Several urban planning students have been recognized recently for their work in transportation. Dave Ginsberg, Phillip Baker, Ted Conrad, and Ed Meng, all MUP ’14, have received honors and fellowships at Harvard and elsewhere.
The 2014 Community Service Fellowship Program Fellows, representing all the GSD programs, will be taking it to the streets this summer to challenge themselves and test their learning on design and planning projects with direct community impact. The 10-week paid summer internships will send them to local community organizations, federal and state agencies and nonprofit institutions with a wide range of needs.
Leif Estrada (MLA/MDesS in Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology) has received honorable mention in the 2014 National Geographic Award in Mapping for "Morphology: Synthetic Growth + Natural Decline." Estrada created his submission in the fall course “Maps and Mapping” taught by Charles Waldheim and Matthew Wilson.
Noam Dvir (MAUD) has had a critical review published in the recent issue of the prestigious magazine Art in America, in which he examines the explosive trend of tech firm expansion and corporate brand expression through architecture.
Neil Brenner (professor of urban theory and director of the Urban Theory Lab) has just published a new edited volume, Implosions/Explosions: Towards a Study of Planetary Urbanization (Berlin: Jovis, 2014). Through classic and contemporary essays, including one by Nikos Katsikis (DDes candidate ‘14), the book explores the various theoretical, epistemological and political implications of Henri Lefebvre’s claim that "society has been completely urbanized."
A chapter coauthored by Diane Davis (professor of urbanism and development) and Onesimo Flores Dewey (lecturer and senior researcher) was named an Outstanding Author Contribution in the 2014 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence. “How to Defeat an Urban Megaproject. Lessons from Mexico City Airport Controversy,” which appeared in Research in Urban Sociology last year, was called "one of the most impressive pieces of work the team has seen throughout 2013" by the Emerald Group Publishing Editors.
An interdisciplinary team of students led by Felipe Correa (associate professor of urban design) and Carlos Garciavelez Alfaro (lecturer in urban design and MAUD '12) is working on new housing prototypes for Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Ryley Poblete ( MArch II), Maynard Leon ( MArch I / MUP), Ana Victoria Ciari, Miguel Lopez Melendez and Long Zuo (all MAUD) are exploring how mixed income blocks can incorporate income diversity into the affordable housing market.
The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine took a cold hard look at the city, what we can expect and what we need to do to prepare for the eventuality of sea-level rise and storm surge. The author looked to Joyce Klein Rosenthal (assistant professor of urban design) for an expert view of changes necessary to protect Boston.
First year PhD student Natalia Escobar Castrillon won 3rd prize for her poster presentation in the conference ''Directions in Twenty-First Century Preservation.''
A team of MDesS ('14) students concentrating in Real Estate and the Built Environment took second place in the MIT Center for Real Estate CASE Competition.