Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology

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. Today,
contemporary practices of urbanism are shaped by thinking from subjects as diverse as landscape architecture, geography and economics, while
increasingly being informed by sensibilities and stores of knowledge broadly associated with the study of the natural world. In this milieu, the
MDes Program invites candidates to examine contemporary practices of design and modes of production as they inform and manifest urbanism.
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 MDes Program
aspires to be a leading venue for post-professional studies of contemporary urban practice. MDes candidates in the Urbanism, Landscape,
Ecology concentration pursue advanced studies in topics related to contemporary urbanism, landscape, geography, or territory within the
broader contexts 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, across the Harvard University campus and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Candidates may propose research topics related to the description of contemporary urban forms; the empirical observation of urban or
environmental subjects; the representation of ecological or urban sites and systems; cartographic or projective representations of urban,
regional, or global orders; ecological orders as determinants of urban, regional, or territorial spatial organization; the histories and theories of
landscape as elements of urban or regional order; infrastructure, logistics and material economies associated with urban or regional form;
emergent economic orders and their impact on urban form; energy production and consumption in relation to urbanism; agricultural production
and consumption in relation to urbanism; water and waste networks in relation to urbanism; large-scale and ultra-rapid development and
emergent forms of modernization and their ecological and economic impacts and possibilities; as well as advanced studies in landscape
urbanism, ecological urbanism and weak urbanism.

Area Head
Charles Waldheim (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/charles-waldheim/) , John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture

Affiliated Faculty
Silvia Benedito (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/silvia-benedito.html) , Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Anita Berrizbeitia (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/anita-berrizbeitia.html) , Professor of Landscape Architecture
Neil Brenner (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/neil-brenner/) , Professor of Urban Theory
Felipe Correa (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/felipe-correa.html) , Associate Professor of Urban Design
Sonja Duempelmann (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/sonja-duempelmann.html) , Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Ed Eigen (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/ed-eigen.html) , Associate Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Mohsen Mostafavi (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/mohsen-mostafavi.html) , Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design
Chris Reed (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/chris-reed.html) , Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture
Charles Waldheim (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/charles-waldheim.html) , John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture

Research Affiliations
Urban Theory Lab (http://www.urbantheorylab.net/)
Harvard University Center for the Environment (http://www.environment.harvard.edu/)
Harvard University Center for Geographic Analysis (http://www.gis.harvard.edu/)

Read about the Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology concentration in Harvard Magazine

Magazine. (http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/08/making-green-a-primary-color)

PROJECTS
(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/zea-mays-corn-as-civilization-commodity-consumerism-and-control/)

Zea Mays / Corn as Civilization, Commodity, Consumerism and

Control (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/zea-mays-corn-as-civilization-
commodity-consumerism-and-control/)
Alberto de Salvatierra (MDes '17) Maize (zea mays)—commonly known as corn—often evokes nostalgic visions of…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Spring 2017
(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/unfolding-the-western-district-public-cargo-working-area-in-hong-kong/)

Unfolding the Western District Public Cargo Working Area in

Hong Kong (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/unfolding-the-western-district-
public-cargo-working-area-in-hong-kong/)
Benni Yu-ling Pong (MDes '17) The Western District Public Cargo Working Area (WDPCWA) in Hong…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Spring 2017
(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/the-future-is-nutty-balanoculture-for-the-world/)

The Future is Nutty: Balanoculture for the World

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/the-future-is-nutty-balanoculture-for-the-world/)
by Jane Zhang (MDes '17) It takes an Oak tree on average 30 years to…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Spring 2017

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/inhabiting-javas-volcanic/)

Jakarta’s Orogeny: Inhabiting Java’s Volcanic

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/inhabiting-javas-volcanic/)
by Pedro Aparicio Llorente (MDes ULE ’16), recipient of the Gerald M. McCue Medal, and Namik…

Student Work (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=student-work)

Pierre Bélanger (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/pierre-belanger/) and Dilip da Cunha (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/dilip-da-cunha/) , Faculty

Advisors

Spring 2016

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/void-urbanism-a-genealogy/)

Void Urbanism. A Genealogy (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/void-

urbanism-a-genealogy/)
by Roi Salgueiro Barrio (MDes '14) The thesis posits that the notion of void and its…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Charles Waldheim (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/charles-waldheim/) , Faculty Advisor

Spring 2014
(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/the-lower-athabasca-regional-counterplan/)

The Lower Athabasca Regional Counterplan

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/the-lower-athabasca-regional-counterplan/)
by Christopher Alton (MDes '14) This thesis is constructed as a critical analysis of the…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Neil Brenner (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/neil-brenner/) , Faculty Advisor

Spring 2014

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/logistical-urbanization/)

Logistical Urbanization (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/logistical-

urbanization/)
by Conor O'Shea (MDes '14) Logistical urbanization historically contextualizes and theorizes processes of urbanization catalyzed…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Neil Brenner (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/neil-brenner/) , Faculty Advisor

Spring 2014
(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/wet-grounds-emerging-landscapes-of-storage/)

Wet Grounds: Emerging Landscapes of Storage

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/wet-grounds-emerging-landscapes-of-storage/)
by Adriana Chávez (MDes '14) “Wet Grounds: Emerging Landscapes of Storage” is a projective research…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Pierre Bélanger (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/pierre-belanger/) , Faculty Advisor

Spring 2014

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/flexible-urbanism-retroactive-assemblage-for-the-contemporary-1/)

Flexible Urbanism: Retroactive Assemblage for the Contemporary

City (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/flexible-urbanism-retroactive-assemblage-
for-the-contemporary-1/)
by Daniel Ibanez (MDes '12) Historically, urbanization has depended upon landscapes and broader ecologies to…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Spring 2012

(https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/border-as-urbanism-redrawing-the-demilitarized-zone-dmz-between/)

Border as Urbanism: Redrawing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

between North and South Korea (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/border-
as-urbanism-redrawing-the-demilitarized-zone-dmz-between/)
by Dongsei Kim (MDes '12) Borders are everywhere and exist at every level of our…

Thesis (https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/?project_type=thesis)

Spring 2012

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