-28T06:00:00Z

Climate change-induced storm surges and rising sea levels will steadily cause more damage to homes in low-lying urban and metropolitan regions, in turn creating profound new challenges for local governments. In this paper, Michael McCabe reflects on the lessons to be learned from a housing recovery program aimed at assisting owners in one- to four-family residential buildings in New York City.
Rising waters and more frequent and ferocious storms propelled by climate change make it imperative

- Debates / catastrophe, housing, disaster, recovery, New York, resilience, hurricane, climate change, sea-level rise, Community Development Block Grants, Department of Housing and Urban Development, storm recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency, capacity building, program design and implementation

“Build a Wall”: The Wrong Solution for Our Coastal Problems. An Interview with Jennifer Mattei

Jennifer H. Mattei & Lisa Jean Moore — 2017-02-07T16:47:00Z

Metropolitics editorial committee member and sociologist Lisa Jean Moore interviewed biologist Jennifer Mattei, an expert on coastal ecology and restoration, on January 25, 2017 about coastal restoration, “reef balls,” and how cities of the future can become a part of the natural world rather than walling it out.
What is a living shoreline?
Living shorelines, a concept that is now being developed and promoted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are nature-based

- Interviews / environment, United States, water, New York, sea-level rise, coastal ecology, coastal restoration, living shorelines, East Coast, Connecticut, coast, sea, ecosystems, ocean, conservation

Looking Backward into the Future of New York

Ted Steinberg — 2015-01-12T05:50:00Z

Can the lesson of Hurricane Sandy dampen the enthusiasm of New York City's growth machine? Ted Steinberg, author of Gotham Unbound, an environmental history of New York City, gives an overview of the historical developments that make the city one of the most vulnerable to floods in the United States.
How should those who rule over New York City plan for its future? Sketching out elaborate plans has long been a cottage industry in the nation's largest city. To date, however, historical

- Essays / catastrophe, disaster, environment, United States, urban ecology, land, water, New York, history, sustainable urban planning, Sandy, sea-level rise, flooding, vulnerability, wildlife

The Horseshoe Crab, our Environment and our Health

Lisa Jean Moore — 2014-12-15T05:50:00Z

Will we erase all animal diversity in the name of modernity, or will we follow the hints given by the study of the horseshoe crab? The entanglements of this ancestral animal with human activity point to the urgent need to accept the collective responsibility that comes with the Anthropocene era.
In North America, the ocean-dwelling horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), a maroon prehistoric creature, crawls along the ocean floor with its helmet-like hard-shelled top and multiple appendages

- From the Field / health, environment, New York, global warming, sea-level rise, human animal, wildlife, Featured