Embedding Urban Sustainability Through Research, Teaching and Strategic Planning

In a world fundamentally changed by global warming and mass urbanization the question of urban sustainability is a central challenge for the professions of the built environment and the education of their professionals. This essay discusses the triadic relationship in architectural education between academic research, the Architecture Design Studio (ADS) model and the strategic approach for the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Chile. The authors present three case studies that together, attempt to embed the question of urban sustainability as a focus in the research, curriculum and practice of this faculty. This essay firstly considers academic research undertaken into two socially integrated housing developments and the segregation of cities as a teaching environment and as a catalyst to create a forum for academic and students research activities. The authors then combine the unique aspects of the ADS model with urban intervention to connect the design problem of urban sustainability to a physical reality. Lastly, the strategic approach of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism is used as a structural opportunity to embed urban sustainability across, between and through curriculum and academic development and teaching. In conclusion, the authors unpack the tensions revealed in this triadic relationship at the leading public university of Chile—a country of the Global South and member of the OECD.