Urban Workshop

Where theory connects with lived experience

The Urban Workshop, formed in 2003 by Architecture and Environmental Design faculty at Tyler, is an interdisciplinary social impact design collaborative that engages underserved communities and mission-driven organizations in creating environments that are beautiful, just and sustainable.

As a university-based community design center, the award-winning program brings students together with community partners to collaborate in addressing real-world issues and problems. Our process is human-centered, critically thoughtful, and action-oriented, building on Tyler’s disciplinary expertise and the aspirations and imagination of community partners. 

Students discover a framework for community-based learning and a model of ethically driven professional practice. Community partners benefit from an interconnected and holistically conceived solutions. Together, we research and plan neighborhood space, design buildings and landscapes, and make public art.

  • We offer a collaborative academy-community practice in urban design, research, architecture, and art-making projects for underserved neighborhoods and organizations.
  • We create curricular opportunities for students to deepen their creative education through unique interdisciplinary and community-based experience.
  • We advance knowledge in healthy and sustainable urban place-making.
     

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Associated Tyler Faculty

  • Sally Harrison, AIA, Director and Professor of Architecture
  • Pablo Meninato, PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture
  • Ulysses Sean Vance, Associate Professor of Architecture
  • Jeffrey Doshna, PhD, AICP, Associate Professor of Instruction, Program Head of Planning and Community Development
  • Lynn Mandarano, PhD, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning, Community Development

Academic and Professional Collaborators 

Rowan University, Jefferson University, University of Pennsylvania, University-Community Collaborative of Philadelphia, JacobsWyper Architects, WellsAppelSikora Landscape Architects

Funding

Urban Workshop is supported by both external project grants and grants from the Temple University Office of Research.

External funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Wachovia Regional Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Education, John and Kira’s Chocolates, The Village of Arts and Humanities, and the Norris Square Civic Association.

Contact

Sally Harrison, AIA, Director and Professor of Architecture / sally.harrison@temple.edu / 215.850.4433