We face the biggest design challenge in history. We must remake our built environment to sustain our populations, our economies, and our planetary home, and we must do it quickly. The coastal regions of the US are already feeling the effects of climate change with sea level rise, a warming atmosphere, and the increased severity of storms. Our ecosystems, industries, energy systems, homes and businesses are facing unprecedented risks.

These are “wicked problems” and they demand creative, innovative thinking to synthesize and evaluate complex scientific data, policy protocols, technical solutions and social science dimensions. Design provides a means to visualize cultural values and new possibilities. This workshop uses art and design thinking to productively engage with alternative futures, by focusing on real, immediate, and local dimensions of the current crises with optimistic visions for a post carbon future.

● Gallery Talk­ - We will review resiliency emerging themes manifested in student research projects across multiple disciplines and institutions over the last three years.

● Design Workshop -­ We will engage local citizens, community leaders and business owners with design teams to frame the challenges and begin to imagine alternative scenarios.

● Presentation and Panel Discussion - ­We will learn what other cities in our region are already doing to adapt and mitigate climate impacts. This event is part of a coordinated effort among RISD, University of Rhode Island, and Brown University, with contributions from Roger Williams University and Johnson and Wales to expand the conversation about climate change and empower regional actors to address the future with vision and energy. This generation, across these institutions, are working hard to imagine a vibrant and viable future. Please join them in this venture.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
(20 Washington Place)

12:00 p.m. Exhibition Opens - ­Light lunch provided (Lobby)
12:30 p.m. Gallery Talk: Future Visions (Lobby)
2:00 p.m. Workshop: Designing a Resilient Providence (Room 143)
5:30 p.m. Reception (Lobby)
6:00 p.m. Presentation and Panel Discussion (Room 143)

Global Perspective on Green Infrastructure
Hillary Brown, New Civic Works, CUNY

New England Cities Face Sea Level Rise
Bridgeport CT, Alan Plattus, Yale Urban Design Workshop, Yale
Boston, MA, Jeff Geisinger, Utile Architecture and Planning, Boston

Hillary Brown FAIA is Professor of Architecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York, City University of New York. She is the Program Director of City College's interdisciplinary Master’s program: Sustainability in the Urban Environment, developed with the Grove School of Engineering, Spitzer School of Architecture and CCNY’s Division of Science, and Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.

Her book, Next Generation Infrastructure: Principles for Post Industrial Public Works (Island Press 2014) has been widely acclaimed. A subsequent book, Infrastructural Ecologies: Alternative Development Models for Emerging Economies, (MIT Press, 2017) reflects her research interest in circular models for infrastructure placement in developing nations

Hillary Brown recently served for six years on the Board of Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment under the National Research Council of the National Academies. She is a Fellow with the Post Carbon Institute, a Senior Policy Fellow with the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems, Affiliated Faculty with CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center, and a Senior Policy Advisor at the Ecologic Institute, U.S.. She has served on the National and NYC Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council. A 1999 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, she was a 2001 Robert Bosch Public Policy Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.

Hillary received her M. Arch at the Yale University School of Architecture and her B.A. at Oberlin College. She is a frequent speaker, moderator and keynoter. She has given well over one hundred and forty presentations, nationally and internationally, over the last 15 years.