Over the past 10 years, MUD studios have focused on the most pressing urban challenges of our time.

Major research themes in the past five years have centered on planning, designing and rebuilding in the face of climate change, an increase in extreme weather events and sea-level rise.

MUD students have directly participated in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s "Rebuild by Design" initiative.

Studios have also addressed the challenges of changing demographics, such as the aging of the world’s population, the ethnic diversification of suburbs and socio-spatial exclusion in cities.

The goal of the studios is to introduce students to the tools of urban design and planning. Studio members work at a variety of scales and use a variety of techniques, ranging from small-scale, community-based approaches that improve local conditions to large-scale strategic visions.

By the completion of the program, participants have experience in urban analysis and visualization, stakeholder and community engagement, the development of small-scale urban interventions, master and legacy planning and strategic visioning.

The intent is to provide new skills and perspectives to practitioners that enhance their ability to design comprehensively and systemically at the urban scale, and to use these abilities to improve design outcomes at the scale of buildings.