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 the latest news on Rust2Green

Binghamton Experience: Quan Yuan

4/24/2018

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Quan presents on summer research at the Nov. 2017 community meeting in Binghamton.
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​R2G is unquestionably made up of academic interests, given that much of the team is associated with Cornell University. But first and foremost, R2G is focused on community, and the focus of our projects had always been on community.  

Issues in a community require the work of people with a deep understanding of the community, and to that extent our contacts and team members in Binghamton have been an amazing help. Living here for three months had also been a great experience.
From a place-making perspective, every place has a “character”. This represents the kind of meaning a place has for inhabitants, and how these meanings contribute to the individual’s concept of self.

The meaning that Binghamton has taken on for us, the R2GB team, is encompassed by the rivers, the festivals, the great downtown atmosphere, the individual character of the shops downtown, and the diversity that is present all over Binghamton. Taken together, Binghamton has a unique cosmopolitan attribute, but also the homeliness and intimacy of a city its size. For us, beyond being a place to work, Binghamton was a place to enjoy the varieties of life at an unrushed pace.

As students, Binghamton helped us grow by presenting us with a diverse array of well-informed opinions, on issues we’ve seldom discussed in a classroom setting.
As students, could it be forgiven if we admit that we came into Binghamton with pre-conceived notions of what we wanted? Perhaps it has become somewhat cliché to call college students idealistic, but in many ways we were missing the nuances of life that could only be taught by deep interpersonal interaction. The Binghamton community was deeply accommodating of our ignorance, and residents took time to teach us about the rivers, about life in Binghamton, and about themselves. We came out of the experience realizing we knew very little, but we were guided by the Binghamton community to ask the right questions.
We learned that collaboration begins by listening to people, and listening we did. The centerpiece of our 2017 work were a set of in-depth interviews with many members of the Binghamton community, and a community survey gathering data from five neighborhoods in Binghamton. Currently, we are still processing the data we’ve collected.
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We would be giving too much credit to ourselves if we say we discovered the lesson of listening to the community on our own. Last year, R2GB ran a program called Living with Water, where members of the Binghamton community recounted their experience in the 2006 and 2011 floods. We’ve obtained endless inspiration from the work that was done in 2016, and much of our methodology this year was based on the work last year. The continuation of R2GB means that the team this year will pass on the lessons we’ve learned this year, so that the research process could be expanded upon year after year, to be ever more fruitful. 

Quan Yuan
-Rust to Green Binghamton Scholar 2017-18
-Developmental Sociology and Environmental Sustainability Sciences (double major)
​-Cornell University '18

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What's Coming next for Rust2Green

3/11/2018

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As we look ahead for the coming summer 2018, we will finish the analysis of our community survey data, case studies, and interviews, which will be published in a policy brief on the challenges of disaster recovery and strategies for community and riverfront development! Our policy brief will focus on our findings in Binghamton, along with findings from other rust belt cities and areas around the world. We will analyze the key components, challenges, and successes of waterfront development and community revitalization strategies in other areas as a way to better inform our efforts in Binghamton.
 
We are also planning to hold a follow-up community meeting, where we will present our data analysis to community members and hold a discussion where attendees can share their thoughts on the data-analysis and the ways we can use this information moving forward. We hope to see you all there! 
Let us know if you would be interested!

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Findings From 2017 Rust 2 Green Binghamton Community meeting

3/4/2018

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Rust to Green Binghamton (R2GB) held a community meeting to share what results of student intern research about Binghamton and to hear community member’s thoughts and ideas on some of the amazing opportunities there are to reshape Binghamton’s downtown and its rivers.
 

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During the meeting, four R2GB interns from this summer gave a presentation on the Living with Water Project and the major projects we worked on this summer, including placemaking activities at Live on the Waterfront, interviews with Binghamton residents on their thoughts about the rivers and ideas for the future, and community surveys of residents’ thoughts on river usage, river quality, and the downtown area. Click here to view the presentation! community_presentation_.pdf
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Following the presentation, community members worked in focus groups to discuss next steps and ideas for shaping the future of Binghamton. Our main points of discussion included:
  1. What priorities do you have for the river/riverfront development? What is most important?
  2. What are Binghamton's strengths that we can build on?
  3. What would you like to see happen next?
  4. How would you like to be involved?
Some of the most common responses to the priorities question included improving access to the rivers, more programming and activities, and more economic development along the rivers. For question two, community members felt we could build upon the strong sense of community, natural beauty, and affordability of Binghamton. For questions three and four, community members said they would like to help create more parks along the rivers, a whitewater park at Rockbottom Dam, more stores along the waterfront with better advertising, and a "Friends of the River Trails" group. 

​In addition to the focus groups, we also asked community members to participate in picture voting on projects they would like to see happen in Binghamton. Participants also responded to questions on chalkboards asking what the river is to them, what Binghamton is to them, and what they wish each had. See some of the responses in the slide show to the right!  Overall it was a fun and inspiring night for us students to learn from the community. 
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Meet the summer 2017 team!

