Daphne Lundi is Brooklyn-born and based urban planner and policymaker. She is the Managing Director of Urban Ocean Lab, a national climate policy think tank focused on the future of coastal cities. Previously, she served as a Deputy Director at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. She was a New City Critics fellow with The Architectural League of New York and Urban Design Forum, and an inaugural Moynihan Public Scholar at The City College of New York, where her research and writing focused on how science fiction can inspire more imaginative, inclusive, and future-ready approaches to policy and urban planning. She is a founding member of BlackSpace, serves on the board of the Center for Zero Waste Design and the Octavia Project, and co-leads Romantic Urbanism, an ongoing project that explores how cities can foster love, connection, and social cohesion.
The story of New York City is the story of its water. Our 520 miles of shoreline, along with our watershed and sewers, form a vast visible and invisible network that sustains millions of people every day. We interact with water in big ways and small ways, from turning on a faucet to sitting by a pond to swimming in a pool. Climate change is redefining that relationship as flooding and sea level rise continue to challenge the systems we rely on every day. This RFP invites us to honor New York City’s history with water while imagining a future in which water remains a source of connection, culture, and resilience for all New Yorkers.