Research Topics
Credit: Stuart Gaffin
The PhD Dissertation topics of Trainees will be posted as they become available. At this stage, the following topics are provided as example research areas that might be explored within the program. Other areas are also possible. Trainees are afforded flexibility in the development of their Dissertation topic.
Each Trainee is advised by a group of three IGERT Faculty, which includes at least one advisor from the GSAPP and another from SEAS.
- New designs for innovative urban buildings, building materials and construction approaches that extend current practices in green building design
- New planning strategies and technologies for energy efficient urban neighborhoods
- Strategies for infrastructure adaptation to climate change impacts, including sea-level rise
- New paradigms for monitoring, managing and preserving aging infrastructure
- New tools for modeling the complexity and interactions between urban infrastructure systems, including water, energy, waste and transportation systems
- Investigations into the roles of decentralized, centralized and hybrid infrastructure systems in urban sustainability
- New paradigms for urban farming, waste management and urban restoration economies
- Investigations into the effects of natural and technological hazards on densely built urban environments
- Advancement of digital modeling and fabrication techniques for urban infrastructure and building components
- New tools for enabling the planning, design, and preservation of sustainable urban environments and systems
- Investigations of the role of technological systems in the development of buildings, structures, and infrastructural networks