Resilient Block Workshop with Fifth Avenue Committee
Friday August 14th
@the Block House
Building 9
Nolan Park,
Governors Island
On August 14th, a group of Brooklyn residents, invited by Fifth Avenue Committee and Ms. Joe Ann Brown, recipient of Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s NYCHA Resident Climate Grant, visited the IPA Block House for an afternoon Resilient Block Workshop.
Led by Martha Steele (cross-disciplinary artist, researcher, organic farmer, and IPA 2025 Fellow) and Roz Palmer (a community-based urban planner focusing on inclusive adaptation to climate change), the workshop began with traditional Maori Pepeha introductions (mountain, water body, gathering place, name) that helped ground everyone with a sense of place and belonging.
Participants gathered around large-scale maps of Gowanus/Park Slope and Sunset Park to create collective energy around improving the city’s resilience at every scale, from the neighborhood to the block. Teams mapped flows of goods, services, and people in and out of their neighborhoods and developed site specific strategies for Resilient Blocks, using rain gardens, trees, permeable pavement, shade umbrellas, greenhouses, composting hills, and other climate responsive typologies.
“The block is a fun place to do this very hard planning and design work - you get to know your neighbors well, supporting each other through the uncertainty of global change and creating more reasons to love your neighborhood.”
-Roz Palmer
Led by Martha Steele (cross-disciplinary artist, researcher, organic farmer, and IPA 2025 Fellow) and Roz Palmer (a community-based urban planner focusing on inclusive adaptation to climate change), the workshop began with traditional Maori Pepeha introductions (mountain, water body, gathering place, name) that helped ground everyone with a sense of place and belonging.
Participants gathered around large-scale maps of Gowanus/Park Slope and Sunset Park to create collective energy around improving the city’s resilience at every scale, from the neighborhood to the block. Teams mapped flows of goods, services, and people in and out of their neighborhoods and developed site specific strategies for Resilient Blocks, using rain gardens, trees, permeable pavement, shade umbrellas, greenhouses, composting hills, and other climate responsive typologies.
“The block is a fun place to do this very hard planning and design work - you get to know your neighbors well, supporting each other through the uncertainty of global change and creating more reasons to love your neighborhood.”
-Roz Palmer
