Established in 1992, the Center for Urban and
Community Design (CUCD) was created to address the challenges of
rebuilding that emerged in South Florida in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.
Now an integral part of the school’s mission, the CUCD has organized in
its short history a number community design projects, both architectural
and planning, to assist neighborhoods throughout South Florida. In
addition, the CUCD has established the Design/Build Studio, a course in
which students design affordable houses and then build one of their
designs. Connecting the experience of design and the construction site,
students learn lessons that cannot be replicated in an academic setting.
Both the CUCD and the School of Architecure seek to opportunities to
design and build livable communities and view the role of the architect as
central to this task.
The CUCD has a specific mandate to heighten the
image and identity of places with the understanding that the built
environment has a profound effect on a community. Its goal is to integrate
research, teaching and service, encouraging interdisciplinary thought and
action in the area of community outreach and striving to bring that work
to the collective attention of the University, community, and nation. The
CUCD is a setting for students to engage in applied research through
academic explorations of community design. While gaining “hands-on”
experience, students focus on issues ranging from historical preservation
and environmental conservation to low-income housing, zoning, and
mixed-use development. Recent projects have allowed them to apply these
principles of community building to inner-city neighborhoods.
Under the direction of Dean Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk and Richard Shepard, the CUCD’s has assisted communities in
making well-informed decisions that impact the future of their physical
environment, particularly as it affects social and economic conditions.
To do this, the Center brings together the talents of the School of
Architecture with other areas within the University and community,
providing a multi-disciplinary team of experts to address planning and
design challenges.
Contact
Information:
Richard Shepard, Director (rshepard@miami.edu)
Ivonne de la Paz, Assistant (ivonne@miami.edu)
Center for Urban
and Community Design,
University of Miami School of
Architecture
Bldg. 49B, Room 101
1223 Dickinson Drive
Coral Gables, FL 33124-5010
Tel.
305-284-3439
Fax. 305-284-5597
Email: cucd@arc.miami.edu
