HS15: Urban Natures
About
This interdisciplinary Working Group explores how natural landscapes and species are brought into urban contexts through art, architecture, design, and human life. What weedy forms of life take root in diverse urban contexts?
Open to New People
Active since: 2022
- Syracuse University
- Cornell University
- Rochester Institute of Technology
Collaborative Goals
We seek to build collaborative conversations across campuses and disciplines. This has involved:
- Informal lunches and networking meetings where we share work in progress;
- Attending lectures and events related to the interests of the group;
- And in AY25-26 we will work to organize more public-facing events hosting visiting scholars.
Group Organizers


Esra Akcan
Professor; Michael A. McCarthy Professor of Architectural Theory, Department of Architecture, Cornell University

Richard Fadok
Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Rochester Institute of Technology


Group Members
- Margaretha Haughwout, Associate Professor, Colgate University
- Alex Nading, Associate Professor, Cornell University
- Berin Golonu, Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo
Activities
Urban Natures Meeting
May 6, 2025, 1 p.m.
The Plant at the End of the World: Perspectives on Invasives from the Plant Humanities
April 28, 2025, 4:30 p.m.
Urban Natures Lunch & Lecture
Oct. 25, 2024, 12:30 p.m.