Zoé Hamstead Publishes Papers on Urban Structures and Landscape Function

Zoé Hamstead, a doctoral candidate and a TEDC Affiliated Faculty member at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy co-authored and published two papers on urban structure and urban vacant land:Zoé authored “Classification of the heterogeneous structure of urban landscapes (STURLA) as an indicator of landscape function applied to surface temperature in New York City” with Timon McPhearson, Assistant Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies at The School for Public Engagement. “STURLA” was published in Ecological Indicators in October 2015. It is a part of a special issue on Urban Complexity, in which Zoé and her colleagues develop a landscape-based indicator of micro-urban heat island. The approach sets forth a new way of conceptualizing the relationship between urban structure and landscape function at a fine scale, and can ultimately be used as a way to identify spatial disparity in landscape structures that contribute to health risks associated with heat."Transformation of Urban Vacant Lots for the Common Good" is an introduction to a special issue in Cities and the Environment (CATE) on urban vacant land, which Zoé co-authored with Peleg Kremer, a former post-doctoral fellow at The New School. The special issue is a compilation of practitioner notes on the experience of securing access to vacant land in cities for a variety of community purposes. It came out of an event that that Zoé organized in collaboration with 596 Acres and the Tishman Environment and Design Center in April of last year, called "Turning Vacant Acres into Community Resources." You can read the full special issue here.