Bard Press Releases

Bard College to Host Expert Panel on Rebuilding New Orleans on Thursday, November 20

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Thursday, November 20, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy (BCEP) and Bard Urban Studies in New Orleans Program (NOI) will host a panel discussion with four distinguished speakers exploring the redevelopment of New Orleans and viable options for urban planning and environmental policy post–Katrina. The event, “Urban Environmental Sustainability—Rebuilding New Orleans,” is free and open to the public and will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 103 of the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation. Directly following the panel discussion at 7 p.m., there will be information sessions for prospective students to find out more about both the BCEP and NOI programs. Light refreshments will be served.

With a rapidly changing climate, a growing population, and the collapse of ecosystems across the globe, urban environmental policies and redevelopment plans must meet our development goals without undermining the integrity of the environment or our communities. Cities such as New Orleans offer valuable points of reference for the development of new ideas in urban policy, planning, and sustainability. Bard’s panel will explore such questions as: What does the post-disaster experience in New Orleans contribute to our knowledge of how cities should develop and function? How do the previous three years in New Orleans inform notions of urban development and sustainability pertaining to all cities? How should cities best reconcile the need to protect their citizens from environmental threats with the need to protect residents’ rights to their private property? And more broadly, what are the connections between issues of environmental policy and issues of public and social policy?

Panelists:

Mark K. Fischetti is an editor at Scientific American and managing editor of its new magazine, Earth 3.0. His 2001 article, “Drowning New Orleans,” in Scientific American, predicted the widespread disaster that a hurricane like Katrina would impose, and described comprehensive projects that would save the Mississippi delta. After Katrina hit he appeared as an expert on CNN, NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Tim Russert, the History Channel, NPR News, and international media. He published “Protecting New Orleans” in Scientific American’s February 2006 issue, which presented engineering solutions to protect New Orleans and deltas worldwide from future storms. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, and other leading publications. He is coauthor of The New Killer Diseases (Crown, 2003) with Boston University microbiologist Elinor Levy, and of Weaving the Web (HarperCollins, 1999) with Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web. He lives in Lenox, Mass.

Michael Haggerty is an urban designer and planner with SMWM LLP. He lives in Brooklyn and earned a B.A. from Bard in 2002 and a master’s in urban planning with distinction from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He worked with Frederic Schwartz Architects from 2006 to 2007 on the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP), a six-month recovery planning process sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. Over the past year, he has worked with the City of Newark on a new master plan and with Bard College on a campus design framework. Frederic Schwartz Architects was assigned to create a “District Recovery Plan” for two New Orleans planning districts, which included 21 neighborhoods. At the time, 40 percent of New Orleans’ returned population was living in these neighborhoods.

Peter G. Stillman is a professor in the Department of Political Science, Vassar College. He holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. He participates in Vassar's American Culture Program and Environmental Studies Program, which he directed from 2003 to 2006 and in which he teaches frequently. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on utopian political thought, Hegel’s political philosophy, Marx’s theories, and ecological issues, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Most recently, he has published a coauthored book chapter with Adelaide Villmoare on “Social Justice after Katrina: The Need for a Revitalized Public Sphere”; another chapter, on New Orleans in the two years since Katrina, is forthcoming.

Adelaide H. Villmoare is a professor in the Department of Political Science, Vassar College. She earned a B.A. degree from Smith College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from New York University. She teaches courses in American politics, including American politics and democracy, justice and lower courts, media and politics, feminism and women in legal process, and the politics of public and private. She has long been involved in the American Culture Program, where she has taught a variety of courses, including “The Culture of Killing.” Her current research examines the politics of rights, and issues of public and private in post–Katrina New Orleans. Recent publications include “Law and Order in Katrina: Policing and the Politics of Public and Private in New Orleans,” Studies in Law, Politics, and Society (forthcoming 2007); with Peter G. Stillman, “Social Justice After Katrina: The Need for a Revitalized Public Sphere,” in Through the Eye of Katrina, eds. Kristin A. Bates and Richelle S. Swan (Carolina Academic Press, 2007).

Sponsoring Programs

The Bard Center for Environmental Policy (BCEP) is a graduate program at Bard College that is committed to developing strategies to address environmental challenges through effective, science-based policy solutions. BCEP offers multiple degree options, including a Masters of Science in Environmental Policy. The unique 3-2 option for Bard College undergraduate students allows Bard undergraduates to obtain an MS and BA in 5 short years. www.bard.edu/cep

The Bard Urban Studies in New Orleans Program (NOI) offers a unique and highly-selective 8-week program in New Orleans. The program’s 20 students investigate notions of urbanism, ecology, and social policy, both in seminar style-classes and in demanding internships. The program accepts students from Bard and Simon’s Rock, as well as from other institutions. www.bard.edu/neworleans

For more information about this event, please contact Molly Williams at 845-758-7071 or e-mail [email protected].

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This event was last updated on 11-12-2008

Bard Press Contact:

Darren O'Sullivan
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