Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather (UREx) Sustainability Research Network
Project Team: Timon McPhearson, Ahmed Mustafa, Luis Ortiz, Katinka Wijsman, Bart Orr, Veronica Olivotto, Daniel Sauter, Claudia Tomateo, Chris Kennedy, Yaella Depietri, Elizabeth Cook, Rocio Carrero
USL is co-leading the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN), a five-year project funded through a $12 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The highly interdisciplinary UREx team includes scientists, students, planners, NGOs, industry, and other stakeholders in cities throughout the Americas. We are developing an innovative set of methods to assess how infrastructure can be more resilient, provide ecosystem services, and incorporate new technologies that strengthen socio-environmental wellbeing.
As part of the UREx project, USL is producing 3D visualizations that examine the equity implications of urban vulnerability. These interactive maps of nine cities integrate social, ecological, and technological data from a variety of sources. The map for New York City has played an important role in our collaboration with the Mayor's Office of Recovery & Resiliency and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay to reduce the city’s vulnerability to flooding.