Healthy Buildings (at HSPH)

The way we design and operate buildings plays a central role in our health, due to both the time we spend indoors and the climate-impact of the energy used to power our buildings. This course, cross-listed between Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, seeks to leverage the science and approaches from each discipline to find building-related solutions to the public health challenges of our time. Students will explore building strategies that can improve indoor air quality, help prevent the spread of airborne infectious disease, reduce exposure to toxic materials, improve thermal resilience, and support overall well-being, while also examining the role buildings play in our energy system, the cascading health impacts of associated air pollution and climate change, and building design and technologies that can support climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and climate resilience. Through a mix of lectures, case studies, hands-on workshops, real-world building assessments, and a final project pairing students from each school, students will engage deeply in a solutions-focused course at the intersection of public health, environmental health, architecture, and design.

Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building II (at HKS)

This community based research course focuses on some of the major issues Native American Indian tribes and nations face in the 21st century. It provides in-depth, hands-on exposure to native development issues, including: sovereignty, economic development, constitutional reform, leadership, health and social welfare, tribal finances, land and water rights, culture and language, religious freedom, and education. In particular, the course emphasizes problem definition, client relationships, and designing and completing a research project for a tribe, tribal department, or those active in Indian Country. The course is devoted primarily to preparation and presentation of a comprehensive research paper based on work with a tribal community. In addition to faculty presentations on topics such as field research methods and problem definition, students will make presentations on their work in progress/near-ultimate findings.

This course is offered by the Havard Kennedy School as DEV-502, and is also jointly listed with the Graduate School of Education as A-102, and the Faculty of Arts and Science as EMR-121, and the Chan School of Public Health as ID-248, and the Graduate School of Design as SES-5427. For students interested in additional courses on Native America please also see HKS DEV-501M “Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building I” (Joseph Kalt and Angela Riley) and GSD SES-5513  “Native Nations and Contemporary Land Use” (Eric Henson).

This course meets at HKS in room Wexner 330. Please see the HKS website for information regarding first class meetings. 

Building Equitable Cities: Policy Tools for Housing and Community Development (at HKS)

An introduction to policymaking in American cities, focusing on economic, demographic, institutional, and political settings. It examines inclusive and equitable economic development and job growth in the context of metropolitan regions and the emerging “new economy.”  Topics include: federal, state, and local government strategies for expanding community economic development and affordable housing opportunities, equitable transit-oriented development and resiliency. Of special concern is the continuing spatial and racial isolation of low-income populations, especially minority populations, in central-city neighborhoods and how suburbanization of employment, reduction in low-skilled jobs, and racial discrimination combine to limit housing and employment opportunities. Current federal policy such as Opportunity Zones and tax credit initiatives will be examined relative to policy goals of addressing communities that have historically been discriminated both by the public and private sectors.  During the semester, students will complete a brief policy memorandum, and participate in a term-long group project exploring policy options to address an urban problem or issue for a specific city.

See HKS website for shopping period information.

Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to AI, Genome Editing, and Geoengineering (HKS)

Technology shapes how power is exercised in society, and thereby also shapes how the present changes into the future. Technological innovation is all around us, and new possibilities in fields like artificial intelligence, genome-editing and geoengineering not only reallocate power, but might transform human life itself considerably, to the point of modifying the essence of what it is to be human. While ethical considerations enter prominently, the philosophy of technology is broader than its ethics. It aims to interpret and critically assess the role of technology for human life and guide us to a more thoughtful integration of technology in our individual lives and in public decision making.  This course aims to teach you to do just that, starting with basic stances and key figures in the field and then progressing towards a number of challenges around specific types of technology as they arise for the 21st century. At times it is tech optimism that dominates these debates (sometimes even techno-boosterism that sees technology as key to heaven on earth), at other times it is more low-spirited attitudes from romantic uneasiness to doom-and-gloom Luddism and technology-bashing. A closer look at these attitudes – alongside reflection on how technology and power are intertwined — will help generate a more skeptical attitude towards all of them and contribute to more level-headed debates, which is badly needed.

This course is jointly-listed with HKS as DPI-207.

Students are required to attend a section for this course, time TBD.

See HKS DPI 207 for room information.

Non-GSD students who wish to cross-register should petition through the HKS listing. 

Link to HKS shopping and exam schedules.

