Master in Design Studies (MDesS)Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology
Area Coordinator: Charles Waldheim, Professor of Landscape Architecture
Over the past decade longstanding disciplinary divides between the urban and the ecological have given way to more fluid, polyvalent, and potentially more productive relations. The challenges of the built environment have rarely, at any time, corresponded to traditional disciplinary or professional boundaries. Contemporary practices of urbanism are increasingly informed by sensibilities and stores of knowledge broadly associated with the study of the natural world. As model and metaphor on the one hand, and as applied science on the other, urban and architectural practices and habits of thought are increasingly engaged with ecological thinking. In this space of intellectual inquiry and advancement of the design arts, the MDesS Program aspires to be a leading venue for post-professional studies at the intersection of the urban and the ecological domains.
MDesS candidates in the ‘Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology’ concentration pursue advanced studies in topics related to contemporary urbanism and landscape within the broader context of the global, social, and natural environment. Candidates are invited to construct their own program of study from among the course offerings at the GSD. Candidates are also encouraged to take advantage of courses and institutional assets across the Harvard University campus and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Candidates are invited to propose research topics related to the description and representation of contemporary urban forms, of ecological sites and systems at all scales especially as these relate to infrastructure, logistics, and material economies; to ecological issues as they determine urban, regional, or territorial spatial organization; to the histories and theories of landscape as elements of urban or regional order; to emerging economic orders such as large-scale and ultra-rapid development and their impact on urban form, on problems of globalization and on modernization; issues relating to water, waste, energy production and consumption in relation to urbanism; issues of agricultural production and consumption in relation to urbanism as well as to theoretical issues relating to landscape urbanism, ecological urbanism, and weak urbanism.
Associated Faculty:
Iñaki Abalos, GSDPierre Bélanger, GSDStefano Boeri, GSD Lizabeth Cohen, FAS/HistoryFelipe Correa, GSDSanford Kwinter, GSDNina-Marie Lister, GSDMohsen Mostafavi, GSDChris Reed, GSDHashim Sarkis, GSDRafael Segal, GSDCharles Waldheim, GSD
Harvard University Center for the EnvironmentHarvard University Center for Geographic Analysis
Area Coordinator: Charles Waldheim, Professor of Landscape Architecture
Over the past decade longstanding disciplinary divides between the urban and the ecological have given way to more fluid, polyvalent, and potentially more productive relations. The challenges of the built environment have rarely, at any time, corresponded to traditional disciplinary or professional boundaries. Contemporary practices of urbanism are increasingly informed by sensibilities and stores of knowledge broadly associated with the study of the natural world. As model and metaphor on the one hand, and as applied science on the other, urban and architectural practices and habits of thought are increasingly engaged with ecological thinking. In this space of intellectual inquiry and advancement of the design arts, the MDesS Program aspires to be a leading venue for post-professional studies at the intersection of the urban and the ecological domains.
MDesS candidates in the ‘Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology’ concentration pursue advanced studies in topics related to contemporary urbanism and landscape within the broader context of the global, social, and natural environment. Candidates are invited to construct their own program of study from among the course offerings at the GSD. Candidates are also encouraged to take advantage of courses and institutional assets across the Harvard University campus and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Candidates are invited to propose research topics related to the description and representation of contemporary urban forms, of ecological sites and systems at all scales especially as these relate to infrastructure, logistics, and material economies; to ecological issues as they determine urban, regional, or territorial spatial organization; to the histories and theories of landscape as elements of urban or regional order; to emerging economic orders such as large-scale and ultra-rapid development and their impact on urban form, on problems of globalization and on modernization; issues relating to water, waste, energy production and consumption in relation to urbanism; issues of agricultural production and consumption in relation to urbanism as well as to theoretical issues relating to landscape urbanism, ecological urbanism, and weak urbanism.
Associated Faculty:
Iñaki Abalos, GSDPierre Bélanger, GSDStefano Boeri, GSD Lizabeth Cohen, FAS/HistoryFelipe Correa, GSDSanford Kwinter, GSDNina-Marie Lister, GSDMohsen Mostafavi, GSDChris Reed, GSDHashim Sarkis, GSDRafael Segal, GSDCharles Waldheim, GSD
Harvard University Center for the EnvironmentHarvard University Center for Geographic Analysis
