Hannah Teicher, assistant professor of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), has received a 2026 National Design Studio Grant from Envision Resilience. The grant will support a GSD studio on how communities can relocate after a climate crisis in ways that are manageable during the move and support community well-being over the long term.
The studio will work with A Community Voice, a community organization based in New Orleans. Students will provide planning and design support as the group works toward its plan to relocate to Natchez, Mississippi, one of the oldest settlements on the Mississippi River.
“Some places in the Great Lakes have gotten a lot of attention as potential receiving communities based on simplistic assumptions about how and where people will move,” Teicher said. “This studio will help demonstrate how climate-related relocation can show up in surprising ways as community-led processes uncover overlooked opportunities for resilience.”
Teicher is one of 10 faculty members nationwide to receive the grant this year. Now in its second year, the program supports university design studios that partner with communities on climate adaptation. Envision Resilience is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt. Final reports and research from the studios will be published on the Envision Resilience website.