Achievement

The Urban Ecology Studio, which is required for all first year IGERT Trainees, has continued to provide an interdisciplinary learning environment for the IGERT Trainees and non-IGERT funded graduate architecture student from Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. This year, the Studio collaborated with interdisciplinary students in a European Erasmus Mundus program that is also focused on urbanization challenges. The collaboration was supported by funds from the European Union. Our Studio traveled to East Aalborg, Denmark to work with the Erasmus Mundus scholars for a 10-day intensive interaction that focused on the re-thinking the role of suburbs in future cities. The interaction with the Erasmus Mundus scholars and the interdisciplinary Studio experience provided the first-year Trainees with new deign tools, skills and perspectives, including international perspectives, that will shape their own research going forward.