Cornell University: Future planners explore challenging climate questions facing the field

When developing plans and programs to build and strengthen communities, urbanists often face a host of competing challenges and perspectives that they must find creative ways to balance. This work becomes even more nuanced and difficult as considerations of the climate crisis and other social justice issues are brought with increasing urgency into the conversation.

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) students participating in City and Regional Planning’s (CRP) fall field trip titled Climate Resilience and Social Justice in the City faced these considerations head-on as they explored New York City and met with local policymakers and community organizations deeply embedded in addressing climate vulnerabilities and adaptive responses.

“Climate change poses an immense challenge for huge, dense, complicated places like New York, where every square inch is contested, expensive, and layered with diverse infrastructure systems,” explained CRP Assistant Professor Linda Shi, who led this year’s trip. “The physical challenge alone is daunting, yet most planners and urban change makers around the world do not yet recognize the impact of climate change and what we can do to adapt.”