Nevin Cohen
Director

Degree Info
PhD in Urban Planning from Rutgers University, Masters degree in City and Regional Planning from U.C. Berkeley
Bio
Nevin Cohen is the Director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and Associate Professor of Public Health at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. For the past 10 years his scholarly work has involved community-based research on urban food policy and food systems disparities, and he is an expert on the food policies and policymaking processes of New York City where for 7 years he also held staff positions in city government. He is the author of Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in NYC (The University of Georgia Press).
Publications
Gwin, L., Miller, Mi., Lowe, E., Hoy, C., Creamer, N., Cohen, N., Pirog, R., Kelly, T., Tomich, T., et al. Resilience Strategies for Centers and Institutes Focused on Food Systems Transformation. Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development, vol. 13, no. 4, 27 Sept. 2024, pp. 53–74.
Hawes, J.K., Goldstein, B.P., Newell, J.P., Dorr, E., Caputo, S., Fox-Kämper, R., Grard, B., Ilieva, R.T., Fargue-Lelièvre, A., Poniży, L., Schoen, V., Specht, K., and Cohen, N. 2024. Comparing the carbon footprints of urban and conventional agriculture. Nature Cities, 1(2), pp.164-173.
Laskaris, Z., Hussein, M., Stimpson, J.P., Vignola, E.F., Shahn, Z., Cohen, N., Baron, S., et al. A Price Too High: Injury and Assault among Delivery Gig Workers in New York City. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 29 Apr. 2024, pp. 1-12 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38683420/, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-024-00873-9.
Chambers, E.C., Levano, S.R., Cohen, N., Maroko, A.R., Telzak, A., Stephenson-Hunter, C., Fiori, K.P., et al. Patients with Diabetes Struggling to Afford Food and Control Their HbA1c in Food-Insecure Areas in Bronx, NY. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 27, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2024, pp. e194 https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980024001666
Cohen, N., Stein, M., Hancock, A., Morales, A. et al. The Practical Ethics of Urban Agriculture in Public Housing. Urban Agriculture, 1 Jan. 2024, pp. 181–202, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32076-7_10.
Spires, M., Battersby, J., Cohen, N., Daivadanam, M., Demmler, K. M., Mattioni, D., … & Hawkes, C. (2023). “The People’s Summit”: A case for lived experience of food environments as a critical source of evidence to inform the follow-up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. Global Food Security, 37, 100690.
Vignola, E.F., Baron, S., Abreu Plasencia, E., Hussein, M. and Cohen, N. (2023). Workers’ Health under Algorithmic Management: Emerging Findings and Urgent Research Questions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), p.1239. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021239
Ilieva, R. T., Fraser, K. T., & Cohen, N. (2023). From multiple streams to a torrent: A case study of food policymaking and innovations in New York during the COVID-19 emergency. Cities, 136, 104222. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123000343
Ilieva, R.T., Fraser, K.T. and Cohen, N., 2023. From multiple streams to a torrent: A case study of food policymaking and innovations in New York during the COVID-19 emergency. Cities, 136, p.104222.
Limerick, S., Hawes, J. K., Gounaridis, D., Cohen, N., & Newell, J. P. (2023). Community gardens and the 15-minute city: Scenario analysis of garden access in New York City. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 89, 128107.
Dorr, E., Hawes, J.K., Goldstein, B., Fargue-Lelièvre, A., Fox-Kämper, R., Specht, K., Fedeńczak, K., Caputo, S., Cohen, N., Poniży, L. and Schoen, V. (2023). Food production and resource use of urban farms and gardens: a five-country study. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 43(1), p.18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00859-4
Fox-Kämper, R., Kirby, C. K., Specht, K., Cohen, N., Ilieva, R., Caputo, S., … & Béchet, B. (2023). The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the US. Landscape and Urban Planning, 239, 104848.
Fox-Kämper, R., Kirby, C.K., Specht, K., Cohen, N., Ilieva, R.T., Caputo, S., Schoen, V., Hawes, J.K., Ponizy, L. and Béchet, B., 2023. The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the US. Landscape and Urban Planning, 239, p.104848.
