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Kate Ascher

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Paul Milstein Professor of Professional Practice

Kate Ascher is the Paul Milstein Professor of Professional Practice of Urban Development at Columbia GSAPP, where she teaches real estate, infrastructure, and urban planning courses. She has a joint appointment at Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) in the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics department, and currently serves as Senior Fellow at LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ascher’s professional interests include the structuring of public-private partnerships, public infrastructure planning, building decarbonization, and transit-oriented and economic development. Her teaching and scholarship draw on her track record of leadership in these areas in government and industry.

In the public sector, she completed major infrastructure, real estate, and waterfront redevelopment projects for both New York State and New York City. She also served as Deputy Director of the Port at the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J., responsible for implementing on-dock rail facilities and establishing the first trans-Hudson ferry service in over a generation.

In the private sector, Ascher worked in Corporate Finance for Price Waterhouse Coopers in London, leading a series of infrastructure privatizations in the UK and Europe. She also served as Director of Development for Vornado Realty Trust in New York, structuring complex development partnerships at major transit nodes in Manhattan.

Kate has authored several books on urban infrastructure, and co-authored an illustrated history of New York’s urban development. She currently serves as Board Chair of the Brooklyn-based Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC), the premier non-profit industrial developer in the metropolitan area, and as a Director of The Gotham Foundry, a NYC-supported biomaterials innovation center under development in Harlem.

Courses

Course Semester Title Student Work Instructor Syllabus Requirements & Sequence Location & Time Session & Points Call No.
PLAN6272‑1 Fall 2026
New York Rising: How Real Estate Shapes a City
Kate Ascher

ALL GSAPP

114 Avery
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10567
PLAN6275‑1 Fall 2026
Transit Oriented Development
Kate Ascher

ALL GSAPP

209 Fayerweather
M 1 PM - 3 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
17950