 

 

Urban Soil Studies: From Field to Lab to Design

Aimed primarily toward soils and plant growth, Landscape Architectural Design and the Curation of Urban Landscapes, and taught collaboratively by a landscape architect, multiple noted soil scientists, ecologists and other guests, this course will provide basic understandings of soil and other growing media in relation to plant growth, for the purpose of designing, constructing and maintaining or curating urban landscapes.  Inherent in the course content, students will examine and critique current practices within landscape industries, primarily within urban, post-industrial environments. Though global conditions will be touched upon and may be selected as student research topics, the course will focus on practices within the United States.

The course is broken into three parts: 1) Soil Fundamentals 2) Current Culture, Practice, Critiques, and 3) Future Potentials.  

SOIL FUNDAMENTALS will include lectures and readings on soil formation, characteristics, chemistry and biology, and plant-soil relation-ships, and the role of carbon and carbon sequestration. This introduction will include a field trip to observe a variety of soil types and conditions within a forest, and one to observe the relationship between tree roots and soils at the Arnold Arboretum. This will segue into human practices with a session on prehistoric and ancient Human-Soil relationships.

CURRENT CULTURE, PRACTICE, CRITIQUES will focus on the development of landscape architecture and soil science, as well as the collaborative planting-soil-related practices used in the design, gardening, landscape and construction industries today; this will include deep critiques and potentials for improvement or innovation.  Topics covered will include site evaluation and hidden implications that can be found within historic soils maps, soil testing processes, soil design typologies, soil blending processes on and off-site, compaction ranges, potable water chemistry, and circumstances involving chemical contamination, and the role of phytoremediation. We will also cover project documentation processes like procurement, soil plans and details, specifications and field quality control during construction.  

FUTURE POTENTIALS will include topics looking toward the future innovations and research, including practical recommendations for funding research including ongoing research within forms and basics associated with grant writing. This portion will conclude with presentations from students’ research throughout the course.
 

Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning and Design Option Studio 1601

Refugees in the Rust Belt

More than 114 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced–the highest number ever recorded. Among them, millions of Muslim refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Myanmar have resettled in the United States, where cities–not camps–become their new homes. This project-based studio explores how design, planning, and policy can help Muslim refugee communities build thriving lives across Upstate New York’s Erie Canal corridor, linking Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

Once the industrial heartland of the state, these cities now face population decline, aging infrastructure, and thousands of vacant lots. Yet they have also become some of the most welcoming places in the country. Refugee families are revitalizing neighborhoods, opening businesses, and establishing mosques, halal markets, and community spaces, while still confronting challenges of housing quality, mobility, employment, and access to culturally appropriate services.

The class unfolds in four phases:
Phase 1 (Introduction) introduces the refugee resettlement process in the U.S., exploring best practices for integration and principles for ethical engagement with Muslim communities.

Phase 2 (Cultural and Spatial Research) investigates cultural and spatial traditions from refugees’ countries of origin (including housing typologies, public gathering spaces, and faith-based institutions) to identify design principles that can inform resettlement strategies in host communities.

Phase 3 (Spatial Atlas) maps settlement patterns and everyday geographies (i.e. where Muslim refugees live, work, shop, and worship). Students will assess the supply and condition of affordable homes and explore design approaches that reflect multi-generational living, privacy needs, and family-centered space.

Phase 4 (Proposals) develops multi-scalar interventions that integrate cultural infrastructure and foster belonging, from housing prototypes and adaptive reuse strategies to corridor frameworks and policy recommendations. A special emphasis will be placed on housing as both a foundation for stability and a catalyst for community life.

A regional field trip through the corridor cities will connect students with resettlement agencies, Muslim community leaders, land banks, and municipal partners, revealing how design can advance inclusive, culturally grounded arrival cities that uphold the dignity and aspirations of Muslim refugees and the communities that welcome them.

Fortress of Solitude

“Soon, plausible alternatives to our world will emerge. You may have failed in this one, but what if you had a million new chances in a million different worlds?”

This course explores new approaches to interpreting, conceiving, and describing landscapes and architecture, along with the emotions they evoke. While traditional representation methods will remain dominant for some time, they often create a one-way cognitive experience with an “emitter” and a “listener” who barely interact. Game technologies allow for the creation of realistic, dreamlike, utopian, and dystopian universes. It is possible to use, disregard, twist, bend or re-invent the laws of physics, the flow of time, the hazards of weather, the perception of depth, but most importantly, it permits absolute freedom.

Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, meaningful connections will develop through studies in representation across art, film, and -not surprisingly- video games. Through exploring, designing, and constructing virtual “altered states,” you’ll acquire techniques to mature your ideas from early preparatory work through to deployment. This journey emphasizes imaginative solutions over technical prowess. Think of virtual fabrication as a mental blueprint, where elements must be arranged and framed thoughtfully–unless, of course, you want them to be jarringly noticeable.

Some topics we’ll cover include:

The project:
Build a “Fortress of Solitude” – a purely virtual, emotional space for self-reflection, detached from the real world. This space doesn’t have to be “pleasant”; while it could be peaceful and contemplative, it might also evoke discomfort, anger, or conflict.

The tools:
Our primary software tools will be Unreal Engine, an industry-standard real-time 3D engine for game world creation and simulation (easily transferable skills to other engines), and Cinema 4D, chosen for its stable and intuitive workflow. Students may use other 3D packages if preferred.

Nevertheless, the most vital tools will be a pencil, a sheet of paper, and your mind.

Class structure:
Each weekly class will have two parts: one focusing on theory, methods, and critique, and the other on technical skills, where you’ll apply what’s been studied so far. Occasionally, the structure will vary–routine is not the French way. There will be 3 assignments before the “Grand Finale”.

Class requirements:
Given the technical nature of this course, a relatively recent computer will be necessary. Review the minimum system requirements.
 

Designing Critical Practices

Today, landscape architecture is a field in active transformation. At a broad scale, the climate crisis is transforming the built and natural environment surrounding us—putting frontline communities at risk of warming, expanding oceans, inland flooding, and pollution, scorching our cities and open spaces, destroying the foundation of global biodiversity, threatening agricultural production, and entirely reconstituting what it means to design for places in the midst of profound and uncertain change. At the same time, shifting market forces, supply chain crises, technological advancements, diversifying client pools, and evolving societal attitudes toward open space are reshaping practice as we know it, rapidly expanding the reach and scope of design services while grappling to value them appropriately.
 
The ground has shifted beneath us, and the way we have practiced landscape architecture for the last century is no longer applicable. Our context requires a new approach, affecting both the work of design and the structure of the business itself. For too long, self-regard and siloed competition across the design fields have prevented us from looking elsewhere for inspiration—but today, emerging professionals and leaders alike have much to learn from the business models, operational structures, and management structures of firms in creative industries, technology, manufacturing, and beyond.
 
The central premise of this course: to prepare students for a changing market, we will honestly examine the current state at play in the design industry, analyzing a wide cross-section of firm typologies and scales, while also looking beyond the field for inspiration. We will investigate these ideas through detailed case studies, guest lectures, workshops, discussions, assignments, and student-led research.
 
The course is divided into two sections (1) Contemporary Landscape Architecture Practice Today and (2) Looking Outside the Field. The first examines methods and structures for practicing landscape architecture today and the second looks outside the field. Students will use the ideas shared during the two modules to imagine alternative frameworks for practice. Throughout the semester, students will be asked to consider both the broader forces affecting design today and real, actionable ways to meet these challenges through practice, culminating in a final project that will be shared and presented to the class for discussion.
 
In-class participation is essential for this seminar. Each section will begin with an in-person workshop designed to orient students with strategies, terminologies, and goals for the content to follow.

This course assumes entry-level familiarity with the basics of professional practice in landscape architecture—including business types, design phases and processes, RFP/Q processes, and other essential elements of contemporary landscape architecture firms. At the beginning of the semester, we will briefly review these fundamentals of practice, including workplace culture, systems, norms, and team hierarchies, in order to set the stage for examining new modes of practice.

Transportation Justice and Equity

The AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct identifies five principles to which people who participate in the planning process should aspire, including that “People who participate in the planning process should work to achieve economic, social and racial equity” and should “[s]eek social justice by identifying and working to expand choice and opportunity for all persons.” How should transportation planners in particular implement this charge? In this project-based course, students will engage with the arguments of moral philosophers including John Rawls, Amartya Sen, and Iris Marion Young to formulate their own definitions of equity and justice that are grounded in their understanding of that scholarship. They will apply those frameworks and definitions to propose plans and frameworks for public engagement and project evaluation for real clients working on current transportation projects in locations across the United States.