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  • Alumna Profile: Lamis Ashour

    November 13, 2024

    Lamis Ashour As Lamis Ashour (PhD '24) describes it, "urban mobility is the lifeblood of cities and access to transportation is crucial for people to thrive, find jobs, and seize opportunities." But even as new technological advancements and services (such as rideshares like Uber and Lyft) transform mobility, these opportunities are not always equally accessible…


  • PhD Student Shiqi Ding Awarded CEI Fellowship

    October 14, 2024

    Shiqi Ding, a second-year PhD student in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design and Planning, was recently awarded a Clean Energy Institute (CEI) graduate fellowship for 2024-25. This fellowship supports doctoral students at UW working on clean energy research across diverse disciplines, such as chemistry, materials science, physics, public policy, and energy equity. CEI…


  • PhD Program Director Qing Shen Receives PacTrans Outstanding Educator Award

    October 14, 2024

    Professor Qing Shen, Chair and Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design and Planning, has recently been selected to receive the 2024 PacTrans Outstanding Educator Award. PacTrans (Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium) is the Regional University Transportation Center for Federal Region 10. It currently consists of the University of Washington, Northwest Indian College, Portland…


  • PhD Program Faculty Member Receives NASA Early Career Award

    May 15, 2024

    Tzu-Hsin Karen Chen Assistant Professor Tzu-Hsin Karen Chen is the recipient of a NASA Early Career Investigator Award in Earth Science. In the award-winning program, she investigates the impacts on human health of urban heat and humidity in the Mediterranean region. In addition to her primary appointments in the Departments of Urban Design and Planning…


  • Professor Emeritus Examines Pedestrian Safety in Seattle

    May 15, 2024

    Professor Emeritus Anne Vernez Moudon Urban Design and Planning Professor Emeritus Anne Vernez Moudon was recently featured in an article--initially published on crosscut.com and highlighted in UW Today--examining the current state of pedestrian safety in Seattle. Contrary to Washington's stated goal of reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero, deaths have in fact been rising. In the article…


  • Climate Change Publication Addresses Interplay Between Urban Impacts on Climate, Biodiversity, and Society

    April 29, 2024

    Marina Alberti, Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed University Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, and Anna Malesis, a first-year PhD student in the Interdisciplinary PhD program in Urban Design and Planning, are among the authors of a climate change article recently published in the journal Nature (paywall or…


  • URBDP PhD Student is Awarded Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellowship

    April 29, 2024

    Haoyu Yue, a second-year PhD student in the Interdisciplinary PhD program in Urban Design and Planning, was recently awarded a prestigious Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellowship, making him the first to receive this award from the field of urban design and planning. You can find more information about Haoyu's fellowship award here.


  • Spotlight on alumnus Junfeng Jiao

    December 1, 2023

    Junfeng Jiao The UW Center for Statistics in the Social Sciences (CSSS) recently interviewed Urban Design and Planning alumnus Junfeng Jiao (PhD, '10) as part of their alumni spotlight series: Alumni spotlight on Junfeng Jiao: Transforming cities with technology Junfeng, who completed a certificate from CSSS while working on his PhD at UW, is currently Associate…


  • Alumna Tianqi Zou takes position at Freddie Mac

    October 6, 2023

    Alumna Tianqi Zou (PhD ‘23) recently began a position as Quantitative Analytics Senior at Freddie Mac in McLean, VA. Working on the Servicing Portfolio Analytics team within the Single Family Division, her role focuses on developing and assessing tools and methodologies to evaluate business decisions and performance. While in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban…


  • PhD Alumnus Meen Chel Jung Selected for Berkley Postdoc Position

    September 11, 2023

    Meen Chel Jung Alumnus Meen Chel Jung (PhD '23) recently accepted a prestigious position as postdoctoral scholar at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation within the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. Established in 2015, the Terner Center's mission is to find innovative solutions to the nation's housing challenges, with the goal of helping…


  • Jan Whittington: People of UW profile

    June 28, 2023

      A recent profile for the Whole U's "People of UW" series highlights Associate Professor of Urban Design and Planning Jan Whittington's work with the Urban Infrastructure Lab, while also looking at the story of how she got to be where she is now. https://thewholeu.uw.edu/2023/06/28/people-of-uw-meet-jan-whittington/


  • "Your old workweek is extinct" - Urban Planning PhD student Lamis Ashour plays key role in commute survey covered by local media

    March 29, 2023

    URBDP PhD candidate Lamis Ashour Recent news coverage has highlighted the findings of the 2022 Seattle Commute Survey, in which Urban Design and Planning PhD candidate Lamis Ashour and faculty members Qing Shen and Anne Vernez Moudon played leading roles. The Seattle Commute Survey takes place every two years as required by state law. For…


  • UW Ph.D. students hold symposium on the role of technology in urban environments into the future

    July 20, 2022

    On May 20th, students in University of Washington’s Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Urban Design and Planning and Ph.D. Program in the Built Environment hosted the virtual 2022 annual Research Symposium. Based on the theme, Pathways toward the future: Assessing the Digital Dimensions of Urban Dynamics, the symposium explored the role of technology in our past,…


  • 2022 PhD Research Symposium – Pathways toward the future: Assessing the Digital Dimensions of Urban Dynamics Friday, May 20 | 9:00 am – 4:20 pm PT | Zoom

    April 26, 2022

    Keynote Speaker: Sarah Williams, Ph.D. Sarah Williams is an Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she is also Director of the Civic Data Design Lab and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. Who is building the cities of the future? For whom are they being built?…


  • UDP scholars among UW team receiving $2M from National Science Foundation to design an ‘adaptable society’

