Joel Towers Named to the Fourth New York City Panel on Climate Change Leadership Team
Joel Towers, Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design at Parsons School of Design and Director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center, was named to the leadership team for the fourth New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). The leadership team, consisting of a diverse and distinguished group of academics, researchers, and practitioners with expertise in climate science, environmental studies, demography, urban planning, architecture, and design, will oversee the selection of the full panel and lead the development of the NPCC4 assessment report.
The NPCC is an independent body that analyzes climate risks to New York City and advises on resiliency and adaptation to help ensure the city is prepared to withstand and emerge stronger from the multiple impacts of climate change. Responsible for producing science on current and projected climate trends for the NYC metropolitan area, its work informs the City’s adaptation planning and is used in the engineering and design of coastal resiliency projects.
“I am confident that this diverse and talented leadership team will fight to protect all New Yorkers from the effects of global warming,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a press release. “With expertise in climate science, environmental studies, demography, urban planning, architecture, and design, this team will ensure that we are looking at every possible way we can make New York City more resilient.”
“Climate change underlies a paradigm shift in how to think about, design, and construct the city. The NPCC is critically important to understanding the nature of this change and assuring a just and prosperous transition. I am honored to join my colleagues in this work,” added Towers.
The NPCC will undertake the development of its fourth assessment initiative, with the goal of releasing the first in a series of NPCC4 products starting in late 2021. The NPCC’s fourth assessment will enhance the City’s understanding of and response to climate impacts and vulnerabilities, as well as analyze the state of adaptation and resilience to these potential impacts.
The additional members of the NPCC leadership team include Deborah Balk, Professor of Public Affairs in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College at the City University of New York (CUNY), Professor in the Economics, and Sociology PhD Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Associate Director of the CUNY Institute of Demographic Research; Christian Braneon, scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a visiting professor in the Environmental Science department at Barnard College; Robin Leichenko, Professor and Chair of Geography at Rutgers University and co-Director of the Rutgers Climate Institute; and Richard Moss, Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, and Senior Scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland.