Timon McPhearson | |
---|---|
Nationality | United States |
Occupation(s) | Urban ecologist, researcher, academic, author |
Years active | 1997—present |
Awards | Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America (2023) |
Academic background | |
Education |
|
Alma mater | Columbia University, Rutgers University, Taylor University |
Thesis | The Complexity of Cooperation in Ecological Communities (2004) |
Doctoral advisor | Peter J. Morin |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Ecology |
Sub-discipline | Urban ecology |
Institutions | The New School |
Main interests | Urban planning,urban ecology,urban forests,social-ecological-technological systems (SETS),urban resilience,climate change risk,adaptation |
Timon McPhearson is an American urban ecologist,researcher,academic and author. [1] [2] [3] [4] He is Professor of Urban Ecology at The New School and the founder and director of its Urban Systems Lab. [5] McPhearson is known for his interdisciplinary research on the interacting social-ecological-technological processes that drive urban system dynamics and impact human well-being. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] He is a Research Fellow at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies [11] and Stockholm Resilience Centre. [12] [13] McPhearson received the 2023 [lower-alpha 1] Sustainability Science Award [14] from the Ecological Society of America. [15]
McPhearson received a B.S. in Environmental Biology from Taylor University 1997,and then a PhD in ecology,Evolution,and Natural Resources from Rutgers University in 2004. In 2008,he finished his Postdoctoral research in Ecology,Evolution,and Environmental Biology (E3B) from the Earth Institute at Columbia University. [3]
From 2003 to 2005,McPhearson worked as a biodiversity scientist for the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). And from 2004 to 2009,he worked as a scientist for the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners at the AMNH, [16] including as a scientific advisor at Science Bulletins,an original production of the National Center for Science Literacy,Education,and Technology (NCSLET),which is also a part of the Department of Education at AMNH.
In 2016,McPhearson co-founded the Future Earth Urban Knowledge Network,an international network of multidisciplinary researchers and innovators working on resolving cumbersome urban problems worldwide and served as co-chair until 2021.
From 2019 to 2021,McPhearson consulted for UN-HABITAT,CGIAR's Research Program on Climate Change,Agriculture and Food Security,the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
During the COVID-19 pandemic,and from 2020 to 2022,McPhearson was a member at the NYC Mayor's Office of Resiliency Rapid Research and Assessment Initiative on COVID-19 and a partner at NYC Mayor's Office of Data Analytics and the Mayor's Office of Policy and Planning,COVID Recovery Data Partnership. [17] [18] [19]
McPhearson has been an adviser at the World Resources Institute,Ross Center for Sustainable Cities since 2020,an inaugural member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Global Commission on BiodiverCities since 2021,and member of The New School's Zolberg Institute's Cities and Human Mobility Research Collaborative since 2020 and Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School since 2016.
McPhearson contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) first global assessment as a contributing author from 2018 to 2020,and a Lead Author for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [3] Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). [20] [21]
From 2008 to 2009,McPhearson was a Visiting assistant professor of ecology at Columbia University's Earth Institute.
From 2008 to 2016,McPhearson was an assistant professor of Urban Ecology at The New School. [22] He was tenured at associate professor level in 2016 and appointed as Full Professor in 2021.
In 2015,McPhearson founded the Urban Systems Lab at The New School and has been serving as its director,and from 2015 to 2017,he served as a chair of the Environmental Studies Program at The New School. [23]
In 2017,McPhearson was a Visiting Research Fellow at Humboldt University. He has also been serving as a Senior Research Fellow at both the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and at Stockholm University's Stockholm Resilience Center since 2017. [12] [14]
In 2021,McPhearson became a Faculty Affiliate at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, [24] Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiology, public health, and home economics, among others.
Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.
William Rees, FRSC, is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and former director of the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at UBC.
Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to the effects of climate change. These can be both current or expected impacts. Adaptation aims to moderate or avoid harm for people. It also aims to exploit opportunities. Humans may also intervene to help adjustment for natural systems. There are many adaptation strategies or options. They can help manage impacts and risks to people and nature. Adaptation actions can be classified in four ways: infrastructural and technological; institutional; behavioural and cultural; and nature-based options.
In ecology, urban ecosystems are considered a ecosystem functional group within the intensive land-use biome. They are structurally complex ecosystems with highly heterogeneous and dynamic spatial structure that is created and maintained by humans. They include cities, smaller settlements and industrial areas, that are made up of diverse patch types. Urban ecosystems rely on large subsidies of imported water, nutrients, food and other resources. Compared to other natural and artificial ecosystems human population density is high, and their interaction with the different patch types produces emergent properties and complex feedbacks among ecosystem components.
