The Urban Climate Lab envisions urban design shaping transformative climate action in cities. It focuses on urban design’s central role in greenhouse gas emission mitigation and urban heat stress adaptation and resiliency.

A high proportion of global urban areas that will need to minimize Greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change have not yet been built. Developing a region in a denser, more compact form that mixes land use and supports mass transit reduces the carbon footprint. These dense urban districts can be configured to reduce the impact of urban heat and storms due to the changing climate while enhancing quality of life. The Design Studio is producing new knowledge, expanding on the traditional influence and capabilities of urban design.

The student teams are developing quantitative and qualitative design interventions at the district scale. Building massing, urban ventilation, solar impacts, green infrastructure and anthropogenic factors shape their urban design outcomes. The project site this semester is the Sunnyside Yards district in Queens, New York.

A panel of leading experts participated as jurors to review student work for this midterm:

​Jury

• Daniella Henry, Senior Policy Advisor at Office of the Mayor, NYC
• John Lee, Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, NYC
• Narada Golden, Vice-President, WSP Built Ecology
• Timon McPhearson, Associate Professor of Urban Ecology, Urban Systems Lab at The New School
• Adam Friedberg, Assoc. Principal, BuroHappold Engineering
• Christian Braneon, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University
• Apoorv Goyal, Sustainable Design Specialist, HOK
• Andrew Heid, Principal, NO ARCHITECTURE
• Kubi Ackerman, Director, Future City Lab, Museum of the City of New York
• Frances Huppert, FAIA, Architect
• Loris Autovino, Architect / SoAD Graduate Urban Design Alumni, NYIT (2015)
• Dong-Sei Kim, SoAD Faculty-NYIT
• Michael Esposito, Atelier Ten / Graduate Urban Design Faculty, SoAD-NYIT

The Design Studio is taught by Jeffrey Raven, Assoc. Professor and Director, Graduate Program in Urban + Regional Design, SoAD-NYIT

Graduate Students

• Alaa Marrawi
• Avanti Chaphekar
• Juan Pedro Liotta
• Kinjal Kholia
• Luciana B. Nogueira Godinho
  
• Rishika Shah
• Ruchita Mistry
• Wenshuo Liu