Ambition and Methodology
Cities are facing the accelerating effects of the climate crisis. Extreme heat, prolonged drought, and flash floods place unprecedented pressure on urban environments. The studio aims to be both pragmatic and visionary, developing concrete interventions while imagining how cities must evolve under increasingly severe climatic conditions.

The Biospheric Urbanism studios explore the built environment as the interface between an uncertain meteorology and an underestimated geology. Each edition studies one city, building research across different climates. After New York City, Paris, Athens and Los Angeles, the Fall 2026 studio turns to Brussels.

The studio is organized in three acts. First, working in groups, students will construct a climatic cartography of Brussels, revealing a mosaic of microclimates. By mapping heat, shade, wind, water, soil, vegetation, flood vulnerability, and patterns of occupation, they will identify areas of climatic urgency and their causes. Second, working individually, students will formulate strategies for selected sites and climatic challenges. Third, they will develop these strategies into spatial proposals and test their performance under different warming scenarios of 2, 3, 4 and 5 degrees Celsius.

Case Study #5: Brussels
Brussels is vulnerable to rising temperatures because of its dense urban fabric, sealed surfaces, uneven tree cover and social inequalities. These conditions produce marked differences in heat exposure and thermal comfort. The covering and canalization of the river Senne in the nineteenth century largely removed water from the public realm, raising the question of how water can again become climatic infrastructure.

Site Visit and Partnerships
Students will travel to Brussels to investigate selected sites and to meet city representatives and local actors to understand local challenges and ambitions. The City of Brussels has expressed strong interest in the studio. At the end of the semester, the students will present their proposals to the city and explore the possibility of constructing on-site prototypes to test selected ideas.

The studio will collaborate closely with Transsolar, an international climate engineering firm, which will introduce the principles of outdoor thermal comfort. Through workshops and desk critiques, students will integrate climatic analysis and performance evaluation into their designs.

This studio is supported by the LUMA Landscape and Ecology Research Series.