Lily Baum Pollans

Lily Baum Pollans is an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City. She studies garbage, and her research shows how cities can use their control over waste management to be bolder actors on climate and environmental justice. She is the author of Resisting Garbage: The Politics of Waste Management in American Cities (University of Texas Press, 2021), and numerous articles and book chapters on municipal waste management. Dr. Pollans is currently working on a book about plastic and cities as well as two smaller projects about current waste policy in New York City. 

Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Pollans worked as an urban planner in both municipal and institutional settings on public transportation, public space design, and brownfield redevelopment. She has a Masters and a PhD in City Planning from MIT and lives with her family in Brooklyn.