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Samper, Jota

Associate Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Jota Samper is an architect and planner who has taught architecture, urban design, and planning. His work on Informal Settlements Research (ISR) focuses on sustainable urban growth and the intersection of urban informality ('slums') and violent urban conflict. The main goal of ISR is to create innovative urban tools that visualize the challenges (climate, regulatory, and violence) presented in informal landscapes. He co-founded Mobility/Movilidad, a nonprofit dedicated to video archiving, mapping, and developing infrastructure with marginalized communities. He also co-directs the Community Engagement, Design, and Research Center (CEDaR). Born and raised in Medellín, he obtained his BA in architecture from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a master's in city planning, and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also worked as a lecturer. His project 'Living rooms at the Border,' with estudio teddy cruz, was exhibited at MoMA. He is the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). He collaborates with colleagues from Oxford University on 'The Changing Character of Conflict Platform.' Samper's 'Atlas of Informality' work has been presented to an audience of over 1.6 million in a TEDx talk.

keywords

  • Urban design, architecture, planning, informal settlements, urban conflict, mapping, urban growth, study abroad

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • ENVD 1020 - Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2023
    The second of four introductory studios introduces students to strategies and techniques of architectural design and communication in a hands-on studio environment. Students design a small-scale architectural project that responds to environmental, contextual and programmatic needs while developing the necessary skills for iterative design processes.
  • ENVD 1040 - Studio 1: Introduction to Planning and Urban Design
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
    The fourth of four introductory studios in which students learn concepts and strategies related to urban planning and design. Students collaboratively develop a design solution to a small-scale problem within an urban fabric using basic skills of analysis and design iteration.
  • ENVD 1104 - Introduction to Environmental Design Methods
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Summer 2018
    Explores the forces and conditions that interact to shape the designed environment. It does so through a lecture sequence and parallel set of design exercises introducing students to the theory and practice of environmental design. It develops student understandings of the central role design thinking plays as the unique process used to effect appropriate change in the designed environment. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1102 and ENVD 2003.
  • ENVD 1140 - Studio 2: Fundamentals of Planning and Urban Design
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
    Through a small-scale urban planning and design project, students explore solutions to challenges in dynamic urban systems. Builds on knowledge and skills gained in the introductory studios to explore the human and environmental dimensions of intertwined systems within the built environment.
  • ENVD 2014 - Special Topics: Theory, History and Historiography of Environmental Design for no
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
    Addresses variable topics in theory and criticism, history and historiography of environmental design.
    • ... more

Background

International Activities

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