Photo by Wyatt Gallery, see more in his photo essay Hurricane Sandy’s Aftermath

On January 12th, 2013, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) will host On the Road to Resilience: From the Ground Up, a self-organized participatory conference focused on the effects of Hurricane Sandy and how the Northeast United States can re-build a more resilient communities and infrastructure. Comprising a coalition of dozens of partner organizations, the event will include community leaders, civic officials, entrepreneurs, urban practitioners and residents from the New York City metropolitan area. Additionally, community organizations from New Orleans will share how their city rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

Untapped Cities is a partner with the Municipal Art Society for the event, and will be curating a post-Sandy photographic exhibition featuring Wyatt Gallery’s photos as well as leading a session on social media response during and after the hurricane. Additional topics to be discussed at the conference include:

  • Neighborhood Preservation
  • Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship
  • Strengthening Coastal Communities
  • Building Cultural Resilience
  • Protection through Infrastructure and Zoning
  • Implications for Governance, Institutions, and Leadership
  • Social Media and the Democratization of Communication
  • Shaping the Message to the State and Federal Government

Registration for the On the Road to Resilience: From the Ground Up Conference is free of charge. You can sign up here. If you are able to attend, Untapped Cities will be live blogging and tweeting from the conference location at The New School.

A list of the growing conference partners:

Center for Social Innovation, Forum for Urban Design, Gans Studio, Institute for Urban Design, The New School, Pratt Institute, Untapped Cities, Gotham Innovation Greenhouse, Community Solutions, Greenmap.org, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Brooklyn Community Foundation, AirBNB, TimesUp, New York Restoration Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Library, Rogers Marvel Architects, El Puente, FABnyc, WXY Architecture and additional AIA and APA members, , NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), MAS Urbanists, Local Office Landscape, PopTech, members from American Society of Landscape Architects, New York Academy of Medicine, members from the New Orleans Institute for Resilience and Innovation, cultureNOW, Bloomberg Architecture Columnist, Solar One, Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), Hudson Square BID, Insight Associates, Arts and Democracy, Material for the Arts, Red Hook Initiative, NY Passive House, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, volunteers from Occupy Sandy, Occupy Sandy Sustainable Development & Eco-Occupy, Sandy Storyline Project, postgrad fellow from the NYC Office of Emergency Management, students and faculty from NYU, Columbia, Hunter, Pratt, The New School, CUNY, Rutgers, and staff volunteers from various City departments and agencies including Planning, Culture, Small Business, Sustainability.