Thank you all for coming to the in-person sessions of Metabolism of Cities: Pt. 2. It was a blast to host you!

Metabolism of Cities: an invitation to explore Nature’s metabolisms & the metabolisms of our Built worlds; discovering the problems and finding the opportunities for true sustainability.

Our built environments, driven by consumption, mimic and employ part of Nature’s metabolism, but disconnect from it at the point where we create the waste stream. This disconnection triggers a cascade of issues socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically.

Metabolism of Nature runs the living planet with each organism playing its part; sustaining, optimizing, recovering, breaking and building, under the unnegotiable laws of Nature.

SOILS: are the dynamic force supporting all life that runs the planet.

Integrating them back into the built environment reconnects us to the non-built environments, making soils the fundamental opportunity for metabolism repair, enabling true sustainable development for human and environmental health & wellness.

This is a platform bringing together different disciplines, sectors, and backgrounds for discussion and building action items together. We are inviting you to bring your projects, ideas, research, stories, and explorations to share.

Soils Unite!

Virtual Session Presentations

Gallery

Contributors

**Kate Amrine**
Performer, Educator, Composer
**Presentation:** *Go to the Garden*
**Portfolio Website**

**Wendy Brawer**
Eco-designer, Cultural Creative, Founder of Green Map System
**Exhibit:** *Green Maps*
**Portfolio Website**

**Tori Coleman**
Urban Beekeeper, MPH Graduate Student at SUNY-Downstate
**Presentation:** *Assessment of the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate*

**Brian Fath, PhD**
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University
**Presentation:** *Sustainability for Regenerative Economics*
**ResearchGate**

**Stephanie Garon**
Artist, Writer, Poet
**Presentation:** *Cement Sinkers versus Clay Tinkers*
**Portfolio Website**

**Heather Kapplow**
Multidisciplinary Artist
**Exhibit:** *Dirty Signs: Dirt Emoji Workshop*
**Portfolio Website**

**Mark Maddaloni, DrPH**
Toxicologist and Health Scientist
**Presentation:** *Implications of EPA's Proposed Dust Hazard Standard on Lead Screening Levels*
**ResearchGate**

**Katherine Patiño Miranda**
Artist, Founder of Creative Nature NYC
**Exhibit:** *Practice 101 (Primal Ground)*
**Portfolio Website**

**Liz Parades**
Land Steward and Community Educator
**Presentation:** *Community Culturing with Indigenous MicroOrganisms*

**Susan L. Smith, PhD**
Artist & Educator, Graduate Coordinator of Intermedia Programs Associate Professor of Research at University of Maine
**Exhibit:** *Absence of Urgency: Nomadic Garden Cart*
**Portfolio Website**

**Walker Tufts**
Game Designer & Artist
**Presentation:** *Dirtball: Art in the Critical Zone*
**Exhibit:** *Dirty Signs: Dirt Emoji Workshop*
**Portfolio Website**

**Virginia Kasinki**
Executive Director, Newburgh Urban Farm and Food, Inc. (NUFFI)
**Presentation:** *Newburgh Urban Farm and Food Initiative - a community perspective*

**Sam Anderson**
Urban Agriculture Specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension
**Presentation:** *Urban Ag Soil Tests: Why They're Broken and How to Fix Them*

**Michele Brody**
Mixed-media Artist
**Exhibit:** *Nature in Absentia: Monarch Migrations*
**Portfolio Website**

**Pierre Coric**
Interdisciplinary Visual Artist
**Exhibit:** *The Ways We Are It*
**Portfolio Website**

**Daniel Pravit Fethke**
Interdisciplinary Conceptual Artist
**Exhibit:** *Rain/Gray/Green Water (working title)*
**Portfolio Website**

**Katerie H. Gladdys**
Transdisciplinary Artist, Associate Professor at the College of the Arts, University of Florida
**Exhibit:** *Continuous Compost*
**Portfolio Website**

