2023 Open House

For the win: A semester worth celebrating

Dec. 19, 2023

At the end of each fall semester, Environmental Design (ENVD) hosts a building-wide exhibition of design and research produced by students and faculty.

Parking garages and parking lots – like these pictured in downtown Chicago in a 1956 aerial photograph – became a core feature of 20th-century U.S. urban development. Chicago History Museum/Getty Images

City planners are questioning the point of parking garages

Feb. 20, 2023

Two assumptions undergird urban parking policy: Without convenient parking, car owners would be reluctant to patronize businesses; and absent a dedicated parking spot for their vehicle, they’d be less likely to rent and buy homes. Because parcels of urban land are usually small and pricey, developers will build multistory garages. And so today, a glut of these bulky concrete boxes clutter America’s densely populated cities.

Isabella Marcotulli with BIG sign

A Perspective on Urban Design and Being a Woman in the Design Workplace from Isabella Marcotulli with the Bjarke Ingels Group in New York

Jan. 23, 2023

Lydia Mercante, a third-year Environmental Design (ENVD) student majoring in sustainable planning and urban design, spent the summer of 2022 meeting with various design professionals in New York City to learn more about the industry to share with other students.

John Hersey, Source Plantizen Courses

ENVD Teaching Assistant Professor instructs most popular Planetizen course of 2022

Jan. 17, 2023

Specializing in transit-oriented development (TOD) since his undergraduate studies, Hersey was well prepared to present an introduction to the sustainable growth model as well as a deeper dive into TOD’s interaction with affordable housing. The latter course, Equitable Transit-Oriented Development, was among Planetizen Courses’ most popular classes of 2022.

Assistant Professor Jota Samper in TEDxCU talk

TEDxCU: How informal settlements (slums) will reshape the world

Oct. 30, 2020

Environmental Design Assistant Professor Jota Samper recently gave a talk on TEDxCU. The talk focuses on Professor Samper's collaborations with students and communities alongside his research on informal Settlements.

Global Seminar: The Medellin Practicum/Studio (Medellin, Colombia)

Applications now open for Medellin Global Seminar

Oct. 30, 2020

Applications are now open for the Global Seminar: The Medellin Practicum/Studio (Medellin, Colombia). Learn about planning and urban design methodologies in the innovative Colombian city of Medellín.

Overcoming Challenges of a Pandemic in the Urban Planning Classroom

Overcoming Challenges of a Pandemic in the Urban Planning Classroom

Oct. 13, 2020

ENVD met with Assistant Professor Jota Samper to get a better understanding of how he’s overcoming challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic in his classroom.