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 in the midst of a global pandemic as it continues to grapple with the intertwined causes and effects of climate change.

Submissions will be accepted through an online interface beginning September 2024 & must be received through the online submission site by November 20, 2024.

The final submission upload must contain the following:

• Proposal (three pages)—The Full-Course or Course-Component proposal should consist of a title, description, a list of selected readings or other sources, and a work plan for development and implementation. Proposed courses and components must be new, or significantly reconfigured if already taught. Please make proposed revisions clear, if the latter.
• Faculty bio—If multiple faculty are involved, include all (entire bio submission not to exceed two pages).
• Letter of support from the head administrator of the architecture program (one page).

All materials should be submitted in a single PDF format, with no more than six (8.5” x 11”) pages total.

The prize is open to faculty at all ACSA member schools in good standing (i.e., meeting the criteria set forth in one of the three bullet points that follow this paragraph). Faculty from Columbia University are not eligible.

• Full membership in ACSA, which requires NAAB accreditation or the equivalent from the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). ACSA currently counts 100% of NAAB and CACB accredited schools as Full members.
• Schools actively seeking accreditation that are Candidate members of ACSA may participate.
• Other architecture programs both in North America and abroad that are offered affiliate membership.