Investigate planning approaches to achieving urban resilience: What common themes or topics are addressed? What are the spatial or design issues to be addressed to achieve a sustainable future? How has the Covid pandemic altered our assumptions? And how might our approaches shift as we move from immediate emergency response to longer-term stabilization?
Explore planning and urban design case studies that demonstrate how interdisciplinary approaches (including ecology, arts and culture, local food systems and technology) are critical to city-building.
Discover how the real estate market, regulatory context and natural and ecological systems are both driving and responding to resilience goals. How has the recent social justice movement impacted or altered our understanding of these urban systems?
Synthesize and apply knowledge from panelists to a collaborative case study and interactive charrette in Boston
The focus of this two-day program is on developing a broader understanding of how planners or designer’s skills can contribute to more resilient, equitable cities and futures. This course will take a holistic view of resilience, advocating that both planners and designers need to consider environmental changes hand in hand with cultural, social, and economic dimensions. The course will draw from interdisciplinary expert perspectives and active learning to explore these topics (and others) and to encourage participants to expand their understanding of how to design and plan resilient and adaptable cities in the face of a changing climate, social equity challenges and a need for increasing competitiveness and innovation. Participants will use a site within the City of Boston as a laboratory and case study, learning from experts, touring key sites, and working together to synthesize case studies and their own observations. A series of presentations and discussions will lay the foundation for the course and introduce the breadth of environmental, economic, and social issues that must be addressed at all scales. The panelists are experts in the areas of physical city-building, natural systems, and community needs.
