The FONDATION USM Futures Lab is a new initiative launched in 2024 with the mission to explore, envision and advocate for possible futures that will create a positive impact on our world. I was invited to respond to a brief focused on the future of climate governance. The Department for Communities in Climate Transition (DCCT) is a modular governance model that aims to address climate change at city, rural, and island scales and all the ways in which regions can collaborate to strengthen climate action. The DCCT integrates social services, arts, and community-led initiatives into climate governance, focusing on inclusivity, resilience, and adaptability. DCCT imagines a governance model not only focused on reducing carbon emissions and creating green infrastructure but also considers new initiatives focused on climate grief counselling, participatory budgeting, repair programs, and cultural preservation in climate adaptation. My research culminated in a policy report produced with Corbin LaMont.

As Deputy Director at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, I led a team that developed policy initiatives for extreme heat mitigation, transportation resiliency and sustainability, waste management, green infrastructure, and air quality. I also led an interagency team focused on creating maximum indoor temperature regulations, one of the first extreme heat mitigation policies of its kind in the Northeast. These policy areas were key features of PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, New York City’s Climate Action Plan, and Cool Neighborhoods NYC, the city’s first heat resiliency plan. I also helped New York City secure one of the country’s first heat-related FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants. As one of the leading experts on extreme heat mitigation strategies in urban areas, I have shared my knowledge with planning and policy makers locally and internationally, as well as university students and young people engaged in citizen science.

I was a member of an person eight interdisciplinary team invited to develop heat resiliency strategies for the City of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. The initiative was spearheaded by Ramboll in partnership with the International Water Association. This workshop led to the creation of an urban cooling toolbox released by C40.

As a neighborhood planner and a flood resiliency specialist for the NYC Department of City Planning, I was a project manager on a range of residential, commercial, and open space projects undergoing Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) as well as other land use certifications. I also led neighborhood studies through the Resilient Neighborhoods program, a place-based resiliency planning process led by the NYC Department of City Planning to develop land use policies for communities that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. I worked with community groups in Canarsie, Sheepshead Bay, and Gerritsen Beach. The multi-year process culminated in the development of neighborhood plans and zoning actions.

In partnership with the Urban Design Forum, I served as the city partner and project manager on Turning the Heat, a year long fellowship that explored how urbanists can address the impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable communities in New York City. The fellowship culminated in the development of a manual of 30 design, policy, finance, and community resiliency strategies for heat mitigation.

Petit Goâve is 68 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince and was one of the hardest hit areas by the January 12th, 2010 earthquake. Much of the region is mountainous and experiences severe riverine flooding. I served as a pro-bono environmental planner for a project in ︎︎︎Petit Goâve, Haiti for four years. The project was spearheaded by Community2Community (C2C), a Haitian-led non-profit service organization founded after the earthquake, and a local farming organization in Petit Goâve. The project was focused on the 12th Section of Petit Goâve, Piton Vallue. To develop the scope of the rehabilitation project, first we needed to understand the boundaries of Piton Vallue.

Piton Vallue, like many areas of Haiti, did not have robust mapping data on the neighborhood level. Locals knew community boundaries through the lived experience of walking through Piton Vallue. The Pinchina Consulting group in partnership with the local farming organization developed a community mapping initiative where community members were given GPS devices and walked the boundaries of their neighborhoods as they understood them. The process along with a series of community conversations revealed that Piton Vallue was one of many communities in the 12th Section of Petit Goâve. Learn more about Pinchina’s work here.