Humanities+Urbanism+Design Initiative

Humanities, Urbanism and Design logo

The Humanities+Urbanism+Design Initiative, sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, is a ground-breaking five-year collaboration by the Penn Institute for Urban Research, the School of Design, and the School of Arts and Sciences that brings together students and faculty to explore cities — past, present and future — examining them at the intersection of the humanities and design disciplines and sharing research through teaching, conference participation, and publication.

It draws on Penn’s great strengths in design, urban studies, and the humanities, creating a multi-disciplinary setting for the study of the built environment in which students and faculty can share and combine their research and analytical methods in ways that will greatly enrich their work, heighten its impact, and increase their contributions to the creation of more inclusive, beautiful, resilient cities around the globe.

The initiative is co-directed by Eugenie Birch, Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research and Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research, and David Brownlee, Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor, and Chair of the Graduate Group in the History of Art. For more information, visit the H+U+D Initiative’s website.

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