Academic Year 2016-17    

· Winter-Spring 2017 · 
Ervin  ·  Blackhurst  ·  Hollingsworth-Segedy  ·  Carter

"Smart Cities and Sustainability"

Grant Ervin

Friday, January 20th, 2017 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

Grant serves as the Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Pittsburgh where he oversees the integration of sustainability and resilience into City services, programs and policy. Prior to joining the City of Pittsburgh, Grant served as the Regional Director for 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a statewide smart growth and sustainable development policy organization; and as Public Policy Manager for Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG).

Grant brings fifteen years of experience, intersecting the worlds of environmental, community & economic development and infrastructure policy to create innovative and sustainable solutions for local governments, community development organizations and state agencies. Grant has helped lead the development of a variety of innovative programs including Pittsburgh’s inclusion in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Initiative; the creation of the Uptown Eco-Innovation District, District Energy Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh and Neighborhood Community Information System and the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative.

Developing “smart cities” is a hot topic in the area of urban development and municipal management, but what is it?  City of Pittsburgh was selected in 2016 as a U.S. Department of Transportation finalist for the department’s Smart Cities Challenge. Representatives from the City of Pittsburgh will discuss highlights of the proposal, lessons learned and opportunities for integration of smart city approaches to enhancing the sustainability and delivery of services within the City.

"Parcel Scale Green Infrastructure Siting and Cost Effectiveness Analysis for Pittsburgh, PA"

Michael Blackhurst, PhD

Friday, February 3rd, 2017 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

Michael is currently a Research Development Manager at the University Center for Social & Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh.  His research is robustly interdisciplinary, drawing especially from engineering, economics, and statistics.  Dr. Blackhurst oversees applied and basic research and consulting projects in the education, energy, and environmental sectors. His record demonstrates strong leadership in developing robust, data-driven decision-support resources for a wide array of stakeholders.  Current research and consulting domains include energy and water demand-side management for the buildings sector, regional climate change mitigation and adaptation, regional water resource planning, and environmental life cycle assessment.  His work has been profiled in the New York Times and National Geographic.  Dr. Blackhurst has eight plus years of experience leading a diverse array of engineering consulting services for public sector clients.

Visit the project website here.

"Building Community and Ecological Resiliency Through Obsolete Infrastructure Removal"

Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, AICP

Friday, February 17th, 2017 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

Lisa is Associate Director for River Restoration, working in American Rivers’ PA Field Office since 2008.  Lisa works to restore rivers to provide resiliency, ecosystem services, habitat connectivity, public safety and recreation access through stream barrier removals and riparian corridor restoration.  She has been the project manager for more than 75 dam removals and 4 culvert replacement projects.   She is promoting the application of Transfer of Development Rights to flood risk reduction in Pennsylvania.  Lisa has been a guest lecturer at Emory University, University of West Georgia, and University of Pittsburgh, and adjunct faculty at the College of Charleston and Metropolitan Community College of Kansas City.

Lisa’s previous experience includes public, private, nonprofit and academic positions.  Her education includes an undergraduate degree in Geology and graduate study in Hydrogeology.

In addition, Lisa is a professional storyteller and a member of the Edgewood Volunteer Fire Department. She lives in Edgewood, PA with her husband Jim.  Her favorite river is the Wild & Scenic Upper Allegheny river.

Hear more from Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy in her interview with The Allegheny Front:  http://www.alleghenyfront.org/pennsylvania-is-leading-the-nation-in-dam-removals/

"Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe"

Donald K. Carter, FAIA

Friday, March 24th, 2017 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

Don is David Lewis Director of the Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. He is also Track Chair of the Master of Urban Design program in the School of Architecture.  Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon University in July 2009, Don was President of Urban Design Associates in Pittsburgh where for thirty-six years he led many of the firm’s most complex projects, drawing upon his broad international experience as an architect, urban designer, and developer. Don is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and a member of the Urban Land Institute. Don has lectured internationally on urban design and architecture. He authored the opening chapter of SynergiCity: Reinventing the Post-Industrial City (University of Illinois Press, 2012). His newest book is Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe (Routledge, 2016), documenting ten city case studies from the international Remaking Cities Congress that he co-chaired in Pittsburgh in October 2013. Don currently serves on the board of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and previously served on the boards of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Pittsburgh Zoo, Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Leadership Pittsburgh. Don earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University and did post-graduate study in urban design and regional planning at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.