Spotlight on Urban Design

News Byte: Designing Healthy and Resilient Cities in the Face of COVID-19

Feature | May 27, 2020

In a May 20 article in the French newspaper Le Monde, Graduate Urban Design program director Jeffrey Raven provides insights on how climate-resilient urban design can play a significant role in deterring major health challenges and the spread of disease.

Net-Zero District for New York City - Urban Design Climate Lab - Final Review - 18 May 2020

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Net-Zero District for New York City - Urban Design Climate Lab Student Pin-Up late-April 2020

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Karan's schematic Gowanus layout vision
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Karan's district hubs 2
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Karan's district hubs
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Karan's district hubs 4
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Karan's district concept plan
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Karan's district concept plan 1
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Karan's district concept plan 2
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Karan's district concept plan 3
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Karan's Gowanus vision
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Revathi's housing agriculture prototype floor plan
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Revathi's housing agriculture prototype
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Rudrika's energy temple

URBAN DESIGN CLIMATE LAB : Net-Zero District for New York City Student Interim Pin-Up – Late-April 2020 In this Graduate Urban Design Studio, students are researching the intersection of urban form, low-carbon cities, and climate to confront a rapidly urbanizing world threatened by climate change. Students are configuring a compact district in Brooklyn, NYC to adapt and thrive in changing climate conditions, meet carbon-reduction goals, and sustain urban population. In keeping with the studio’s Social Resilience theme in response to sudden external shocks to our city (storms, disease, heat wave, power failure), the Design Studio proposes a radical “closed-loop” Net-Zero hypothesis for the Gowanus district in Brooklyn. From Food to Energy, Waste, Water, Transportation and Embodied Energy, Students are incorporating a variety of modes of investigation to map and diagram the condition of the 2050 net-zero district. They are finding new knowledge that leads to the construction of a district, a hypothesis of its characteristics, and scenarios for its future. Ultimately, the Studio envisions the easing of “closed loop” restrictions, but keeping innovative strategies on the table as the district opens to the surrounding city. Faculty: Jeffrey Raven and Michael Esposito
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Net-Zero District for New York City - Urban Design Climate Lab Student Pin-Up in early-April 2020

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Karan's commercial mixed use public realm
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Karan's food district system
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Karan's synergies and adjacencies
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Chaitri's syneries and adjacencies
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Revathi's concept sub district
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Revathi's housing farm 1
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Revathi's housing farm
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Rudrika's energy temple manufacturing
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Rudrika's manufacturing scenario
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Professor Raven's teaming assignment
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Revathi's floating buildings
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Rudrika's energy temple manufacturing
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Karan's synergies and adjacencies, food and transportation
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M.S.AURD current students

Net-Zero District for New York City - Urban Design Climate Lab - Midterm Review - 12 March 2020

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Mid-Term Review - Project Site: Gowanus, Brooklyn. Karan's concept axon Overview
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Karan's concept axon
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Ayesha's concept diagram
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Revathi's concept diagram
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Rudrika's site concept
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Jinali's detailed axon
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Chaitri's concept plan
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Diagrams for discussion - Fabric morphology (Prof. J. Raven)
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Karan's concept section
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Current Students: Rudrika, Ayesha, Chaitri, Karan, Jinali

URBAN DESIGN CLIMATE LAB : Net-Zero District for New York City Midterm Review - 12 March 2020 In this Graduate Urban Design Studio, students are researching the intersection of urban form, low-carbon cities, and climate to confront a rapidly urbanizing world threatened by climate change. Students are configuring a compact district in Brooklyn, NYC to adapt and thrive in changing climate conditions, meet carbon-reduction goals, and sustain urban population. In keeping with the studio’s Social Resilience theme in response to sudden external shocks to our city (storms, disease, heat wave, power failure), the Design Studio proposes a radical “closed-loop” Net-Zero hypothesis for the Gowanus district in Brooklyn. From Food to Energy, Waste, Water, Transportation and Embodied Energy, Students are incorporating a variety of modes of investigation to map and diagram the condition of the 2050 net-zero district. They are finding new knowledge that leads to the construction of a district, a hypothesis of its characteristics, and scenarios for its future. Ultimately, the Studio envisions the easing of “closed loop” restrictions, but keeping innovative strategies on the table as the district opens to the surrounding city. Faculty: Jeffrey Raven and Michael Esposito
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WEBINAR – Earth Day Dialogue: Designing for Planetary and Public Health

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Graduate Urban Design Alumni Reception 2020

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Join Jeffrey Raven at MIT for a lecture on Climate Change and Cities: Urban Planning and Design

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Urban Design Alumni Reception

Blog | Feb 03, 2020

NYC Net-Zero District Workshop - December 2019

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Workshop participants
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Urban design student presenting to leading experts on net-zero carbon district.
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Urban design student working with leading experts on net-zero carbon district.
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Urban design student presenting to leading experts on net-zero carbon district.
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