City Visionaries: Summer Programme for High School Students at Cornell University

|

The City Visionaries: Summer Programme for High School Students at Cornell University supports students in developing the skills required for designing cities.

City Visionaries: Summer Programme for High School Students is a Cornell AAP summer programme based at the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center on the Cornell Tech campus. The rigorous, five-week curriculum is designed for high-achieving high school students interested in studying the collective aspirations, methodologies and processes involved in the design of cities.

Coordinated by Cornell faculty, the programme introduces students to the complexity of urban development through on-the-ground examples in New York City.

By way of a curated set of case studies focused on transformative urban projects in Manhattan, students learn how land is assembled, how financial and social capital is deployed, how constituencies are affected and connected and ultimately how to plan and design spaces for cities and communities.

City Visionaries is built around immersive experiences that encourage critical inquiry and foster individual agency in creative and community practice and city-making. Students will emerge with a Cornell AAP Precollege Certificate of Completion and a folio of analytical and speculative works organised around their select areas of interest.

School: Cornell University
Course: City Visionaries: Summer Programme for High School Students
Type: Short course
Location: New York City, USA
Course dates: July 2026 to August 2026
Application deadline: 17 April 2026

Find out more about the course and apply ›

a photograph of people walking through a field with high rise buildings surrounding it
The course takes place in New York City

What will I learn during this course?

– How urban planners and real estate professionals conceptualise complex projects by engaging a broad group of stakeholders, mobilising land and financial capital through careful analyses of programming
– Perceive community needs and engaging municipal entities and strategic partners
– How architects, artists, designers and technologists conceptualise complex projects by assessing community and client needs, urban context, urban and architectural building typologies
– Develop conceptual approaches to public art and civic space
– How multi-disciplinary teams work collaboratively to address the ecology, geography and demographics of urban developments whilst questioning what constitutes spatial justice, equity, access and affordability as it pertains to mixed-use projects

a photograph of a park with high rise buildings around it
The course is five weeks long

What are the requirements?

– Admission requires applicants to have an overall GPA of 3.3 or above
– Applications can be submitted through the AAP precollege programme portal. Submission requirements include: a short essay (no more than 500 words), an unofficial transcript and one letter of recommendation from an academic mentor or teacher

What facilities and resources are available?

– Gensler Family AAP NYC Center, Cornell Tech Campus, Roosevelt Island and New York City

What career prospects can I expect upon graduating?

Careers in architecture, art, city planning, real estate or design tech.

a photograph of a student placing work on wall
Students will develop skillsets necessary for city design

Dezeen Courses

Dezeen Courses is a service from Dezeen that provides details of architecture, interiors and design courses around the world. Click here for more information.