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Urban Design Students Share First Capstones

05. 21. 2025
  • group photo of UD capstone students with drawings in background

    The first cohort of three-semester Urban Design students at their capstone presentation in Fall 2024, from L: Amy Ho, Aakanksha Maharjan, Xavier Raymore, Zhenhao Huang, Gaston Fernandez, and Sara Abousaid. Photo courtesy Amy Ho.

  • A group of 14 adults and young adults stands in a line outdoors, smiling at the camera. They are diverse in appearance, with varied skin tones and hair colors. The building behind them reads

    The Urban Design studio trip to Austin, Texas, in February 2024 included a visit to Community First! Village, a master-planned neighborhood that provides affordable, permanent housing for people who are coming out of chronic homelessness.

The Spitzer School’s Graduate Program in Urban Design recently retooled itself, expanding the curriculum from two to three semesters starting with the cohort entering in Fall 2023. During the new third semester, students complete a capstone project. Concurrent with this curricular change, the program added a “5+1” accelerated degree option for undergraduate architecture students.

The first cohort of students from this meatier program and the first 5+1 students finished during the 2024-25 academic year. We are pleased to share their capstone projects as we celebrate their graduation!

The capstones provide opportunities for students to deeply investigate the agendas, competencies, strategies, and methods developed during the first year of the program, addressing a wide range of concerns including social and environmental justice, technology, and infrastructure. Students produced comprehensive, neighborhood-scale designs with special focus on contemporary urban manufacturing and housing in two distinct legacy industrial cities: Dog’s Head in Austin, Texas, and East Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. Their projects highlight contemporary urban manufacturing as a transformative force with the potential to drive both social and environmental justice while advancing circular green economies.

The program has been proud to collaborate with the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) under the Town and Gown initiative. This pioneering research effort explores the potential of urban resource recovery (URR) as a transformative strategy to integrate environmental sustainability and social justice into New York City’s industrial fabric. Special thanks to Austin’s Office of Climate Action and Resilience, the Austin Circular Economy Program, and the Graduate Program in Urban Design Program at University of Texas for the Austin project as well.

Students: Sara Abousaid, Gaston Fernandez, Amy Ho, Zhenhao Huang, Aakanksha Maharjan, and Xavier Raymore.
Advisors: Julio Salcedo-Fernandez and Marina Correia Fall 2024

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