DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Resilient Urbanism in South Florida Florida has $101 billion worth of property projected to be below sea level by 2030. In this project student teams devised a set of unique resiliency zoning, codes, land uses, programs, and typologies that are precise, yet dynamic, flexible, and responsive. Place: Broward County Florida Faculty: Miho Mazereeuw, Fadi Masoud Partners: Broward County Strategies for Urban Stormwater Wetlands Designing urban constructed wetlands as multifunctional sustainability features for cities to improve ecosystem services, re-use water, and create amenities. Place: Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX Faculty: Alan Berger, Heidi Nepf >> HEALTH AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Building Power and Healthy Buildings Upgrading faith-based institutions and multifamily buildings in the Bronx to save community members money on their utility bills, lower greenhouse gas emissions, improve respiratory health, and create green local jobs. Place: Bronx, NY Faculty: Phil Thompson, Mariana Arcaya Partners: CoLab; Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative Public Health Impacts of Climate Change and Adaptation Planning Using role-play simulations and on-line computer games that stress the public health impacts of climate change to examine the extent to which various segments of the population in Cambridge, MA and Boston, MA are ready to participate in adaptation planning efforts. Also, exploring the extent to which the results of Vulnerability and Resilience Assessments are being incorporated into updated master plans. Place: Cambridge and Boston, MA Faculty: Larry Susskind Partners: MIT Science Impact Collaborative; Cambridge Department of City Development Resilience in Survivors of Katrina The project aims to understand the mechanisms by which disasters affect the mental and physical health of vulnerable populations over the long-term. Analyses are designed to investigate how individual- and communitylevel factors shape recovery trajectories. Places: Various Faculty: Mariana Arcaya
Social Impact Investing for Health This project investigates the effects of transit-oriented development investment on neighborhoods and their residents. Using a “Quadruple Bottom Line� approach to selecting projects that includes a consideration of community, environmental, and health impacts in addition to financial returns. Place: MA Faculty: Mariana Arcaya Partners: Conservation Law Foundation; Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies; Urban Imprint; Metropolitan Area Planning Council >> NETWORKED CITIES AND MOBILITY
Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Design Examine the relationship between the design of bus rapid transit systems and the planning and design of urban environments in Boston and Mexico City. Place: Boston, MA Faculty: Chris Zegras Partner: MBTA Crowd Sourced City Workshop To investigate the use of social media and digital technologies for planning and advocacy by working with planning and advocacy organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate prototype digital tools. Places: Boston, MA, and New York City, NY Faculty: Sarah Williams Partners: Center for Urban Pedagogy; Community Labor United; The Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation; Made in the Lower East Side, miLES Cybersecurity for Critical Urban Infrastructure Using simulated cyberattacks, assess the ways that cybersecurity experts and senior managers of utilities and urban infrastructure systems respond to ransomware. Evaluate the extent to which negotiations with cyberterrorists are possible. Place: New England Faculty: Larry Susskind, Stuart Madnick, Partners: Internet Policy Research Initiative @ MIT; CSAIL at MIT; Sloan School of Management; MIT Science Impact Collaborative Emotional Travel: Pride, Dependence, and Social Bias This project examines human emotions that are associated with travel behavior, including car pride, car dependence, implicit social bias in mode choice, and emotional responses to waiting. Places: Various Faculty: Jinhua Zhao