Introducing the Green New Deal Superstudio

In 2019, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced H.R. 109, a non-binding resolution “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal”—a framework for future legislation that builds resiliency against climate change-related disasters, repairs and upgrades the infrastructure of the U.S.  In response, Billy Fleming, Wilks Family Director of The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, led an interdisciplinary studio in which he asked students from the departments of landscape architecture and city and regional planning to give form and visual clarity to the scale, scope, and pace of transformation that the Green New Deal implies.

Now, The McHarg Center at Weitzman is partnering with The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) to launch The Green New Deal Superstudio, an open call for designs that spatially manifest the principles and policy ideas of the Green New Deal with regional and local specificity.

The goal of the Superstudio is to create and assemble work that translates the core goals of the Green New Deal—decarbonization, justice, and jobs—into design and planning projects for the respective regions of the contributors. LAF notes that entries “can cross the spectrum from small- to large-scale and along a gradient from conceptual to ‘shovel ready’”—however, all must address decarbonization, justice, and jobs per the goals of the Green New Deal.

Superstudio participants will join a collaborative network of other participating studios that will have access to a design brief and supporting resources such as lectures, roundtable discussions, and reviews. The concepts and dialogue produced through the Superstudio will be catalogued as part of a curated collection to form a national vision for the Green New Deal that can support policy-makers and advocates to advance Green New Deal ideas and approaches. The Superstudio projects will also inform a national conversation on policy and design at a summit  convened by the Landscape Architecture Foundation in September 2021. All eligible submittals will be archived and used to form a curated collection for potential exhibits, articles, or content for congressional readership.

Participation in the Superstudio is open to graduate and undergraduate programs of landscape architecture, architecture, planning, and related fields as well as professional practices and individuals in these fields. Participants may also build teams and/or collaborate with other professions or academic programs and disciplines, community organizations, local firms, and other stakeholders. The approach, types of projects, pedagogical method, and how the projects manifest the ethos of the Green New Deal are at the discretion of each studio.

The Superstudio will run from August 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Universities may participate in the Superstudio in the fall semester of 2020 and/or the spring semester of 2021. Other groups and individuals may participate on their own timeline as long as work is submitted by the June 30 deadline. (Green New Deal studios that took place before this call are encouraged to submit prior work.)

All studios that wish to participate must register in order to join the network of other participating studios and receive access to Superstudio resources, events, and opportunities. Final materials from the studios must be submitted by June 30, 2021.

For more information and to register, visit: www.lafoundation.org/superstudio.

To learn about the proposals produced in the Weitzman studio in the fall of 2019, visit the Department of City and Regional Planning's ISSUU.