Education in architecture and urbanism is well-positioned creatively and critically to address the exigencies of climate change. However, pedagogical methods that prioritize immediate applicability—often with a technological emphasis, can come at the expense of teaching and research that explore the sociocultural and geopolitical dimensions of the crisis. This, in turn, ultimately limits the range of approaches addressing climate change in professional practice. Columbia University’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture is therefore issuing, together with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, a competitive call for course proposals on the theme of “Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.”

From history seminars to visual studies and from design studios to building technologies, the wide variety of course offerings at schools of architecture is a testament to the diversity of perspectives, skills, and tools that ultimately comprise quality work in the field. In contrast, the urgency of the unfolding climate crisis—especially as it intersects with calls for environmental and racial justice—can seem to demand a singular focus that is antithetical to humanities-based critical inquiry or to longer-term creative and technical endeavors. We seek the kind of realism, however, that redefines problems and leaves room for the imagination. Successful proposals for this Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society will include methods and themes that innovate within their institutional setting—asking hard questions of students that are equal in weight to the hard questions being asked of society as it continues to grapple with the intertwined causes and effects of climate change.

Two (2) proposals will be selected by the jury for five thousand dollars ($5,000) each in cash prizes. To receive the cash prize, the winner must sign an agreement indicating their commitment to demonstrate viability for the course at their host institution within two (2) years of the prize’s distribution. Additionally, winners will submit their final syllabi for publication on both the ACSA website and the Buell Center website.