**Maria Korneykova, PhD**
Researcher at the Smart Urban Nature Laboratory, RUDN University
**Presentation:** *Soil Microbial Communities Found in Constructed Technosols within Cities of Different Climatic Zones*
**Exhibit:** *Scientific Poster Accompanying Presentation*
**ResearchGate**

**Jack Magai**
Arborist, Artist, Founder of More Trees Arborist Collective
**Presentation:** The Pristine and the Sullied
**Exhibit:** *Eco-Dérives*
**Portfolio Website**

**Justin Morris-Marano**
Interdisciplinary Designer, Founder of Flourish LAB
**Exhibit:** *Earth Conditions*

**Sonja Petermann**
Interdisciplinary Artist, Printmaker
**Exhibit:** *Rain/Gray/Green Water (working title)*
**Portfolio Website**

**Melody Stein**
Landscape Architect, Writer, Artist
**Exhibit:** *Earth Conditions*
**Portfolio Website**

**Daniel Walsh, PhD**
Founding Director of NYC Mayor's Office of Environmental Remediation, Founder of Clean Soil Bank, NYC Voluntary Cleanup Program and NYC Green Property Certification Program
**Moderator for Breakout Session**
**ResearchGate**

**Marisa DeDominicis**
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Earth Matter NY
**Presentation:** *A Future for Compost?*

**Journei Bimwala**
Native Plant Educator, Founder of *Each One Carry One*
**Presentation:** *Community Culturing with Indigenous MicroOrganisms*

**Diedre Brown**
PhD Candidate, Urban Systems program at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering
**Presentation:** *Assessment of the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate*
**Portfolio Website**

**Maha Deeb-Collet, PhD**
Environmental Scientist, Researcher at University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Western Switzerland
**Presentation:** *What is the best way to design constructed soils to achieve better phytomanagement outcomes?*
**ResearchGate**

**Daniel Fiscus, PhD**
Sustainability Scientist
Research Alliance for Regenerative Economics
**Presentation:** *Sustainability for Regenerative Economics*
**ResearchGate**

**Emilie Houssart**
Artist and Curator
**Presentation:** *Countercolonial Motions*
**Exhibit:** *Columbian X-change iii*
**Portfolio Website**

**Edward R. Landa, PhD**
Adjunct Professor
Department of Environmental Science and Technology
University of Maryland
**Presentation:** *DITCHIN’: Carving out space in opposite fields*
**ResearchGate**

**Paul S. Mankiewicz, PhD**
Co-Founder of the NYC Urban Soils Institute, Founder of the Gaia Institute, Chief Scientist / Co-Founder of Leaf Island
**Moderator for Breakout Session**
**ResearchGate**

**Rebecca Murtaugh**
Sculptor and Professor Art at Hamilton College
**Exhibit:** *DiG*
**Presentation:** *Clay Exchange Workshop*
**Portfolio Website**

**Alec Rovensky**
*Residency Director, Institute for Public Architecture*
**Presentation:** *Terra Dispositions x USI*
**Exhibit:** *Terra Dispositions*
**Portfolio Website**

**Candace Thompson**
*Performer & Media Maker*
**Presentation:** *Community Culturing with Indigenous MicroOrganisms*

**You**
By attending the Urban Soils Symposium, you become part of the story. Your contribution is critical!

**Margaret Boozer**
Ceramicist, Founder of Red Dirt Studio, Co-Founder & Director, USI Art Extension
**Presentation:** *Clay Exchange Workshop*
**Portfolio Website**

**Alice Brunnquell**
Interdisciplinary Artist
**Exhibit:** *The Ways We Are It*
**Portfolio Website**

**Elvira Dovletyarova, PhD**
Associate Professor, Director of the Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Development at RUDN University of Russia
**Presentation:** *Monitoring, modeling and managing urban soils and green infrastructure*
**ResearchGate**

