Initiatives
The center supports thematic initiatives that involve a variety of activities that include faculty research, student internships, reflective practitioner residencies, and collaboration with our strategic partners.
Urban Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
This initiative generates new, actionable, and scalable knowledge about how diverse urban built environments and ecosystems across the Global North and Global South can mitigate and adapt to climate change. One project in particular focuses on climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in the context of in situ informal settlement upgrading. The initiative involves collaboration with civil society partners and stakeholders, AAP faculty research, residencies for reflective practitioners, new hybrid course offerings, student internships, and programming.
Just and Equitable Cities
This initiative supports research and practice that addresses how to design, plan, and build more just and equitable cities. It seeks to address racist, unjust, and exclusionary urban practices that have contributed to rising urban inequality. The initiative engages planning and urban governance processes, community and civil society engagement, design practices, and policy mechanisms to develop place-based as well as scalable approaches to housing security, sustainable livelihoods, and universal access to safe, reliable, and affordable core urban infrastructure and services.
Big Urban Data
How can big spatial data be used to understand our dynamic cities? This cross-disciplinary initiative aims to catalyze longer-term urban big data infrastructure to accelerate research, teaching, and engagement-focused urban design and planning practice. It will build our data and technical capacity as a generative resource for researchers and external partners, ranging from public agencies to urban design firms.