Urban Design Studio III, Spring 2019

Faculty
Kate Orff (Coordinator), Dilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Thaddeus Pawlowski, Linh Pham, Julia Watson

Description
Columbia’s Spring 2019 Urban Design Studio and the Resilience Accelerator—a partnership between the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes and 100 Resilient Cities—teamed up with the Can Tho Resilience office and the Mekong-DRAGON Institute at Can Tho University to explore alternative modes for urban development guided by nature-based infrastructure and resilience principles. While visiting Can Tho, the Urban Design studio developed seven urban design principles that guided their work for the duration of the semester. Upon returning to New York, the studio re-imagined a future for urban growth that takes advantage of the Mekong Delta’s rich ecological and cultural resources by exploring novel spatial configurations and economic and institutional relationships between Can Tho City, residents, investors and other stakeholders. The student work presented here suggests that growth strategies in Can Tho can enhance the regional capacity to adapt to climate change while empowering urban and rural populations as agents of environmental stewardship.

Students
Ashley Louie, Angela Crisostomo, Shivani Agarwal, Junyu Cao, Hsin Yi Chao, Aniket Dikshit, Devaki Handa, Mariam Hattab, Sharvi Jain, Zeyi Jiang, Tanaya Kadam, Berke Kalemoglu, Jianqi Li, Shuyuan Li, Greg LeMaire, Alaa Marrawi, David Mauricio, Amanpreet Singh, Gabriel Vergara, Peiqing Wang, Dian Yu, Bohong Zhang, and Wenjun Zhang.