The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) MIT News featured the Urban Design Lab’s National Integrated Foodshed project in the article “Good Food Nation” in November 2009; this research is in partnership with the MIT Collaborative Initiatives program. .

The Urban Design Lab from November 2009 participated in a series of ongoing national initiatives with the Action Center to End World Hunger, Earth Pledge Foundation, Fast Forward Fund, and HealthCorps, geared to enhance awareness of students, children, and the general public on the themes of sustainability, climate change, health, food, and fair trade.

Through the award of an Ultra-X grant from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the Urban Design Lab (UDL) undertook a collaboration with Columbia University colleagues and many community partners on a project aimed at monitoring the neighborhood scale intersections between residents, the improved urban “green”, green roof performance, and… read more

Michael Conard, assistant director of the UDL, presented “Redesigning the Food System for Public Health and Sustainability” at the Center for Disease Control’s National Environmental Public Health Conference. This event, which took place October 26-28 in Atlanta, was organized to encourage innovative strategies for addressing existing and emerging environmental health issues and to provide a… 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

From July 2009, the Urban Design Lab’s Michael Conard and Kubi Ackerman engaged in designing a community health awareness curriculum for the FitTown initiative of the HealthCorp. The curriculum calls for photo documentation and neighborhood mapping, to be distributed in more than 50 high schools across the country.

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

The Urban Design Lab’s Maria Paola Sutto joined the T-Diversities Series in New York City, which explored issues related to urban sustainability, food and fair trade in celebration of the 2009 World Food Day. The T-Diversities series highlighted concerns related to climate change, food and urban agriculture, architecture, and design, with topics explored through interactions… read more