Free Lecture: Natural Disturbance and the City

Monday, February 25, 2013, 6:30 - 8:30pm

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Part of the Cities in Crisis: Ecological Transformations series of free lectures.

On the one hand, cities can be the epitome of sustainability, reaping the benefits of proximity, efficiency, and innovation. On the other hand, they can be graveyards of dreams and sources of contamination. In Cities In Crisis: Ecological Transformations, six lectures at The Cooper Union, Dr. Steward Pickett, past President of the Ecological Society of America and a plant ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, will present an integrated view of cities from an ecological perspective and explore the frontiers of promoting the transformation of a more sustainable urban trajectory.

The topic of this week's lecture is "Natural Disturbance and the City." How common is natural disturbance in the urban context? What is the nature of natural hazard in cities? How does this play out in terms of social and other kinds of vulnerability?

 

Located in The Great Hall, in the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues

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  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.