In December 2013, Urban Design Lab Director Richard Plunz was an invited speaker in Seoul, South Korea, at the Seoul Institute speaking on “Lessons from the Manhattan Highline Project” as part of an international forum addressing the future of the mega-block Seun Sangga project in Seoul, dating from the 1960s.

In September 2013, the National Science Foundation announced that the Urban Design Lab (UDL) had been awarded a five year, $2.5 million Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) grant to study how New York City urban green infrastructure can mitigate coastal zone pollution. UDL Co-Director Patricia Culligan leads a team integrating urban planning and… read more

Richard Plunz, Director of the Urban Design Lab (UDL), lectured in November 2013 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium on “Next Generation Urban Infrastructure: The Kumasi Case”, covering the UDL’s work in Kumasi, Ghana, during the previous two years. The lecture was part of the university’s “Cities in Development” series within its School of… read more

Leigh Witthinghill presented at the Earth Institute’s Fall Fellow’s Symposium in November 2013 on the rooftop production potential of New York City. This presentation covered a decision tree Leigh has developed to determine the suitability of New York City rooftops for agriculture.

In November 2013, Katia Perini lectured at Lehigh University on vertical greening systems and the sustainable design practice for urban areas and also presented at the Earth Institute’s Junior Researchers Forum that month on the integration of vegetation. Her second book, Progettare il verde in citta’: strategie per un’Architettura sostenibile, was published that year by Franco… read more

The Urban Design Lab (UDL) was asked in November 2013 to participate in a Tuition Aid Grant as Technical Advisor for the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, continuing a research commitment to the revitalization of the area that started in 2006 with a broad study of the area and the analysis of pollution, remediation possibilities, and… read more

Richard Plunz was featured in October 2013 in a film interview on the future of Brooklyn shown at De Singel in Antwerp, Belgium, as part of an exhibition contrasting the development of the New York borough with urbanization in Flanders.

Leigh Witthinghill presented at the Ecological Society of America annual conference in Minneapolis in October 2013 on the evaluation of nutrient management and mulching strategies for vegetable production on an extensive green roof.