Eric Klinenberg, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge, leads Rebuild by Design’s research as principal investigator. Dr. Klinenberg is also editor of the journal Public Culture, and an affiliated faculty member of the Wagner School of Public Service and the Department of Media, Culture, and Communications. 

Klinenberg has been studying cities and climate change since the 1990s, when he conducted research for his first book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. In 2013, he authored the influential article “Adaptation: Can Cities Be Climate-Proofed” in The New Yorker, and since Sandy he has organized a series of public events around Sandy, Climate Change, and the Future of New York City.