Healthy Soils, Resilient Cities: Hands-on training in urban soil assessments

Healthy Soils, Resilient Cities:

Hands-on Training in Urban Soil Assessments

This Spring 2025 Pratt Earth Action Week, join Pratt Institute MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems, Dr. Perl Egendorf, and Bk Rot for a free public workshop on urban soil science and testing!

NYC soils have been significantly altered by human activity, leading to soil compaction, contamination, and altered nutrient and biological composition. Yet, high quality soil is essential for successful implementation of nature-based solutions aimed to improve city resilience to compounding climate challenges. In this workshop, environmental science practitioners will introduce the fundamentals of urban soil science and demonstrate how compost can improve soil health. Participants will gain hands-on experience testing soil quality across common NYC green-infrastructure assets including tree beds and rain gardens.

This event will be off Pratt’s campus. It will start at Mayday space, followed by a walk in the Bushwick neighborhood for soil testing, and ending at Know Waste Lands Community Garden. 

Registration is required for attendance. We will follow up with registered attendees for confirmation and more details. Tentative rain date: Sunday, April 13th

Facilitators:

Perl Egendorf, PhD

Assistant Professor, Pace University

S. Perl Egendorf, PhD (they/them or she/her) is an Earth and Environmental Scientist who uses systems approaches to study urban soils and their intersections with food-, environmental- and climate-justice. Perl has an MS from Brooklyn College (2016) and a PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center (2020), where their research focused on limiting exposure to contaminants in soil, particularly through conducting pilot studies of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation’s Clean Soil Bank. This program is the only free clean soil distribution system in the US. From 2021-2023, Perl was a participatory researcher with the NYC Compost Project Hosted by Earth Matter, co-creating research with urban growers city-wide on the use of small-scale composts for growing crops. Since September 2023, Perl has been an Assistant Professor at Pace University, where they are continuing to use the tools and resources of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) to contribute to various scales of environmental justice.

Dior St. Hillaire

Director of Strategic Partnerships, BK ROT

Green Feen Organix

Dior St. Hillaire is a  Hip Hop MC who uses the arts to inspire residents to establish a more sustainable relationship with the materials management industry. She is a worker-owner at GreenFeen OrganiX, chair of the Bronx Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB), Director of Strategic Partnerships at BK ROT, and an Urban Design Forum Forefront Fellow. Dior has a long history of composting, coalition building, youth training, and Environmental Justice advocacy and adds a unique approach to reimagining New York City's waste management system. She believes that through arts, activism, and local organizing we can truly reimagine circular systems that benefit the world and future generations.

Lisa Bloodgood

Visiting Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute GCPE

Lisa Bloodgood (she/her) joined North Brooklyn Parks Alliance in 2022 as the Director of Horticulture & Stewardship. She brings to the role a deep knowledge of the area, from plants to pollutants, as well as a wealth of experience engaging with North Brooklyn communities on matters relating to the local environment and sustainability.Lisa currently resides in Williamsburg and can trace her ancestry all the way back to Dutch settlers in Queens and Brooklyn in the 1660’s! However, she first fell in love with plants in California: her family moved there from West Nyack, New York when she was a teenager, and the drastic differences between the natural environment on the east vs. west coast helped spark her curiosity in the natural world.As an adult, Lisa moved to Brooklyn to pursue a career in the arts—but found herself repeatedly drawn to horticultural endeavors: tending to her own backyard garden and helping to establish gardens at local schools. She pursued her passion in academic and applied ways, obtaining a degree in Earth & Environmental Science from Brooklyn College while working as the Environmental Policy Advisor and Community Liaison for the office of Stephen Levin, former NYC Council Member for District 33.Lisa went on to work at Newtown Creek Alliance as Director of Advocacy & Education, aiding the organization in their community-based approach to revitalizing this fraught waterway. She has also served, and continues to serve, on several boards, advisory councils, and steering committees for organizations like New York City Brownfield Partnerships and Mt. Sinai Transdisciplinary Center on Early Childhood Environmental Exposures.At NBK Parks, Lisa looks forward to helping ensure that Under the K Bridge Park is stewarded responsibly and can thrive as a public green space in an unlikely setting: under the Kosciuszko Bridge, in the Greenpoint Industrial Business Zone, and abutting the Newtown Creek.

Yuliya Dzyuban, PhD 

Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute GCPE

Yuliya Dzyuban focuses on enhancing thermal comfort in cities through a mixed method approach to track, map, and analyze heat exposure, and develop urban design solutions for thermal comfort improvement in cities. Her research has taken her to some of the hottest cities globally, including Singapore, Phoenix, and Hermosillo, contributing to local design and planning policies. Currently, Yuliya's research is centered on developing and testing participatory methodologies for evaluating and co-creating nature-based solutions, all through the lens of environmental justice. Collaborating with international partners, she strives to empower communities to enhance heat resilience and co-create urban design solutions that promote sustainable development and improve overall well-being. Yuliya conducts courses such as urban heat management and microclimate assessment for urban design in the SES program, equipping students with the necessary skills to tackle complex urban systems challenges and address environmental injustices through service learning, field experiences, and role-based learning exercises. Dr. Dzyuban is Vice-President of the International Society of Biometeorology, and a member of the Nature-based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene (NATURA) Network.

Co-Sponsored by:

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The Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems (SES) is one of the nation’s most innovative, interdisciplinary, systems-based sustainability programs. This STEM certified degree program is designed to meet today’s increasing demand for environmental professionals, uniquely combining environmental science, sustainable design, and climate policy. Students learn the interdisciplinary skills and systems-thinking approach needed to assess contemporary environmental issues; catalyze innovative environmental problem-solving; uphold environmental and social justice; and engage diverse stakeholders in designing and developing sustainable communities.

BK ROT is a community centered, closed loop, fossil fuel free approach to hauling and composting food waste in NYC. We are New York City's first community-supported, bike-powered, fossil fuel free food waste hauling and composting service. Our project is staffed by young people of color who haul residential and commercial organic waste and transform it into high quality compost. 

The Pratt Sustainability Center serves as a physical and virtual hub for Pratt’s commitment to educating environmentally and socially responsible citizens. The Center’s core mission is to coordinate and develop resources to further integrate sustainability into the academic experience of all Pratt students.

Faced with climate change, systemic racism, and growing inequity, communities need forward-thinking approaches to urbanism now more than ever. Practice-based and rooted deeply in the network of communities we serve, our alliance of four graduate-level programs works to address these evolving threats, working in partnership to build asset-based solutions at the intersection of environment, equity, culture, and economy.

We see the design, planning, and management of the built environment as tools for addressing the critical issues of our time—from social justice to the climate crisis. As a student at the School of Architecture, you’ll build the skills and knowledge you need to respond to these complex and evolving challenges in a uniquely versatile, innovative, and ethical way. As you do, our goal is to prepare you to lead a life of consequence within each discipline, both today and beyond.

More information to be shared with registered attendees.