NYU’s PhD in Urban Design and Architecture Studies fosters research into the built environment, spatial justice, and global urbanization. Students investigate architectural history, infrastructure, policy, and cultural production using archival, theoretical, and field-based methods. With NYC as a living lab, the program connects past design logics to contemporary challenges in equity, climate, and access. Graduates lead in design theory, planning, academia, and heritage conservation.
Historical preservation vs. housing justice: Case study of rezoning in Lower Manhattan
Design politics of public benches: Comfort, exclusion, and surveillance in hostile architecture
Urban resilience infrastructure and environmental racism in climate-impacted coastal neighborhoods
Tracing displacement through comparative urban design practices in New York and Mumbai
Digital mapping of redlining and present-day urban mobility barriers in gentrifying neighborhoods
Ethnography of informal housing: Spatial practices in undocumented settlements
Adaptive reuse of sacred spaces in secular urban redevelopment projects
Architecture of carcerality: Visual and material analysis of prison facility expansion
Design as soft power: U.S. cultural architecture in foreign embassies since 1945
Verticality and inequality in high-rise public housing and luxury developments
Global logistics and spatial erasure in Amazon fulfillment architecture
Memorial design as political narrative in contested national histories
Accessibility audits and redesign strategies for disabled commuters in subway systems
Aesthetic ethics in public space art and monument removal debates
Comparing ‘smart city’ infrastructure in Dubai, Songdo, and New York
Digitally fabricated architecture and its impact on construction labor practices
Design strategies for climate-responsive housing in low-income flood zones
Historical mapping of infrastructure built on Indigenous land in the U.S.
Sonic design of cities: Acoustic environments and social inclusion
Participatory urban design workshops and community power redistribution
Critique, document, and reimagine cities through NYU’s PhD in Urban Design and Architecture Studies.
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