Jota Samper is an architect and planner who has taught architecture, urban design, and planning. His work on Informal Settlements Research (ISR) focuses on sustainable urban growth and the intersection of urban informality ('slums') and violent urban conflict. The main goal of ISR is to create innovative urban tools that visualize the challenges (climate, regulatory, and violence) presented in informal landscapes. He co-founded Mobility/Movilidad, a nonprofit dedicated to video archiving, mapping, and developing infrastructure with marginalized communities. He also co-directs the Community Engagement, Design, and Research Center (CEDaR). Born and raised in Medellín, he obtained his BA in architecture from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a master's in city planning, and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also worked as a lecturer. His project 'Living rooms at the Border,' with estudio teddy cruz, was exhibited at MoMA. He is the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). He collaborates with colleagues from Oxford University on 'The Changing Character of Conflict Platform.' Samper's 'Atlas of Informality' work has been presented to an audience of over 1.6 million in a TEDx talk.
ENVD 1020 - Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023
Introduces students to strategies and techniques of architectural design and communication in a hands-on studio environment. Students explore architectural form-making and design opportunities through an iterative design process culminating with a small-scale architectural project that responds to environmental, contextual and programmatic needs. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, an 7-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design, taken during the first 7-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design is a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 1040 - Studio 1: Introduction to Sustainable Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
Explores concepts and strategies related to urban planning and design. Students collaboratively develop a design solution to a small-scale problem within an urban fabric using basic skills of analysis and design iteration. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1040, Studio 1: Introduction to Sustainable Planning and Urban Design, an 8-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1030, Studio 1: Introduction to Landscape Architecture, taken during the first 8-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1012, Technology 2: Visual Communications, a 16-week class that is taught alongside the two 8-week studios.
ENVD 1104 - Introduction to Environmental Design Methods
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Summer 2018
Explores the forces and conditions that interact to shape the designed environment. It does so through a lecture sequence and parallel set of design exercises introducing students to the theory and practice of environmental design. It develops student understandings of the central role design thinking plays as the unique process used to effect appropriate change in the designed environment. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1102 and ENVD 2003.
ENVD 1140 - Studio 2: Fundamentals of Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Through a small-scale urban planning and design project, students explore solutions to challenges in dynamic urban systems. Builds on knowledge and skills gained in the introductory studios to explore the human and environmental dimensions of intertwined systems within the built environment.
ENVD 3009 - Special Topics in Environmental Design
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2018 / Summer 2019 / Summer 2021 / Summer 2022 / Summer 2023 / Summer 2024 / Summer 2025
Seminar or design lab on special issues in environmental design, including study abroad. May be repeated up to 21 total credit hours. Variable topic class.
ENVD 3100 - ENVD Interdisciplinary Design Studio
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Explores a sequence of investigations that lead to the development of design concepts for critical evaluation and discussion. Students analyze intermediate to advanced design practices that are common to the disciplines of architecture, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and product design through an interdisciplinary design project.
ENVD 3144 - History and Theory of ENVD: Systems
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Provides an introduction to the history of urban planning and design practices and processes. Examines the history of city-building using examples drawn from the United States as well as other countries. Emphasis is on developing analytical methods and a critical approach in discussing and evaluating historical and contemporary planning issues, mechanisms and cases.
ENVD 4322 - Special Topics: Graphics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Provides an advanced seminar on special issues in design communications. May be repeated for credit by petition.
ENVD 4363 - Topics in Environmental Design: Physical Factors
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
Includes such topics as appropriate technology, public policy and natural hazards, organization of the designing and building process, and physical elements of urban development. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
ENVD 4919 - Teaching Assistant
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
By special arrangement with instructor. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: 3.00 GPA.
ENVD 4972 - Honors Research Methods and Thesis Preparation
Secondary Instructor
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Fall 2021
Prepares students for undertaking a research based honors thesis project in Environmental Design. Students engage with existing literature in the field to understand how research and design projects are conducted, and how their contribution fits within a long tradition of scholarship. May be repeated up to 3 total credit hours.
ENVD 4979 - Honors Thesis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
Working with an advisor, students prepare, complete, and defend a research-based honors thesis project, in an area of Environmental Design. May be repeated up to 3 total credit hours.
PLAN 2004 - History and Theory of Sustainable Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024 / Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
Surveys the key urban theories that shape sustainable planning and urban design. Covers the evolution of city form, policy approaches, history of planning, and evolution of sustainability and its approaches globally. Recommended corequisite: PLAN 2100.
PLAN 2100 - Studio 1: Foundations of Sustainable Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021
Expands on introductory sustainable planning and urban design concepts and methods to address social and ecological challenges in communities. Exploration skills include spatial analysis, basic community engagement techniques, legal and regulatory framework, and policy alternatives. The resultant project addresses challenges at the intersection of social and environmental systems. Recommended corequisite: PLAN 2004.