7/17/2017

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​Shorna Allred, Rust to Green Binghamton (R2GB) faculty leader, is an Associate Professor, Natural Resources at Cornell University specializing in human dimensions of natural resources and community engagement in stewardship of natural resources. She conducts outreach with organizations and agencies related to effective program planning and implementation such as stakeholder engagement, peer learning and networking strategy development, program evaluation, and communication. As an R2GB researcher and human dimensions of natural resources outreach specialist, she brings expertise in social dimensions of natural resource planning and management and is concerned with how natural resources are incorporated into sustainable city design and green infrastructure.
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Heidi Mouillesseaux-Kunzman is Senior Extension Associate with the Community and Regional Development Institute (CaRDI) in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. Heidi develops educational programs and tools, facilitates networking opportunities, and conducts research designed to help local officials, community and economic developers, and other local leaders to collaboratively identify, pursue, and achieve their community's development goals. Heidi’s current activities include support for university-wide collaboration around local and regional food systems, resilient communities through her work with Rust 2 Green Binghamton, and the expansion of professional development opportunities for community and economic developers as co-chair of the national Enhancing Rural Community Capacity community of practice. ​
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Sophia Clark is a rising senior studying Urban and Regional Studies and minoring in environmental science and sustainability. She is from Wilmington, Delaware,  Sophia rows for Cornell Rowing. Having spent a lot of time in and around rivers, Sophia has always been very interested in the way river's shape cities and the lives of people that live around them. Sophia is very excited to be working with R2G Binghamton. 
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Quan Yuan is a Junior Developmental Sociology and Environmental Sustainability Sciences major, with a concentration in environmental governance. During the school year, he is working with Withmore Lab and Cornell Cooperative Extension on eradicating the Woolly Hemlock Adelgid, an invasive insect which is destroying hemlock trees in New York State. Quan was born in China, and growing up in Chinese cities have instilled in him a consciousness for urban environmental issues. Quan is glad to work with Rust 2 Green on rebuilding declining industrial cities with a new direction. To him, R2G Binghamton means an emphasis on cultivating an environmental conscious in urban planning, with benefits to both social and environmental realms.
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Allie Zambito is a rising junior studying Policy Analysis and Management. She is from Rochester, NY. On campus, she is a TA for the introductory PAM class, and is also involved with Y.O.U.R.S., Cornell Ski Club, TASC Test Tutors Club, and Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. As a PAM major, she has gained an interesest in social welfare and urban housing policy, and hopes to help reform economic and social welfare policy across the U.S.. Growing up in and experiencing the challenges of a rust belt city first hand, also influenced her interest in joining the Rust2Green program and helping other rust belt communities. 
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Luna Oiwa is a rising sophomore majoring in environmental engineering. On campus, she is involved in the Alternative Spring Breaks service learning program, the AguaClara project team, the Assorted Asians Dance Club, and the Swing Dance Club. In the future, she hopes to work as a civil and environmental engineer to address housing problems in low-income NYC neighborhoods. Having lived in cities all her life, Luna has grown to love and appreciate projects like NYC’s “Big U” that highlight nature’s presence and importance in urban areas. She applied to intern with the R2G Binghamton project because it perfectly combined her interest in cities and passion for environmentalism.
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Bob Murphy is the Appointed Director of Economic Development for the City of Binghamton, New York. Mr. Murphy also serves well as the Executive Director of the Binghamton Local Development Corporation (BLDC) and the Binghamton Urban Renewal Agency (BURA).
Established in 1982, the BLDC has extended credit and advice to non-traditional borrowers and projects in the City of Binghamton for the last 34 years. The Corporation has over 2.5 Million Dollars of revolving loan funds available to prospective borrowers. It is the point of initial contact for developers and investors wishing to work in the Binghamton area.
Under Mr. Murphy's direction the Binghamton Economic Development Office and the BLDC have entered into partnerships with SUNY-Broome, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University's Rust2Green program, Binghamton University and NASA to attract and finance a variety of businesses and community development programs to Binghamton including CMP, LUMA and Porchfest.
Mr. Murphy previously has worked in both private legal practice and government. He has served in the City of Binghamton in two prior administrations as Corporation Counsel from 1994 to 1998 and as City Court Judge from 2002 to 2008.
Mr. Murphy graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Government with a Minor in Business and received a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Law School.
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Beth Roberts  is with CCE Broome County and a key collaborator on the R2G research. Beth has held positions in local government including working for City of Binghamton and Town of Union Planning Housing and Community Development dept; County Youth Bureau Director; Deputy County Executive for Broome County Government;  and has been with CCE-BC for six years as the Grant and Contract Manager. Her past positions allows her to contribute project insights from these diverse perspectives. She holds her Masters in Public Administration from Binghamton University. 
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George Homsy is an assistant professor of public administration. His research is on sustainability and local government policymaking, with a focus within small- to medium-sized cities and towns. He explores the drivers of sustainability policy change and the results of implementation. He is currently engaged in a research project that examines the ways that rural communities implement and balance the environmental, economic and equity dimensions of sustainability. He was also a planning consultant for sustainable communities in municipalities, and a journalist who investigated local governments and sustainability.
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  • Home
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    • Our Mission
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    • R2G Across New York
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