**Vanessa Dion Fletcher**
Indigenous Artist
**Exhibit:** *Writing Landscape*
**Portfolio Website**

**Nathan Hunter**
Sustainable Community Development Professional
**Presentation:** *Community Culturing with Indigenous MicroOrganisms*

**Max Lerner**
Enviromental Developer, Founder of GROW Externships
**Moderator for Breakout Sessions**

**Mary Mattingly**
Interdisciplinary Artist
Director of SWALE
**Session Lead for Collaboration Hub**
**Portfolio Website**

**Lisa Orr**
Ceramicist, Artist, Educator, Clay Cohorts.art Mentor
**Presentation:** *Clay Exchange Workshop*
**Portfolio Website**

**Richard K. Shaw, PhD**
Soil Scientist
**Presentation:** *Clay in New York City Soils: Quality, Quantity, Relevance, Assessment*
**ResearchGate**

**Harrison Trethowan**
Graduate Student, Biology, at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering
**Presentation:** *Assessment of the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate*

**Joey Stanley**
*Chef, Butcher, Baker, Farmer; Sweet Fern Forest Farm*
**Website**

Seth Denizen, PhD

Researcher, Design Practitioner, Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis

Presentation: The Right to Sewage

**Dana Bourland**
Environmental Justice Advocate, Author of *Gray to Green Communities: A Call to Action on the Climate and Housing Crises*
**Presentation:** *Cement Sinkers versus Clay Tinkers*
**Portfolio Website**

**Progga Buiyan**
Undergraduate Student, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering
**Presentation:** *Assessment of the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate*

**Krista Dragomer**
Artist, Writer and Creative Mentor
**Exhibit:** *From the Lutum Edge / Drawing on the End of the World*
**Portfolio Website**

**Sneha Ganguly**
Mycologist, Founder of *The Fungus Festival*
**Presentation:** *Community Culturing with Indigenous MicroOrganisms*
**Portfolio Website**

**Hernán Jourdan**
Interdisciplinary Artist & Film Maker
**Presentation:** *Countercolonial Motions (working title)*
**Portfolio Website**

**George Lozefski**
Environmental Scientist, Educator, USI Team Member
**Master of Ceremonies for the 8th Annual Urban Soils Symposium - Metabolism of Cities: Pt.2**

**Heather McMordie**
Artist & Printmaker
**Presentation:** *DITCHIN’: Carving out space in opposite fields*
**Portfolio Website**

**Ben Pagac**
Entomologist, Radio Producer, Sound Artist & Musician
**Exhibit:** *From the Lutum Edge / Drawing on the End of the World*

**Jason Sinopoli**
Soils Researcher, Citizen Scientist
**Exhibit:** *Soil Microbiology at Newtown Creek*

**Marina ‘Heron’ Tsaplina**
Eco-Artist, Disability Culture Activist
**Presentation:** *Animate Soils*
**Portfolio Website**

**Povi Romero**
Artist, Native American Arts Fellow at Vilcek Foundation
**Presentation:** *Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery*

**Megan Cooper**
Youth Engagement and Education Fellow, Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust, Undergraduate Student at Syracuse University (2023)
**Presentation:** The *Role of Youth Engagement in Building Resilient Communities*

Sessions

Downloadable Agenda (In-Person Sessions only)

