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    Designing for outer space: A new course this spring asked students to design what humans might need to comfortably work in and inhabit space.

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    DUSP Professor Erica Caple James’ new book examines the rise and struggles of a community organization helping Haitians settle in Boston.

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    Researchers at the Senseable City Lab, part of MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, demonstrate there are significant differences in how much people in the Bronx are exposed to air pollution.

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    Graduate student Peggy Ghasemlou now aims to promote sustainability and green investing in real estate development.

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    In her new book, DUSP's Catherine D’Ignazio explores how activists have tabulated the epidemic of gender-based murder in Latin America.

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    woman with spools of thread

    PhD student Lavender Tessmer has devoted herself to several projects throughout grad school, but all share a common thread: an emphasis on fiber development and textile programming. “At MIT, my interest in textiles really exploded and became the center of everything,” she says. Photo: Gretchen Ertl

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    Students in 4.500 begin their journey by considering the experience they want to design for their chairs. For example, second-year student Wonu Abiodun (right) envisioned a unique lounging chair inspired by yoga poses. Also pictured: Marco Arias (top left) and Brenda Hernandez. (Photos courtesy of the students.)

Welcome to the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. At SA+P, a potent mix of disciplines and departments fuels innovation and energizes our drive for meaningful progress. Whether our community is designing systems or cities, objects or structures, policies or technologies, we are committed to working every day, at MIT and around the globe, in service to a better world.

Spotlight

Design-Politics of Inhabited “World-Heritage” Sites
LCAU Symposium
October 4

Upcoming Events

LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

October 1  | Lecture: Chile tsunami resilience
Speakers: Professors Jorge Leon and Macarena Paz Barrientos Diaz from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile. Sponsored by the Urban Risk Lab.
More information.
7-429
12:00 pm (ET)

October 3  | Department of Architecture Fall 2024 Lectures
Speakers: Melodie Yashar and Julian Ocampo 
"ICON and Large-scale Robotic Construction: The future of building on earth and other worlds"
Presented with the Architecture and Urbanism group.
In-person and streamed on YouTube. Upcoming fall lectures.
More information. Registration required to attend in-person.
7-429
6:00 pm (ET)

October 4  | MIT Mobility Forum Fall 2024
Weekly seminar series showcasing the groundbreaking transportation research taking place across the Institute. Lectures are online and open to all. Lecture list for semester
Topic: LiDAR and Photonics in Transportation. Speaker: Jelena Notaros
Registration
12:00-1:00 pm (ET)

October 4  | The Design-Politics of Inhabited “World-Heritage” Sites
Hosted by the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism, this symposium will highlight case studies that focus on the ways that urban design politics infuse the urbanization of inhabited places recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage sites in the Global South. Information and registration.
Long Lounge (7-429)
10:15 am-3:00 pm (ET)

October 7  | ACT Fall 2024 Lecture Series
Atif Akin — "morph, mutant, myth"
ACT Cube (E15-001)
6:00 pm (ET)

October 7-10  |  MIT campus walk-in flu clinic
These clinics are free to everyone who is eligible to get a vaccine on campus. Come to the clinic on the day  that is most convenient. More information.
Walker Memorial (Building 50)
9:00 am-5:00 pm (ET)

October 16  | Climate Reporting in America
How can local and regional newsrooms help build understanding of climate solutions in every part of the country? Join MIT's newest class of Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellows as they discuss their work on projects for news outlets covering local implications of the transition to a clean energy economy in Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Oregon. Virtual event.  Information and registration.
1:00-2:30 pm (ET)

October 16  | Writing Together: In-person writing retreats
Structured writing sessions designed to help writers make progress on projects. Open to MIT students, postdocs, faculty, and staff who are actively writing papers, proposals, manuscripts, or thesis chapters.
Information and registration
Barker Library (10-500)
11:00 am-1:00 pm or 1:30-3:30 pm

October 16  | Morningside Academy for Design Fall 2024 events
From Ideas to Impact: A conversation with Michael Sheldrick, Global Citizen
More information
66-110
5:00-6:30 pm (ET)

October 24  | ACT Fall 2024 Lecture Series
Lucy Orta
ACT Cube (E15-001)
6:00 pm (ET)

Ongoing | CONFLUENCE: Art, Science, Technology, and Creativity 
MIT Media Lab's Tod Machover is featured in CONFLUENCE, a PBS-TV series dedicated to art, science, technology, and creativity
Episode 2, "Material World" View on PBS

EXHIBITIONS  

Through October 5 | off the pedestal
Among the works included in this group exhibition is ACT lecturer Laura Anderson Barbata’s Intervention: Indigo.
Artist reception: Tuesday, September 17, 5:00-7:00 pm
Emerson Contemporary, 25 Avery Street, Boston

Through January 25, 2025 | Wordplay at ICA Boston
ACT's Renée Green's Space Poem #1 is on view as part of the Wordplay exhibition.
Institute of Contemporary Art Boston
25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston

Through Spring 2025 | Cosmograph: Speculative Fictions for the New Space Age
An exhibition by DESIGN EARTH — a design studio founded by Architecture’s Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy — bringing art and science together to examine possible futures where outer space is both a frontier for human exploration and new territory for exploitation and development by private enterprise.
More information.
MIT Museum

Ongoing | 20 Years of Mapping the [In]visible
An exhibit marking the twentieth anniversary of the MIT Senseable City Lab’s work to better understand the evolving relationship between the physical and digital worlds to reflect on ​​the social, ethical, and scientific aspects of our cities.
More information.
MIT Museum

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SA+P Wellness Program for Fall 2024
Yoga and Mindfulness
Tuesday 5:30-6:45 pm in-person (9-255) and online | Connect via Zoom here

Virtual exhibitions and activities
ACT lecture archive | Connect here
Department of Architecture lecture channel | Connect here