FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Anthony Flint
617-661-3016 x116
NEW ORLEANS RECOVERY CHIEF TO LEAD GLOBAL WARMING PROJECT FOR LINCOLN INSTITUTE
Research by Edward Blakely will focus on adaptation to harmful impacts in coastal cities
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Edward J. Blakely, a professor of urban planning at the University of Sydney and recently named by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to lead the rebuilding effort following Hurricane Katrina, will lead research on how cities can adapt to climate change for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Blakely, former deputy mayor of Oakland and former dean at the New School University of New York, was named a research fellow for 2006-2007 to study how global warming threatens cities worldwide, through devastating changes in natural systems near densely populated communities.
Blakely’s research will bring together current scientific knowledge on climate change for modeling and designing new urban settlements, as well as retrofitting old ones, said Armando Carbonell, chair of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Insitute.
“Cities are on the front lines of climate change, both in trying to do something about it and adapting to the worst impacts that are anticipated, such as flooding due to any rise in sea level,” Carbonell said.
Steps to reduce carbon emissions and use energy more efficiently were reviewed at a meeting of big-city planning directors last fall at the Lincoln Institute. In terms of adaptation, many cities are taking their cue from insurance companies concerned about changes in natural systems in the decades ahead.
The Blakely research will lead to the design of more robust visualization and analytical tools to support policies leading to urban settlement systems that better respond to natural events such as cyclones, high temperatures, storms, fires and floods.
The link between land use and climate change is a growing area of investigation for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think-tank based in Cambridge, Mass. that sponsors research on land policy, planning and tax policy as it relates to land. More information on the Lincoln Institute is at www.lincolninst.edu.
“Being in New Orleans will strengthen this research, and I look forward to creating models to help planners, policymakers and citizens take the steps that are necessary,” said Blakely.
Blakely is professor at the Planning Research Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia, visiting professor in urban and regional studies at the University of New Orleans. He began this month as executive director of recovery management in New Orleans.
# # #