Educational Background
Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
M.E.S., Yale University, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 1993.
B.A., Allegheny College, 1990

Affiliations
Advisory Board, Meristem: Restorative Environments for Health Care and Well-Being www.meristem.org
Advisory Board, Groundwork USA, www.groundworkusa.org
Advisory Board, Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust (BQLT)

Current Research
My current research focuses on how, when, where and why different urban actors use open space and greening as a way to gain legitimacy and socio-political power in both their local communities and the larger urban arena. My current work suggests that some urban stewardship groups are hybrids where members of the private sector, civil society and the state are informally drawn together by a common interest, disturbance or risk – and over time unite to create new institutional and physical forms. In some cases these new urban forms may give rise to urban stewardship regimes where an informal yet stable group emerges with access to institutional resources and is able to bridge the divide between popular control of government and private control of economic resources.

Much of what I do right now is informed by my recent collaborative research with Lindsay K. Campbell of the Northern Research Station on the Living Memorials Project. This project inspired me to better understand the critical need for open space for societal well-being. Space to create. Space to teach. Space to restore. I am currently working with fellow Forest Service social scientists, and spatial analysis experts at the University of Vermont and Prof. Dana R. Fisher of Columbia University to develop STEW-MAP (the Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project) for New York City. This citywide assessment will analyze the spatial locations and network relationships of over 5,000 stewardship groups and create on-line stewardship maps and a database. Other active areas of research include the Urban Tree Mortality project where we are working together with NYC Parks Forestry to understand the relationship between tree mortality, social indicators and the built form and the Harlem Healthshed Sustainability Project where we are working with the NYC Dept. of Health and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University to develop a framework for implementing and monitoring projects focused on urban greening, public health and well-being.

Representative Publications
Svendsen, E. S., and L. K. Campbel. 2008. Urban ecological stewardship: Understanding the structure, function and network of community-based urban land management. Cities and the Environment 1:1-31 Publication

Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K.; Duong, Phu. 2007. Land-markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials [DVD].

Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K. 2006. Land-markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials.

Svendsen, E.; Marshall, V.; Ufer, M.F. 2006. Urban field guide: applying social forestry observation techniques to the east coast megalopolis.

Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K. 2005. Living memorials project: year 1 social and site assessment.