College Themes and Research

Half a dozen years ago, the College informally established five themes to help prioritize its efforts and initiatives. Overall, the themes seek to balance breadth with depth. They strive to identify a limited but sufficient number of critical and emergent areas for focus and development. And they attempt both to recognize and bridge the agendas of our different programs. Developed in 2002, they have proven extremely useful in focusing our efforts and organizing our annual reports. Even so, they will likely be subject to review and revision as the College leadership changes. These themes give a flavor of some of the focal areas that have been promoted in the College in recent years.

1. Creating sustainable buildings and cities. TCAUP’s commitment to sustainability is exemplified in recent faculty searches, conferences, research projects, and MiSo (Michigan Solar House). The second centennial conference, entitled “Global Place: Politics, Practice and the Polis,” featured a number of world-renowned experts on sustainable architecture and urbanism. Also, our faculty members have won research funding for a variety of projects related to sustainability.
2. Leveraging the information revolution. Like all campus units, the College has been running to keep pace with the information revolution. Currently, TCAUP provides faculty, staff and student with a variety of technology-based services including variable format printing, modeling and routing equipment, wireless access, and computing laboratories. In addition, our Media Center continues to thrive, offering an ever-growing array of services and products that generate $500,000 in annual transactions and save students considerable time and money. Projects currently underway include investigations into large-volume storage, Geographic Information System (GIS) enhancement, map library development, and computer-aided fabrication. The College has expanded its technology support staff from 2.0 to 4.5 FTE in the last six years, adding 0.5 FTE of support staff this past year alone.
3. Redeveloping the American city: Detroit and beyond. Taubman College has engaged in the redevelopment of the American city via design, policy, strategic alliances, and community service projects. As one example, the College spearheaded the establishment of UM’s Detroit Center. Many TCAUP faculty are involved in urbanism in general and Detroit in particular. The annual Detroit Charrette, which takes place over four or five days in January, focuses on central Detroit. And after nine years, we are gratified that Detroit government and civic leaders have adopted this event as an integral part of their visioning and planning process.
4. Widening the international experience. The College’s approach to enriching the international experience has included teaching studios in foreign locations, hiring international faculty and, this year, sponsorship of the centennial conference on globalism. For logistical and curricular reasons, spring term is emerging as an ideal time for international studios. The Florence program is offered in the fall term, and some design studios travel abroad on shorter trips during both the fall and winter terms. During the 2006-07 academic year, the College held spring term studios in China, Ghana, Guatemala, Switzerland, Argentina, Japan, and Iceland, with India and Brazil on the itinerary in previous years. The Taubman and other endowments, as well as expendable gifts, have been used to help underwrite international travel/study for 150 students. And as part of our 2006-2007 Centennial Celebration, an additional 60 TCAUP students visited the 2006 Venice Biennale, which for the first time focused on both architecture and urbanism.
5. Developing good places: the Real Estate Program. The goal of the Real Estate Certificate Program is to fundamentally shape the real estate industry by promoting compact mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented, sustainable, and inclusive places. Now in its third year, the certificate program has exceeded its enrollment target of 50 students. This multi-disciplinary program draws 39% of its participants from Urban Planning, 27% from Business, 8% from Law, 10% from Architecture, 4% from Urban Design, another 4% from various Engineering programs, and 2% from Public Administration, Public Policy, Natural Resources, and Social Work.