Hannah Teicher

Hannah M. Teicher is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Her research is broadly concerned with how adaptation to climate change is shaping urban transformations across scales. Her current research agenda centers on long-term planning for climate migration and collaborations that reach beyond the usual environmental suspects. She has published her research in journals including the Journal of the American Planning Association, Climate Policy, the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Urban Climate, and the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Regarding climate migration, she is interested in how and why cities are identified as potential receiving communities, and the implications for policy and planning. She is also analyzing corporate climate migration and how that affects geographies of opportunity for individuals and communities seeking to reduce their own climate risk. In her work on collaborations, she is conducting research with an interdisciplinary multi-university team to understand how adaptation solutions can be co-produced in regions with extensive urban/military interdependence. She served in the leadership of the Climigration Network for five years and worked with a team there to guide development of Lead with Listening: a guidebook for community conversations on climate migration which is widely referenced by practitioners. Through project-based courses, she continues working with the Climigration Network, leading students in applied research projects to support network capacity on issues such as shared governance and Indigenous land repossession for community-led relocation.

Prior to joining the GSD, Hannah was the Researcher in Residence for the Built Environment at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, a multi-university institute in British Columbia, Canada. Her previous experience includes practicing architecture with a focus on green residential and community projects at Shape Architecture in Vancouver, BC, applied research on EV charging infrastructure with the Transportation Infrastructure and Public Space Lab at the University of British Columbia, and teaching at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from MIT, a Master of Architecture from UBC, and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Swarthmore College.