Thursday, November 30th, 2023, 9:15 am - 2:00 pm EST, held virtually over Zoom
Take Care of Your Own $hit!
Growing metabolism repair from waste. At present, Cities mimic Nature’s metabolism, but are fundamentally disconnected from it. This disconnection produces profound waste, and misallocation of resources and energy. High urban temperatures, environmental pollution, poor social outcomes, and inefficient supply chains are just some of the outcomes of the broken metabolic state of cities. Opportunities for sustainable development and quality of life are possible through metabolism repair, where anthropogenic waste streams and energy flows are reconnected back into a healthy exchange supported by soils.
Consumerism to waste: social, material, and energy flows, data, media, technology, Going “Green”, economy, value, commodity, quality, development, sustainability, convenience.
This is the kick-off event for the ‘Take Care’ Series, a series of workshops and demonstrations continuing into 2024. We welcome your thoughts, questions, ideas for future ‘Take Care’ topics.
The Clay Exchange
Clay can be viewed as a particle size classification, but it is by far the most charismatic one of all. Through infinitesimally small pieces, clay is able to exit the realm of purely matter and become something else entirely. It is equal parts substance, chemistry and electricity, and through these unique properties, is able to channel both biochemical and creative exchange.
Clay multiplies the reactive surfaces of other larger particles in the same way the Amazon Rainforest would to the surface of the moon. Rocks eventually decompose to clay, and clay proceeds to archive the developmental history of the broader soil, much the same way your kitchen sponge remembers the pasta bolognese from three weeks ago.
Clay is a governor of water and capillarity, and a prophet of ecosystem functions, with properties varying greatly according to origin, structure and charge.
Slippery, sticky, expanding, plastic-hard, clay changes as it is worked, fired, or mixed. Art and industry understood the dynamics of clay and its unusual characteristics to produce glass and ceramics for millennia, long before scanning probes and atomic force microscopy sought to demystify it. Nonetheless, the intuition of a skilled clay artisan often evades even the most rigorous laboratory analysis.
A world of mysteries is still to be uncovered exploring the phenomena of clay. One thing for certain is that clay is both a material and metaphor facilitating conversation among science, art and culture.
Friday, December 1st, 2023, 3:30 pm – 8:00 pm EST, held virtually over Zoom
Take Care of Your Own $hit!
Growing metabolism repair from waste. At present, Cities mimic Nature’s metabolism, but are fundamentally disconnected from it. This disconnection produces profound waste, and misallocation of resources and energy. High urban temperatures, environmental pollution, poor social outcomes, and inefficient supply chains are just some of the outcomes of the broken metabolic state of cities. Opportunities for sustainable development and quality of life are possible through metabolism repair, where anthropogenic waste streams and energy flows are reconnected back into a healthy exchange supported by soils.
Consumerism to waste: social, material, and energy flows, data, media, technology, Going “Green”, economy, value, commodity, quality, development, sustainability, convenience.
This is the kick-off event for the ‘Take Care’ Series, a series of workshops and demonstrations continuing into 2024. We welcome your thoughts, questions, ideas for future ‘Take Care’ topics.
The Clay Exchange
Clay can be viewed as a particle size classification, but it is by far the most charismatic one of all. Through infinitesimally small pieces, clay is able to exit the realm of purely matter and become something else entirely. It is equal parts substance, chemistry and electricity, and through these unique properties, is able to channel both biochemical and creative exchange.
Clay multiplies the reactive surfaces of other larger particles in the same way the Amazon Rainforest would to the surface of the moon. Rocks eventually decompose to clay, and clay proceeds to archive the developmental history of the broader soil, much the same way your kitchen sponge remembers the pasta bolognese from three weeks ago.
Clay is a governor of water and capillarity, and a prophet of ecosystem functions, with properties varying greatly according to origin, structure and charge.
Slippery, sticky, expanding, plastic-hard, clay changes as it is worked, fired, or mixed. Art and industry understood the dynamics of clay and its unusual characteristics to produce glass and ceramics for millennia, long before scanning probes and atomic force microscopy sought to demystify it. Nonetheless, the intuition of a skilled clay artisan often evades even the most rigorous laboratory analysis.