Ilieva, R. T., Cohen, N., Israel, M., Specht, K., Fox-Kämper, R., Fargue-Lelièvre, A., … & Blythe, C. (2022). The socio-cultural benefits of urban agriculture: a review of the literature. Land, 11(5), 622.
Fraser KT, Willingham C, Ilieva RT, Freudenberg N and Cohen N. Reducing Promotion and Ubiquity of Unhealthy Food in Community, Institutional, and Retail Settings to Reduce the Staggering Burden of Diet-Related Disease in NYC. Policy Recommendations for a Stronger, Healthier, More Just, and Sustainable Food System in NYC. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022.
Fraser KT, Vignola EF, Chong VP, Ng Y, Ilieva RT, Willingham C, Cohen N, and Freudenberg N. Ensuring All NYC Food Workers Have Safe Working Conditions, the Right to Organize, and Sufficient Pay and Benefits. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022.
Fraser KT, Ilieva RT, Chong VP, Shulman E, Willingham C, Freudenberg N, and Cohen N. Increasing Community and Public Control and Ownership of New York City’s Food System. Policy Recommendations for a Stronger, Healthier, More Just, and Sustainable Food System in NYC. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022
Cohen, N. (2022). Food crisis as a tool for social change: lessons from New York City’s COVID-19 Response. Urban Governance, 2(1), 173-177.
Cohen, N. (2022). Roles of Cities in Creating Healthful Food Systems. Annual review of public health, 43, 419-437.
Caruso, O; Chrobok, M; Cohen, N. (2022). Gentrification and Food Retail Instability: A Census Tract Analysis of the Bronx, New York, 2008 and 2017. The Professional Geographer. Published online January 27, 2022. doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2021.2000440
Cohen, N. (2021). Roles of Cities in Creating Healthful Food Systems. Annual Review of Public Health. Vol. 43. Review in Advance posted online December 22, 2021.
Cohen, N., Chrobok, M.*, & Caruso, O*. (2020). Gentrification and Food Retail Instability: A Census Tract Analysis of the Bronx, New York, 2008 and 2017. The Professional Geographer 2021. Accepted; in press.
Schoen V, Blythe C, Caputo S, Fox-Kämper R, Specht K, Fargue-Lelièvre A, Cohen N, Poniz ̇y L and Feden ́czak K (2021) “We Have Been Part of the Response”: The Effects of COVID-19 on Community and Allotment Gardens in the Global North. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5:732641.
Caputo, S., Schoen, V., Specht, K., Grard, B., Blythe, C., Cohen, N., Newell, J., Fox-Kamper, R., Ponizy, L., Hawkes, J.* (2020). Applying the Food-Energy-Water Nexus approach to urban agriculture: from FEW to FEWP (Food-Energy-Water-People). Urban Forestry and Urban Greening July 2020.
Kirby, C.*, Specht, K., Fox-Kamper, R., Cohen, N., Lelievre, A., Caputo, S., Hawes, J.*, Blythe, C., Ponizy, L., Ilieva, R., Schoen, V. (2020) Differences in motivations and social impacts across urban agriculture types: Case studies in Europe and the US. Landscape and Urban Planning. Volume 212. August 2021.
Cohen, N. & Ilieva, R. (2020). Expanding the Boundaries of Food Policy: The Turn to Equity in New York City. Food Policy. Available online 17 December 2020. 102012.
Cohen, N., Tomaino Fraser, K., Arnow, C., Mulcahy, M., & Hille, C. (2020). Online Grocery Shopping by NYC Public Housing Residents Using SNAP: A Service Ecosystems Perspective. Sustainability (Special Issue on the Geographies of Responsibility for Just and Sustainable Food Systems.) 12, 4694.
Cohen, N., Chrobok, M.*, & Caruso, O*. (2020). Google-truthing to assess hot spots of food retail change: A repeat cross-sectional Street View of food environments in the Bronx, New York. Health & Place, 102291.
Cohen, N. (2019). SNAP at the Community Scale: How Neighborhood Characteristics Affect Participation and Food Access. American Journal of Public Health, 109(12), 1646-1651.