Integrated Design & Planning for Climate Change

This advanced research seminar in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is thematically focused within the integrated practices associated with designing and planning for climate change at an urban and regional scale. The seminar will geographically focus on urban to exurban communities—running east-west along Calle Ocho from Brickell Avenue in the City of Miami to the Tamiami Trail in the unincorporated community of Tamiami. The seminar will seek to explore the various economic and planning conventions that have paradoxically created a built environment that on one hand supports a majority of the county’s population, yet on the other hand is otherwise defined by high exposure to surface flooding, traffic-clogged streets, and an increasingly unaffordable housing stock for lower- to middle-income populations.

The seminar seeks to challenge and explore:

1. Metrics of urban service delivery;

2. Synergistic land use and housing production models in rapidly densifying districts;

3. Processes for effective and fair managed retreat;

4. Strategic obsolescence of infrastructure;

5 Novel models for strategic economic development of workforces and their associated workplaces; and

6. The designed adaptive capacity of architecture.

Course format:

Within the context of accelerated climatic, environmental, and social change, students will be required to independently select and develop a research agenda that demonstrates a command of the associated disciplinary literature framing the inquiry. In addition, each student will be required to develop analytical framework(s) that demonstrate the student’s competence for not only understanding the problem(s) but also utilizing such frameworks for practically engaging locally defined problems and stakeholders. In partnership with local stakeholders, students will travel to Miami to conduct field work to support their research. The seminar will culminate in the production of a project (e.g., memorandum, multimedia, etc.) that memorializes the analytical outcomes as well as a normative position for advancing future policy, planning, and design decisions.

Evaluation:

Students are evaluated on one survey presentation and the final research memorandum/media. Each student is required to lead discussions on relevant literature/data shaping their research as well as periodic updates concerning their research progress. Students are encouraged to utilize the seminar to ground complementary existing research for ongoing theses and dissertations.
 

Travel Note:

With the generous support of the Knight Foundation, some students in this seminar will travel to Miami to conduct field work and engaged local stakeholders. The enrollment for the seminar is limited to 20, and 8 of those students will be selected to travel to Miami, FL. The 20 students will be selected via the limited enrollment course lottery. The first 8 students on the list will be selected for the traveling spots, with students waitlisted for travel thereafter. Students enrolled in the option studio 1304: Adapting Miami – Housing on the Transect  are encouraged to take this seminar in conjunction with the studio, but must select the course first in the limited enrollment course lottery in order to be considered for enrollment. These studio students will only travel on the studio portion of the trip. The 8 students selected to take part in the trip will be term-billed $100 and travel September 25 – September 27. Students may travel in only one course or studio in a given term and should refer to traveling seminar policies distributed via email. As part of this initiative, students may have the opportunity to continue the research developed in this seminar beyond the end of the term.

The enrollment for the seminar is limited to 20, and 8 of those students will be selected to travel to Miami, FL. The 20 students will be selected via the limited enrollment course lottery. The first 8 students on the list will be selected for the traveling spots, with students waitlisted for travel thereafter. Students enrolled in the option studio 1304: Adapting Miami – Housing on the Transect  are encouraged to take this seminar in conjunction with the studio, but must select the course first in the limited enrollment course lottery in order to be considered for enrollment. These studio students will only travel on the studio portion of the trip. The 8 students selected to take part in the trip will be term-billed $100 and travel September 25 – September 27. Students may travel in only one course or studio in a given term and should refer to traveling seminar policies distributed via email.