Urban Climate Adaptation
The Hixon Center is pleased to announce its Fall 2026 Speaker Series on "Urban Climate Adaptation." Webinars will take place on Mondays from September 14 to October 5, from 12:00-1:00pm U.S. ET.
Cities are on the front lines of climate change, facing intensifying threats including extreme heat, flooding, and drought. What does it take to prepare for these hazards while making communities more livable and inclusive? This series brings together leaders exploring how adaptation strategies can work with nature, respond to interconnected local systems, and reflect the diverse needs and experiences of all residents. Drawing on a range of experience across research and practice, speakers will share lessons cities can put to work as they navigate a changing climate. Join us to hear where new possibilities for resilient and equitable urban futures are taking shape!
All lectures are free and open to the public. Recordings of each session will be available on the event page by the following Monday.
Speaker Information
Anthony Acciavatti works at the intersection of landscape and the histories of science and technology. He explores the hidden underworlds of the earth and how they shape the way we live in cities and cultivate landscapes. Acciavatti is the author of the award-winning book, Ganges Water Machine, which is based on nearly a decade of walking over 15,000 kilometers across the world’s most densely populated river basin. His work on the Ganges is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He has exhibited at the Milan Triennial, the Wellcome Collection in London, Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, as well as biennials in Venice, São Paulo, Seoul, Rotterdam, and Quito. Trained in architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard University, in the history of science at Princeton University, and a Fulbright Scholar in the department of geography and town and country planning at the University of Allahabad, he is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a Senior Fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies. A founding partner of Somatic Collaborative in New York City, Acciavatti currently leads Ganges Field Lab at Collaborative Earth and is the inaugural Diana Balmori Associate Professor at Yale University.
Speaker Information
Adam Auerbach is Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research centers on local governance, urban politics, and the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia and India in particular. Auerbach is the author of Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India's Urban Slums (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and co-author of Migrants and Machine Politics: How India's Urban Poor Seek Representation and Responsiveness (Princeton University Press, 2023). His articles appear in a variety of journals including the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, World Development, and World Politics. During the 2022-2023 academic year, Auerbach was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice at the World Bank.
Speaker Information
Kotchakorn Voraakhom is a world-renowned landscape architect and founder of LANDPROCESS and Porous City Network. She pioneers climate-resilient, nature-based solutions in Southeast Asia, with transformative projects including Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, Asia’s largest organic rooftop farm at Thammasat University, Chao Phraya Sky Park, and the ecological design of Thailand’s largest government complex.
A Harvard graduate, TED Fellow, and recipient of the UN Climate Action Award, TIME 100 Next, BBC 100 Women, and Bloomberg Green 30, she serves as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, one of Cornell University’s highest academic honors. Her work seamlessly integrates ecological survival with social equity in rapidly changing urban landscapes.
