RECOGNIZING RESILIENCERECOGNIZING RESILIENCE

30 January 201430 January 2014Sacramento Tree Foundation

Mary E. Northridge, PhD, MPHy g , ,Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Public HealthAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Epidemiology & Health PromotionNYU C ll f D ti tNYU College of Dentistry

Outline

• Introducing the New York City Urban Field Station

• Our research partnership: The Grey, the Green and the Human (NewOur research partnership: The Grey, the Green and the Human (New York City Urban Field Station, New York University, University at Buffalo)

• Recognizing ResilienceRecognizing Resilience

• Reciprocity between nature and health• Terrorist acts economic degradation and extreme weather• Terrorist acts, economic degradation, and extreme weather• Buffering the impacts of disturbance and cultivating places of social

meaning

• Conclusions

New York City Urban Field Station

MISSION:MISSION:“To improve quality of life in urban

areas by conducting and supporting research about social-ecological

systems and naturalsystems and natural resource management”

Human Ecosystem Framework (HEF) – moves us away from y ( ) ythinking about the ecology IN cites to the ecology OF cities

Source: Machlis et at 2005

Socio-ecological research continuums

SOCIAL

On‐Site Interviews        Census Map

With StewardsCensus Map

INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE

Forest Research Plot Land Cover Map

BIOPHYSICAL

Socio-ecological research continuums

SOCIAL

INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE

BIOPHYSICAL

Humans are the dominant speciesHumans are the dominant species

Keenly interested in humans asenvironmental stewards as partenvironmental stewards – as partof the cycle of resilience

Marine Park, Brooklyn, NY

What are the relationships among grey infrastructure, green infrastructure and human health and wellgreen infrastructure, and human health and well-

being?

U b E i t l St d hi i l i tiUrban Environmental Stewardship -- a social innovation

Liz Christy, founder of Green Mayor Bloomberg marking the Shoreline cleanup in Queens, Liz Christy, founder of Green Guerillas, in the Lower East Side

Mayor Bloomberg marking the halfway point in MillionTreesNYC

Shoreline cleanup in Queens, sponsored by private companies

Urban environmental stewards conserve, manage, monitor, advocate gfor or educate the public about the local environment. (Fisher et al. 2007)

Source: From left to right— Green Guerillas, NY Daily News, © Meg Cotner

STEW MAP: Mapping stewardship organizations in 2007STEW-MAP: Mapping stewardship organizations in 2007

Green Space Social Space

STEW-MAP research is being conducted in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Seattle, and Chicago. Related projects are underway in San Juan and Los Angeles.

N Y k Cit I Cit f St dNew York City Is a City of Stewards

NYC STEW-MAP Network Data, US Forest Service, 2007

Universally Abiding TraitsStewards as first responders

adaptive / polycentric

Nature as a restorative mechanismNature as a restorative mechanismbiophysical and social legacies / instrumental

Stewardship persistsstabilize feedback loops / professionalization

Acute: September 11, 2001 -- Living MemorialsAcute: September 11, 2001 Living MemorialsWhat motivated people to interact with nature? Why?

St d Fi t R dStewards as First Responders

Basic, abiding and universal needs: to beautify, teach, relax, restore, create –or to re-establish a locus of control

N t t ti d di ti h iNature as a restorative – and mediating -- mechanism

St d hi P i t G i i th R d ZStewardship Persists -- Greening in the Red Zone

“RedzZones” refer to multiple settings (spatial and temporal) that may be characterized as intense potentially or recently hostile orintense, potentially or recently hostile or dangerous, including those in post-disaster situations caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes as well as thosehurricanes and earthquakes, as well as those associated with terrorist attacks and war, or longer term decline of capacity and resilience.

Chronic: Urban fiscal crisis -- community gardeners as first responders toChronic: Urban fiscal crisis community gardeners as first responders to garden (yes!) but also to regain a sense of control, to share knowledge, to celebrate culture and identity, to leave a legacy, to matter

New York City: 1975, 1999

Photo by Steffi Graham

Nature as a mechanism for dealing with changeNature as a mechanism for dealing with change

Strengthening social cohesion and creating new forms of governance

How do we recognize resilience?

