Wandering Minds, Groundbreaking Finds: Visiting Scholar Research
RESEARCH SUMMARIES
This winter and spring, the Urban Systems Lab was lucky to host three talented visiting scholars, who have contributed valuable insights and energy to the community.
Alex Springer has been developing a vulnerability assessment methodology to assess cascading failures caused by extreme flooding on New York City's critical infrastructure systems including the power grid and water distribution network as part of a Sloan Foundation.The goal of this research initiative is to develop coupled energy-water-transportation synthetic infrastructure models for New York, NY, Phoenix, AZ, and Atlanta, GA to simulate critical failure and failure cascades in energy infrastructure during extreme events to improve reliability and robustness. By combining data on infrastructure vulnerability with social vulnerability indicators, Alex is working with Assistant Director Ahmed Mustafa to identify neighborhoods most at risk and in need of targeted resilience efforts. His work involves developing and refining models of the city's power and water systems, conducting expert interviews, and planning for the publication and presentation of his findings. Alex's research aims to provide valuable insights for city officials to prioritize investments in infrastructure resilience, especially in socially vulnerable communities. Alex is completing his Master of Science in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London.
Charlotte Stijnen is conducting a fascinating case study on the Tibbetts Brook daylighting project in the northwest Bronx, New York City. The project involves creating a stream running from Hester and Piero’s Mill Pond in Van Cortlandt Park down along the Major Deegan expressway to 230th Street (in the CSX corridor). This project will divert the clean water currently being sent directly to the sewer to instead run down to the Harlem River. That way the project will address combined sewage overflows. The project also involves the creation of a corridor running next to and above the stream, which will be an extension of the Putnam Trail. By examining the planning process through the lens of environmental justice and analyzing the perceived trade-offs, benefits, and burdens of the project, Charlotte aims to uncover the complexities of planning large scale urban nature-based solutions, and the contextual implications of renaturing cities. Charlotte is a PhD candidate at the department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, in the Netherlands.
Last but not least, Yves Räth is currently investigating the significance of legacy and proximity to urban development in his forthcoming paper on settlement development. He is examining 150 years of settlement development across various scales, from hamlets to cities, with a focus on intra-settlement developments and inter-settlement proximity. In his research, Yves explores how settlements not only grow but also transform in their functions, such as changing from residential to commercial, which can result in legacy effects. His research offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution and impact of urban spaces, with a particular focus on smaller towns and villages, which are often understudied in their development and impact on urban transformations. Yves is a doctoral candidate at the Chair of Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich).
With their diverse backgrounds and innovative approaches, these visiting scholars are poised to make significant contributions to the field of urban systems research.