A world of mysteries is still to be uncovered exploring the phenomena of clay. One thing for certain is that clay is both a material and metaphor facilitating conversation among science, art and culture.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 9:30 am - 5 pm EST, at the LMCC Arts Center, Governors Island, New York City
Lunch and Refreshments provided; Beer & Wine Happy Hour
Growing metabolism repair from waste. At present, Cities mimic Nature’s metabolism, but are fundamentally disconnected from it. This disconnection produces profound waste, and misallocation of resources and energy. High urban temperatures, environmental pollution, poor social outcomes, and inefficient supply chains are just some of the outcomes of the broken metabolic state of cities. Opportunities for sustainable development and quality of life are possible through metabolism repair, where anthropogenic waste streams and energy flows are reconnected back into a healthy exchange supported by soils.
Consumerism to waste: social, material, and energy flows, data, media, technology, Going “Green”, economy, value, commodity, quality, development, sustainability, convenience.
This is the kick-off event for the ‘Take Care’ Series, a series of workshops and demonstrations continuing into 2024. We welcome your thoughts, questions, ideas for future ‘Take Care’ topics.
Thursday, November 16, 2023, 9:30 am - 5 pm EST at the LMCC Arts Center, Governors Island, New York City
Lunch and Refreshments provided; Beer & Wine Happy Hour
Clay can be viewed as a particle size classification, but it is by far the most charismatic one of all. Through infinitesimally small pieces, clay is able to exit the realm of purely matter and become something else entirely. It is equal parts substance, chemistry and electricity, and through these unique properties, is able to channel both biochemical and creative exchange.
Clay multiplies the reactive surfaces of other larger particles in the same way the Amazon Rainforest would to the surface of the moon. Rocks eventually decompose to clay, and clay proceeds to archive the developmental history of the broader soil, much the same way your kitchen sponge remembers the pasta bolognese from three weeks ago.
Clay is a governor of water and capillarity, and a prophet of ecosystem functions, with properties varying greatly according to origin, structure and charge.
Slippery, sticky, expanding, plastic-hard, clay changes as it is worked, fired, or mixed. Art and industry understood the dynamics of clay and its unusual characteristics to produce glass and ceramics for millennia, long before scanning probes and atomic force microscopy sought to demystify it. Nonetheless, the intuition of a skilled clay artisan often evades even the most rigorous laboratory analysis.
A world of mysteries is still to be uncovered exploring the phenomena of clay. One thing for certain is that clay is both a material and metaphor facilitating conversation among science, art and culture.
Friday, November 17, 2023, 1 1 am - 3 pm EST at various locations on Governors Island, New York City
USI and SWALE invite you over for conversation, partnership building, demonstrations and collaborative projects at SWALE House Nolan Park House #11, Governors Island. Something you want to discuss or share? Bring it with you!
On the agenda (still building as we receive contributing activities so stay tuned and keep checking):
- People’s Garden: Collaborative programming for the Ecosystem based food garden at SWALE House
- Partner bringing a demo on designing DIY for reintroducing ecosystems back into our daily urban landscapes using microbial mentors!
- Collaborative development of USI’s “Take Care” Series, because like with soils, it’s all about team work!

Event Partners

NY Soil & Water Conservation District (Copy)

SWALE NYC (Copy)

RUDN University (Copy)

EarthMatter NY (Copy)

Institute for Public Architecture (Copy)

ENVIT Ltd. (Copy)

TreePeople (Copy)

Leaf Island, Inc. (Copy)

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Thank you all for coming to the in-person sessions of Metabolism of Cities: Pt. 2. It was a blast to host you!

Metabolism of Cities: an invitation to explore Nature’s metabolisms & the metabolisms of our Built worlds; discovering the problems and finding the opportunities for true sustainability.

Virtual Session Presentations

Gallery

Contributors

Sessions

[Virtual Session 1] Metabolism of Cities - Nov. 30

[Virtual Session 2] Metabolism of Cities - Dec. 1

DAY 1: Take Care of Your Own $hit! (Start of the ‘Take Care’ Series) - Nov. 15

DAY 2: The Clay Exchange - Nov. 16

DAY 3: Collaboration Hub; Discussions and project building - Nov. 17

Event Partners