The Climate Crisis—Imagining a Green New Deal in the Hudson Valley

Working in the Hudson Valley, the Fall Urban Design Studio operates at the regional scale and asks students to enter the discourse of urbanization beyond cities to engage unevenly dispersed socio-spatial ecosystems at multiple scales. The Hudson Valley, a region defined by multiple systems, histories, and geographies, touches the lives of millions and has deep connections to New York City, the global metropolis at its southern edge. For this studio, region is defined neither by a political boundary nor a physical area but, in the tradition of Patrick Geddes, the region is understood as the integration of settlements, modes of production and consumption, and the topographic and biological contexts in which they take place.

Specifically, this studio will explore the region’s rural/urban socio-spatial ecosystems as the site for intervention to address the global climate crisis. As part of a GSAPP-wide collaboration “Public Works for a Green New Deal,” the studio explores various layers of social and physical infrastructure and will work closely with local stakeholders, elected officials, organizations, non-profits, community groups, and planning and design professionals to envision just and equitable pathways towards decarbonizing the region. The studio will also be embedded in the ongoing work of the Hudson Valley Initiative, an applied research and design initiative at GSAPP.


This course is part of the Public Works for a Green New Deal curricular initiative sponsored by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture as a part of their project Power: Infrastructure in America.