An exhibition for the fall 2016 seminar titled Cuba as Project: Urban, Political, and Environmental Transformations of the Island. William Staffeld / AAP
The Mellon Collaborative Studies in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities offers two types of innovative courses annually that bring critical humanistic thought to bear on contemporary American urbanity. The Design Justice Workshops and Urban Justice Labs are interdisciplinary courses that bridge humanist and design-based modes of inquiry and pedagogy, and integrate Cornell's many unique collections and resources.
Design Justice Workshops are offered in the fall semester and focus on research and design as it relates to social justice in American urban environments.
Urban Justice Labs are offered in the spring semester and focus on social justice within interrelated American urban/rural contexts.
Each seminar is taught by faculty from both the humanities and architecture, art, and urban design disciplines, and each seeks to enroll highly motivated graduate students from design and humanities majors.
Prior to Fall 2021, the two-course seminar series included Urban Representation Labs dedicated to interrogating the myriad modes of urban representation and expression as embodied in artifacts held in Cornell's archival collections and Expanded Practice Seminars focused on the expanded conceptual framework demanded by contemporary global urbanism.
Applications to teach a seminar in the 2026–2027 or 2027–2028 academic years open February 9, 2026.