by Jonathan McGaha | February 19, 2013 12:00 am
To address the urgent need for solutions to ongoing urban challenges, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Advanced Urbanism today announced a new research collaboration focused on how design can improve the health of urban communities. The collaboration supports AIA efforts through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Decade of Design. The announcement came at the start of the CGI Winter Meeting.
Through research, prototypes and demonstration projects, MIT and AIA will jointly investigate and document correlations between the built environment and health, and develop evidence-based guidelines and design solutions that support human and environmental health in and around cities. The project will incorporate broadly interdisciplinary perspectives (architecture, urban planning, finance, medicine, urban health, technology, building science, transportation, among others) through three phases:
• Research and development of evidence-based guidelines, starting Spring 2013;
• Working with a particular city, including municipal officials and community stakeholders, to design, test and prototype solutions that are specific to that city but applicable to others, in the US and globally.
• Putting demonstration projects in place.
This project will have collaboration as its major focus, with research results and learning shared online and in print at conferences and workshops, in person and virtually.
In addition to funding provided by the AIA and MIT, additional support will be sought from private and public sector sources.
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/news/industry-news/mit-to-collaborate-on-aia-public-health-commitment-for-clinton-global-initiative/
Copyright ©2026 Metal Architecture unless otherwise noted.