Community garden supporters on the steps of City HallNew York, NY, 2000

Acute Disturbance and Chronic VulnerabilitiesAcute Disturbance and Chronic Vulnerabilities Extreme Weather -- Joplin, MO and New York, NY

May 2011 EF5 Tornado Oct 2012 Superstorm Sandy

How are natural resources and open space used by communities as mechanisms p p yto enhance resilient, adaptive processes of recovery? What are the differences between and similarities across these processes in response to perturbations across time and space?

Joplin VolunteersJoplin Volunteers

N t th f t d th tNature as a pathway for recovery -- an asset and a threat

Study area: green space surrounding Jamaica Bay

Source: http://www.nycgovparks.org/

Ob t lkObserve, talk, map…

1,700 acres assessed500 interviews

Frank Charles Memorial Park, Queens, NY

• First responders: significant retired population• Chronic disturbance: tides• Acute disturbance: Superstorm SandyAcute disturbance: Superstorm Sandy• Concern about dead, low hanging limbs• Active, informal stewardship group works against erosion

Far Rockaway, Queens. October 19, 2013

Unplanned, un-programmed space -- Sea Song Memorial, 1st Anniversary Post Storm

S R i i R iliSummary – Recognizing Resilience

• Nature as a restorative mechanism• How can we envision nature not only as a buffer or a service but as

part of our social infrastructure?

• The need for unplanned, un-programmed space • How can we cultivate places of social meaning?

• First responders and organizational network nodesH d dd lti l l biliti i i hb h d ?• How do we address multiple vulnerabilities in neighborhoods?

• Professionalization of stewards • How do we harness capacities and new forms of governance?

Acknowledgements

USDA F t S iUSDA Forest Service12-JV-11242309-095

Integrating Grey and Green Infrastructure to Improve Health and

Well-Being for Urban Populations

NYC Parks & RecreationNatural Areas Conservancyy

The TKF Foundation

Research Collaborators:

Erika S. SvendsenSara MetcalfGillian Baine

Lindsay K. CampbellNancy Falxa-Raymond

Photo credit: Joana Chen

References

• Svendsen, Erika and Lindsay Campbell, Community-Based Memorials to September 11, 2001: Environmental Stewardship as Memory Work in Greening in the Red Zone: Disaster, Resilience and Community Greening, Tidball, Keith G.; Krasny, Marianne E (Eds.). , 2013, XXXI, Springer, 503 p. 74 illus., 63 illus.

• Svendsen, Erika S. Storyline and design: how civic stewardship shapes urban design in New York City. 2013 in Chapter 13. In: Pickett, S.T.A.; Cadenasso, M.L.; McGrath, B., eds. Resilience in ecology and urban design: linking theory and practice for sustainable cities. Vol. 3. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands: 269-287.

• Svendsen, Erika S.; Northridge, Mary E.; Metcalf, Sara S. Integrating grey and green infrastructure to improve the health and well-being of urban populations. 2012. Cities and the Environment (CATE) 5(1): article 3.

• Fisher, Dana R.; Campbell, Lindsay; Svendsen, Erika S. 2012. The organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship Environmental Politics. 21(1): 26-48.

• Svendsen, Erika. Cultivating health and well-being through environmental stewardship. 2011. American Journal of Public Health. 101(11).( )

• Fisher, D. R., Connolly, J. J., Svendsen, E. S., Campbell, L. K. (2011). ”DIGGING TOGETHER: Why people volunteer to help plant one million trees in New York City.” Environmental Stewardship Project at the Center for Society and Environment of the University of Maryland White Paper #1. 36 p.

• Svendsen Erika S ; Campbell Lindsay K (2010) a: Living Memorials: Understanding the Social Meanings of Community-• Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K. (2010) a: Living Memorials: Understanding the Social Meanings of Community-Based Memorials to September 11, 2001. Environment and Behavior. 42: 318-334.

• Svendsen, E.S. 2009 Cultivating Resilience: Urban Stewardship as a Means to Improving Health and Well-being, pgs. 58-87 in Campbell, L and Wiesen, A. Restorative Commons: Creating Health and Well-being through Urban Landscapes - GTR NRS-P-39. Newtown Square, PA: USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 278 pgs.

• Svendsen, E.; Campbell, L. (2006) Land-markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials. NRS-INF-1-06. Gen. Tech. Report. Newtown Square, PA: USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 49 p.