Richard Plunz, Director of the Urban Design Lab (UDL), lectured in November 2013 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium on “Next Generation Urban Infrastructure: The Kumasi Case”, covering the UDL’s work in Kumasi, Ghana, during the previous two years. The lecture was part of the university’s “Cities in Development” series within its School of… read more

The Urban Design Lab (UDL) was asked in November 2013 to participate in a Tuition Aid Grant as Technical Advisor for the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, continuing a research commitment to the revitalization of the area that started in 2006 with a broad study of the area and the analysis of pollution, remediation possibilities, and… read more

Richard Plunz was featured in October 2013 in a film interview on the future of Brooklyn shown at De Singel in Antwerp, Belgium, as part of an exhibition contrasting the development of the New York borough with urbanization in Flanders.

January 2011 was a month of intense traveling for the Urban Design Lab (UDL) with Director Richard Plunz and Assistant Director Michael Conard  giving a series of high profile presentations on their work in China. In Beijing, they offered an exemplar of their activity to a venture capital group undertaking large urban projects and a second… read more

January 12, 2011, marked the first anniversary of the Haiti earthquake that claimed some 250,000 victims and stunned the world. With the goal of helping the rebuilding effort, Richard Gonzalez participated as a juror in an international housing competition organized by the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY) Global Dialogues Committee’s Haitian Housing… read more

Of the various initiatives geared to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying implications food has on human life, few could be more pertinent than a discussion around a table. In this spirit, the Urban Design Lab in December 2009 contributed to the climate change discussion, joining an event in Copenhagen sharing experience in food… read more

Richard Plunz, director of the Urban Design Lab (UDL), participated in an October 2009 discussion on possible urban futures with David Burney, then-Commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) at “How Do We Design Successful Cities? Challenges and Solutions” event, sponsored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of… read more

The Urban Design Lab (UDL) was invited to participate in the Seoul Design Olympiad in South Korea in October 2009. This competition called for designers from all over the world to explore projects related to sustainability in the city of Seoul. The exhibit content focused on the theme “Architecture: A User Manual” and the UDL… read more