Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization

05/21/2026

CSU Board Member Lance Jay Brown, FAIA facilitates panel "Housing-Public Space Nexus Fostering Inclusive Urban Communities," at 13 in Baku, along with CSU Board Member Theodore Liebman who joined the panel virtually.

ClimateResilientCities

05/19/2026

CSU Founder Lance Jay Brown, FAIA at the launch of the WUF Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan. This new initiative coordinates a wide variety of learning opportunities and training sessions in service of bringing housing to the forefront of global concerns.

Also pictured is Anacláudia Rossbach, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director, UN-Habitat & Habitat Professionals Forum attendees: Natalie, Ayden, and Dara including a reunion with urbanist Carlos Moreno.

04/27/2026

JOIN US this Wedensday for the CSU Green Cities series:
Waterfronts in Transition - Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn ↔ HafenCity, Hamburg

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
12:00-1:00 PM ET (6:00-7:00 PM CET)

Speakers
-Sagi Golan, Deputy Chief Urban Designer, NYC Department of City Planning; Adjunct Professor, Columbia GSAPP
-Michael Trinkner, Associate Partner, KCAP Architects & Planners, Rotterdam
Moderator
-Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, NOMA, Founder & Past President of CSU

Talk Abstract
New York and Hamburg are two of the world’s great cities — dense, economically powerful, culturally vibrant, and under acute pressure to deliver more housing, more parks, more green space, more of what makes cities competitive and attractive. As port economies gave way to knowledge and service industries, both cities were left with something rare: large, well-located waterfront areas ripe for reinvention. The market noticed. Neither site was a blank slate — both carried the weight of their past: contaminated soil, toxic water, a quagmire of regulations, and a stubborn history of flooding. Both demanded intelligent integration of old and new, genuine engagement with existing communities, and the building of long-term equity and resilience into the equation. Turning the areas around required billions in public and private investment, decades of planning, interagency coordination, and perseverance. Today they are globally studied models of urban waterfront transformation. Sagi Golan and Michael Trinkner will share their experience of working on these transformative sites 🌍

REGISTER NOW at link in bio or on CSU.global 👆🏽

Sponsor Organization for Green Cities
Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization (CSU), UN-Habitat, AIA New York | Center for Architecture, AIANY Planning & Design, the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, Habitat Professionals Forum for Sustainable Cities, Creative Exchange Lab (CEL), Global Urban Development (GUD), and the Columbia University Center for Buildings, Infrastructure and Public Space (CBIPS).

04/23/2026

Join CSU for a casual happy hour to connect, socialize, and network with professionals across the built environment.

Open to all, including emerging and young professionals.

CSU (Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization) Happy Hour
May 4th | 6-8pm
Lobby Bar (2nd floor, PUBLIC Hotel)

RSVP at link in bio 👆🏽

04/23/2026

Join us for the CSU Green Cities series:
Waterfronts in Transition - Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn ↔ HafenCity, Hamburg

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
12:00-1:00 PM ET (6:00-7:00 PM CET)

Speakers:
-Sagi Golan, Deputy Chief Urban Designer, NYC Dept. of City Planning Adj. Prof., Columbia GSAPP
-Michael Trinkner, Associate Partner, KCAP Architects & Planners Rotterdam
-Moderator/Host: Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, NOMA, CSU Board Member

What will be discussed:
Sagi Golan and Michael Trinkner will trace how each site went from backwater to thriving neighborhood — the sequence of public decisions, planning instruments, and market forces that made it possible. They will examine the specific role of urban design in each transformation, the challenge of building on contaminated ground, and how both projects have embedded climate resilience and flood adaptation into the public realm. The conversation will close with the hardest question: what does genuinely equitable waterfront development look like — and what would each speaker do differently today?

Learning Objectives:
Participants in this event will:
1. Compare two landmark waterfront transformations — one community-initiated and mid-construction, one masterplanned and 25 years in — as case studies in climate resilience and urban regeneration.
2. Examine contrasting flood strategies: HafenCity’s design-with-water philosophy versus Gowanus’s remediation-and-infrastructure approach.
3. Evaluate how governance models, planning instruments, and urban design shape delivery, quality, and accountability.
4. Understand the tensions between climate resilience, affordable housing, and equitable public access — and who bears the cost when these goals conflict.
5. Identify transferable lessons for cities facing waterfront transformation under climate pressure.