Climate risk is the potential for negative consequences for human or ecological systems from the impacts of climate change. It refers to risk assessments based on formal analysis of the consequences, likelihoods and responses to these impacts and how societal constraints shape adaptation options. However, the science also recognises different values and preferences around risk, and the importance of risk perception.
In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and subsequently recovering. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic events such as fires, flooding, windstorms, insect population explosions, and human activities such as deforestation, fracking of the ground for oil extraction, pesticide sprayed in soil, and the introduction of exotic plant or animal species. Disturbances of sufficient magnitude or duration can profoundly affect an ecosystem and may force an ecosystem to reach a threshold beyond which a different regime of processes and structures predominates. When such thresholds are associated with a critical or bifurcation point, these regime shifts may also be referred to as critical transitions.
A social-ecological system consists of 'a bio-geo-physical' unit and its associated social actors and institutions. Social-ecological systems are complex and adaptive and delimited by spatial or functional boundaries surrounding particular ecosystems and their context problems.
Urban resilience has conventionally been defined as the "measurable ability of any urban system, with its inhabitants, to maintain continuity through all shocks and stresses, while positively adapting and transforming towards sustainability".
Carl Folke, is a trans-disciplinary environmental scientist and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is a specialist in economics, resilience, and social-ecological systems, viewing such systems as intertwined and potentially unexpected in their interactions. As a framework for resource management, this perspective brings important insights to environmental management, urban planning, and climate adaptation. He suggests ways to improve our ability to understand complex social-ecological interactions, deal with change, and build resilience, often working at smaller scales as a step towards addressing larger scales.
Climate resilience is defined as the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance". This is done by "responding or reorganising in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation". The key focus of increasing climate resilience is to reduce the climate vulnerability that communities, states, and countries currently have with regards to the many effects of climate change. Efforts to build climate resilience encompass social, economic, technological, and political strategies that are being implemented at all scales of society. From local community action to global treaties, addressing climate resilience is becoming a priority, although it could be argued that a significant amount of the theory has yet to be translated into practice.
The contributions of women in climate change have received increasing attention in the early 21st century. Feedback from women and the issues faced by women have been described as "imperative" by the United Nations and "critical" by the Population Reference Bureau. A report by the World Health Organization concluded that incorporating gender-based analysis would "provide more effective climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Nature-based solutions is the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes to tackle socio-environmental issues. These issues include for example climate change, water security, food security, preservation of biodiversity, and disaster risk reduction. Through the use of NBS healthy, resilient, and diverse ecosystems can provide solutions for the benefit of both societies and overall biodiversity. The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit highlighted nature-based solutions as an effective method to combat climate change. For example, NBS in the context of climate action can include natural flood management, restoring natural coastal defences, providing local cooling, restoring natural fire regimes.
Karachepone N. Ninan is an ecological economist. Dr. Ninan was born in Nairobi, Kenya where he had his early school education. Thereafter he relocated to India where he continued his high school and college education.
Nancy B. Grimm is an American ecosystem ecologist and professor at Arizona State University. Grimm's substantial contributions to the understanding of urban and arid ecosystem biogeochemistry are recognized in her numerous awards. Grimm is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Ecological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Elena M. Bennett is an American ecosystem ecologist specializing in studying the interactions of ecosystem services on landscape. She is currently a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Science at McGill University. She was inducted to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists in 2017. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022 and became a Guggenheim Fellow in the same year.
The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the sixth in a series of reports which assess scientific, technical, and socio-economic information concerning climate change. Three Working Groups covered the following topics: The Physical Science Basis (WGI); Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (WGII); Mitigation of Climate Change (WGIII). Of these, the first study was published in 2021, the second report February 2022, and the third in April 2022. The final synthesis report was finished in March 2023.
Xuemei Bai (白雪梅) is a professor for Urban Environment and Human Ecology at the Australian National University. She was the winner of the 2018 Volvo Environmental Prize, and is an elected fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Sander Ernst van der Leeuw is an archaeologist, historian, academic, and author. He is an Emeritus Foundation Professor of Anthropology and Sustainability, Director Emeritus of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and the Founding Director of School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.