    November 16, 2021

    A team led by the University of Washington has received a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to further research into how urban societal systems can be organized to be both efficient and resilient. The Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) project, based in the UW College of Engineering, supports fundamental research to…


  • Saving History through Sustainability - PhD Student Keisha Bharath

    November 1, 2021

    Keisha Bharath knows the past holds lessons. That's why she's using her Fulbright award to study sustainable Urban Design and Planning, and give back to her home of Trinidad and Tobago. In Keisha Bharath’s home there is an ornate ceiling fragment on display, over a century old. A keepsake which once belonged to one of the…


  • Healthy People, Healthy Planet (Featuring Professor Cynthia Chen)

    October 23, 2020


  • Mapathon Event - Saturday 10/24 (Professor Jon Froehlich - Project Sidewalk)

    October 23, 2020


  • Ph.D. Candidate Lan Thị Nguyễn wins AY 2020-21 UW GO-MAP Fellowship

    October 8, 2020

    UDP Ph.D. Candidate Lan Thị Nguyễn has been selected for a 2020-21 University of Washington’s GO-MAP Dissertation Fellowship, which will allow her to devote focused attention to her dissertation, titled “Community matters: Local knowledge and social connections for disaster preparedness.”  Congratulations to Lan!  


  • Engage in Equity Week

    September 14, 2020

    The Department of Urban Design & Planning EDI Committee will host its first Equity Week October 26 - 30 for students, faculty, and staff to engage in substantive dialogue. Courses will highlight readings, lessons, activities, and online programming at the department level. In preparation, the department recommends reading How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram…


  • Ph.D. Candidate Feiyang Sun Awarded 2020 Urban Design and Planning Faculty Medal

    July 9, 2020

    Feiyang Sun has been named the 2020 Urban Design and Planning Faculty Medal winner. Faculty present the award annually to one student who has best demonstrated academic excellence, promoted research or theoretical developments, and shown high promise for future contributions and leadership in the field. Earlier this year, Mr. Sun was also awarded an American…


  • UDP Ph.D. Director Qing Shen on COVID-19 and the Future of Urban Design & Planning

    May 27, 2020

    Qing Shen, Director of the Program

    For a recent feature story on the Pandemic Urbanism Symposium, Graduate School Communications Specialist Kate Stringer interviewed Professor Qing Shen, Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Urban Design & Planning.  Read the full interview here. 1. How do you see the study of Urban Design and Planning changing for graduate students due to the broad…


  • Feature Story - Pandemic Urbanism Symposium

    May 27, 2020


  • UW Pandemic Urbanism symposium (May 29) - full schedule announced!

    May 22, 2020

    Poster for Pandemic Urbanism

    PANDEMIC URBANISM A virtual symposium on COVID-19 and cities Hosted by the University of Washington May 29, 2020, 9a – 5:30p PDT pandemicurbanism.com What does COVID-19 mean for cities? What are the implications of this pandemic for urban form, mobility, sociability, and politics? In recent months, life in our cities has been radically transformed. The…


  • UDP Diversity Plan - Input Welcome!

    May 21, 2020

    Diversity Plan Poster

    The UDP Diversity Plan, developed by UDP Diversity Committee, is a living document intended to guide changes and create an opening to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are woven into the fabric of the Department. Input is welcome! Send feedback or suggestions to udp4all@uw.edu.


  • Program Faculty Win COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant

    May 20, 2020

    Rebecca Walter

    Program Faculty Arthur Acolin, Kyle Crowder, and Rebecca Walter were among the faculty awarded a COVID-19 Rapid Response grant by the Population Health Initiative.  The project, titled "Prevailing Impacts of COVID-19 on Rental Housing Markets Across Metropolitan Areas and Neighborhoods," will model the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing markets in the 100…


  • Pandemic Urbanism Symposium May 29

    May 4, 2020

    In lieu of a traditional Annual Symposium, the Urban Design & Planning Ph.D. and the College of Built Environments are sponsoring a special student-run Pandemic Urbanism Symposium, Friday, May 29.  Organizers include current and recent URBDP Ph.D. & BE Ph.D. students Evan Carver, Peter T. Dunn, Katie Idziorek, Lan T. Nguyen, Boyang Sa, Elizabeth Umbanhowar,…


  • Graduate Certificates in Real Estate - Apply By 5/30

    May 3, 2020

    The College of Built Environments offers a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate (GCRE) and a Graduate Certificate in Housing Studies (GCHS), which are open to all graduate students. If you are interested in learning about real estate and housing production and consumption, consider applying for one of the two certificates. The application deadline is May…


  • May 1 Deadline for Pandemic Urbanism Symposium Participation

    April 22, 2020

    In lieu of a traditional Annual Symposium, the Urban Design & Planning Ph.D. and the College of Built Environments are sponsoring a special student-run Pandemic Urbanism Symposium, Friday, May 29.  Organizers include current and recent URBDP Ph.D. students Evan Carver, Peter T. Dunn, Katie Idziorek, Lan T. Nguyen, Boyang Sa, Elizabeth Umbanhowar, and Yiyuan Wang.…


  • Katherine Idziorek, AICP, Wins Thomas J. O’Bryant Transportation Policy and Finance Fellowship

    March 27, 2020

    Katie Idziorek

    Katherine Idziorek, AICP has been selected by the Eno Center for Transportation for the Summer 2020 Thomas J. O’Bryant Transportation Policy and Finance Fellowship. The O’Bryant Fellowship is designed to bridge research and policy while providing a professional development opportunity for aspiring transportation specialists. As an Eno Fellow, Katherine will engage with the transportation policymaking…