To learn more about our speakers and to REGISTER please visit our link in bio or at CSU.global 🌍

04/20/2026

02/19/2026

Join us NEXT WEEK for our online CSU Green Cities event, “The NSW Housing Pattern Book: A Design-Led Response to the Australian Housing Crisis.”

Tuesday, February 24, 5:00–6:00 PM EST
Wednesday, February 25, 9:00–10:00 AM AEST

Featuring guest speaker Abbie Galvin, Government Architect NSW,
and moderated by CSU board member Anna Rubbo, LFRAIA

Speaker: Abbie Galvin, NSW Government Architect

Abbie Galvin is the 24th NSW Government Architect, championing design quality across the state. Drawing on 30 years in architectural practice, she advances design excellence in public projects and contributes widely through writing, policy, programs, research, and design advocacy. Her leadership spans civic projects, housing, and sustainability, continuing a 200-year legacy of design influence in public life.

Abbie and her team’s work includes implementation of NSW’s first sustainable building policy for non-residential buildings, leadership of the State Design Review Panel, and development of The NSW Pattern Book for Housing.

For more info & to REGISTER visit our link in bio or at CSU.global 👆🏽

02/17/2026

Join us NEXT WEEK for our online CSU Green Cities event, “The NSW Housing Pattern Book: A Design-Led Response to the Australian Housing Crisis.”

Tuesday, February 24, 5:00–6:00 PM EST
Wednesday, February 25, 9:00–10:00 AM AEST

Featuring guest speaker Abbie Galvin, NSW Government Architect,
and moderated by CSU board member Anna Rubbo, LFRAIA.

Learning Objectives:
Participants in this event will:

1. Understand how the NSW Housing Pattern Book responds to the housing crisis through standardized, high-quality low- and mid-rise housing designs applicable at a state-wide scale.
2. Evaluate how coordinated design across architecture, engineering, landscape, and sustainability disciplines can streamline approvals, reduce risk, and accelerate housing delivery.
3. Analyze how design-led government initiatives can improve predictability for developers and transparency for communities while maintaining architectural quality and environmental performance.
4. Assess whether lessons from the NSW Pattern Book framework apply to other urban contexts, including U.S. cities, to inform policy-aligned, well designed , sustainable housing strategies.
5. Understand the relevance of the NSW Housing Pattern book to UN Habitat's WUF13 housing agenda.

REGISTER NOW using our link in bio or on our website: csu.global

02/13/2026

Join us for our online CSU Green Cities event, “The NSW Housing Pattern Book: A Design-Led Response to the Australian Housing Crisis,”
Tuesday, February 24, 5:00–6:00 PM EST
Wednesday, February 25, 9:00–10:00 AM AEST

Featuring guest speaker Abbie Galvin, Government Architect NSW,
and moderated by CSU board member Anna Rubbo, LFRAIA.

Abbie Galvin is the 24th NSW Government Architect, championing design quality across the state. Drawing on 30 years in architectural practice, she advances design excellence in public projects and contributes widely through writing, policy, programs, research, and design advocacy. Her leadership spans civic projects, housing, and sustainability, continuing a 200-year legacy of design influence in public life.

Abbie and her team’s work includes implementation of NSW’s first sustainable building policy for non-residential buildings, leadership of the State Design Review Panel, and development of The NSW Pattern Book for Housing.

To learn more and to REGISTER for this free online event visit our link in bio or on our website: CSU.global

NSW Architecture

02/10/2026

REGISTER NOW for our online CSU Green Books: The NSW Housing Pattern Book on Tuesday, February 24th from 5 -6p EST featuring guest speaker Abbie Galvin and moderated by CSU board member Anna Rubbo.

Talk Abstract
The NSW Housing Pattern Book: A design led response to the Australian Housing Crisis.

Pattern books have long been used internationally to democratise design—making well-considered, replicable housing accessible more quickly and equitably.

Access to safe, well-designed and affordable housing is one of the most important issues facing many global cities and regions, including New South Wales, Australia. As the 2026 UN Habitat World Urban Forum focuses global attention on “housing the world” we are all increasingly aware of the urgent need for innovation to address housing shortfalls in the global north and south. In New South Wales as we face an environment where fewer people can afford a home, let alone one that is well designed—we’re reminded that sometimes the best way forward is to look back.

The NSW Housing Pattern Book builds on this historical tradition with the ambition: to make good design accessible to all.

For more info & to register visit our link in bio! 👆🏽👆🏽👆🏽