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Resilient Transformations: Clean Energy, Justice and Green Infrastructure

  • 79 5th Avenue, 16th Floor New York, NY 10003 (map)

A New School Research Centers & Institutes Seminar Series

Join researchers from the Tishman Environment and Design Center and the Urban Systems Lab for a conversation exploring new research on environmental policy, sustainability and urban resilience! As increasing resources and attention get directed toward climate and clean energy initiatives, it is imperative to understand how these efforts both contribute toward and detract from social and racial equity. Yukyan Lam and Anna Yulsman from the Tishman Center will present a Delaware-based case study investigating whether low-income communities and communities of Color are benefiting from renewable energy rebates to the same extent as other communities. Loan Diep from the Urban Systems Lab will present research on the conceptualization and politics of green infrastructure in informal settlements in Brazil. Together, the speakers will discuss how their work converges as well as areas for future research and inquiry.


This is the first in an ongoing series featuring work from staff, faculty and students involved in The New School’s Centers, Labs and Institutes’ research across campus.


Open to all New School students, faculty and staff! Light refreshments will be provided.

Presented by Urban Systems Lab, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School Office of Research Support

Yukyan Lam is Research Director and Senior Scientist at the Tishman Center, where she helps develop and manage the Center's portfolio of climate and environmental justice research. Her work aims to support environmental justice organizations and coalitions in their advocacy at the local, state and federal levels. Yukyan’s experience also includes research and advocacy on human rights, health, and environmental challenges in Latin America and Bangladesh. Her expertise draws on public health, spatial analysis, community-based science, and qualitative research methods. She holds a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health


Anna Yulsman is a research analyst at the Tishman Center. She contributes to background research, data collection and organization, data visualization, report writing, and relationship building with community partners. She also assists with the design of the methodology for research projects as well as providing technical guidance to project patterns to execute data collection, visualization and mapping for the dissemination and use of research results. Prior to her role as research analyst, Anna was a program coordinator with the center where she also helped run the operations and communications of the center. Anna has a MA from the New School in Theories of Urban Practice. Her passions include trying new foods and dance. 


Loan Diep is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Urban Systems Lab, working on concepts and applications of Nature-Based Solutions in urban contexts. Her research interests are in the green development of cities with a focus on the socio-spatial and political inclusion of ‘informal’ settlements. For her doctoral research, she investigated the urban politics of development and implementation of green infrastructure for river restoration in favelas of São Paulo, in Brazil. Loan also built 10 years of experience working in urban water and sanitation, particularly in policy advocacy. She conducted projects in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. She has collaborated with intergovernmental institutions such as UNEP and UNICEF, as well as think tanks and NGOs like the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI). Loan holds a PhD in Urban Studies, an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development and a BSc in Environmental Geography from University College London (UCL).