At this highly interactive half-day symposium, we will bring together national and international experts from academic, public and private sectors who are currently engaged in cross-sectoral IWM approaches for urban stormwater and coastal resiliency to share their experiences, lessons learned in these endeavors and to discuss plans for meeting future challenges.

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Urban flooding poses risks to human health and safety, causes extensive property damage, exposes vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and leads to the degradation of adjacent waters. In coastal cities the risks are compounded when chronic and extreme rainfall coincides with storm surges and high tides. With projected increased frequency of extreme precipitation and storm events associated with climate change, these problems will become even more acute for coastal cities and their surrounding areas. Responding to this myriad of challenges will require dynamic planning with holistic and integrated water management (IWM) approaches that span jurisdictional and geographical boundaries and that provide equitable solutions to meet both community and environmental needs.

IWM encompasses a broad array of context-dependent practices which will require diverse, cross-sectoral expertise from and between academic, public and private sectors to meet its full potential. While there is much engagement between municipal and private sectors in the implementation of IWM approaches, collaboration with academic institutions is also critically important for introducing innovation and for training a well-equipped workforce to meet current and future challenges. As many cities (national and international) explore IWM solutions and engage in these cross-sectoral collaborations, there is much to be gained from city-to-city information exchange about successes, challenges, and dynamic planning approaches.

The symposium is aligned with Theme 4 (Water for Cooperation) and will be comprised of both expert panels and breakout sessions for audience engagement.

Confirmed and invited participants include:

Ahmed Aboutaleb (Mayor of Rotterdam, *invited)

Mazdak Arabi (Colorado State University)

Pinar Balci (NYC Dept. of Env. Protection)

Sachin Bhoite (C40 Cities)

Brett Branco (CUNY-Brooklyn College and SRI@JB)

Jennifer Cherrier (CUNY-Brooklyn College)

Alan Cohn (NYC Dept. of Env. Protection)

Piet Dirck (Arcadis)

Carrie Grassie (NYC Mayor’s Office)

Robert Freudenberg (Regional Plan Association)

Amanda Ikert, (C40 Cities)

Lykke Leonardsen (Green City Climate Solutions and Copenhagen Municipality Technical & Env. Admin.)

Lot Locher (One Architecture)

Andrea Silverman (New York University)

Trine Stausgaard Munk (Henning Larsen)