Aliyu Salisu Barau is a Nigerian academic and a full professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Bayero University Kano. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Bayero University Kano and the West Africa Hub Director of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), affiliated with the Earth Institute, Columbia University. He is also a Chartered Town Planner of the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
In Central Park, I met Timon McPhearson, a professor of urban ecology at the New School. McPhearson studies how animals and plants get from one place to the next; for the last 10 years, he has been thinking about how to connect big "reservoirs of biodiversity," like Central Park, to everything else. Even things as small as the walled-in tree pits all along the sidewalk outside the park. "That's a dot," he said, pointing to one. "I want to connect the dots."
Timon McPhearson, director of the Urban Systems Lab at the New School, has spent the last decade studying the disproportionate impact this heat has on Black and brown neighborhoods, where a paucity of tree cover and green space creates "urban heat islands" whose air temperature can be two to four degrees warmer than neighboring areas, with the difference in surface temperatures many times that.
McPhearson received his B.S. degree in 1997, studying Environmental Biology at Taylor University. He then pursued a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, graduating from Rutgers University in 2004. McPhearson is also a lead member of the urban systems chapter within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. For McPhearson, it is urgent to develop urban ecology as a field. Given the far-ranging impacts of urban development, from climate change to human migration, a new scientific field helps investigate common threads.
While most New Yorkers were just rolling out of their beds on Saturday morning, Timon McPhearson was already at work in the middle of a forest, marking holes in the ground with a can of spray paint. McPhearson, an ecology professor at The New School, was there to plant thousands of cedar, oak and walnut trees in experimental plots, as part of his long-term study to evaluate the environmental effects of a citywide reforestation program called MillionTreesNYC.
Timon McPhearson, a professor and the director of the Urban Systems Lab at the New School, argues that there is not one perfect solution for climate proofing the city's subway platforms. He says there needs to be a tiered approach that can work on addressing different causes of flooding during a storm.
Timon McPhearson, director of the Urban Systems Lab at The New School who studies the disproportionate impact that heat has on Black and brown neighborhoods, said generally cities have been built and designed in the 20th century in a way that traps heat, making them much hotter than surrounding areas and much hotter in poorer communities and communities of color.
"It's unlikely that you're going to be able to stop flooding entirely," says Timon McPhearson, a professor of Urban Ecology at the New School as well as a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. McPhearson says there's no standard closure that would block off water in basement apartments because of the variety of the apartments.
"You get used to hearing people refer to the most vulnerable areas of the city as low-income and Black and brown, but it really is shocking when you see the spatial overlap of where Black and brown communities live, the air conditioning adaptation and the very high heat," said Timon McPhearson, who directs the Urban Systems Lab at the New School, which maps heat vulnerability in the city. "It's long-term systemic racism that has put the most vulnerable people in vulnerable areas."
One of the aspects McPhearson is most concerned with is that plans for urban sustainability and resiliency don't exclude or harm minority or poorer neighborhoods.
"One of the things I think we've realized is that ... the way we've developed [cities] over the last century … isn't working when it comes to protecting everyone from climate change, but it's specifically not working for particular communities that have less green space," explained Timon McPhearson, who maps climate risks in New York City to understand which neighborhoods are most at risk. He's found that low income communities are the hottest and the most vulnerable to flooding. This is not a coincidence.
Pickett collaborated with Timon McPhearson, a Research Fellow at Cary Institute and Professor at The New School in New York City, and lead author Weiqi Zhou of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, on the paper, which is the first to bring together five leading frameworks of urban ecology.
Erik Andersson and Timon McPhearson are among the centre researchers who will benefit from being part of "Nature-based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene" (NATURA). This umbrella network bring together a host of other networks in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North and Latin America. It is funded by the US National Science Foundation for US$2,000,000 for five years.
With the input of researchers like McPhearson, New York City has developed plans to improve its defenses against storm-caused flooding. A forward-looking stormwater resiliency plan released in May 2021 included an assessment of flood risk across the city and proposed solutions ranging from social strategies, like educating local city councils on flood risks, to engineering techniques such as more green roofs and rain gardens.
"The more accurate understanding we have of where it's likely to flood, the better we can prioritize investments to build resiliency to protect against flooding," said Timon McPhearson, an associate professor of urban ecology at The New School.
McPhearson's ongoing research into how individuals are responding to the Covid-19 crisis indicates that people are visiting green spaces more often than they did before.
McPhearson is a lead author of the IPCC's sixth edition of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Assessment Report and a contributing author to IPBES' assessment reports.