Scott teaching at Stanford in New York

Starting this fall, Stanford University will be offering its undergraduate students the opportunity to live and study in New York City for one academic quarter while serving as interns in organizations devoted to the arts, architecture, design, and urban studies. 

Pilot Projects' founder and director, Scott Francisco, has been working closely with the program's founding director, Dr. Rosina S. Miller, for the past few months to help design a program that will give students the most exciting and dynamic urban experience possible. 

Participants in Stanford in New York will be placed in full-time internships in an organization closely aligned with their interests and enroll in 15-18 hours of coursework, including an internship seminar, two to three electives, and studio courses or independent studies. One Stanford faculty member will be invited to live in residence in New York City each quarter and teach two electives in his or her field; local experts are also being hired to teach classes.

Scott leading a workshop at the Pilot Projects office

Scott was selected as one of those experts, and also wrote the seminar he will teach, which is at the core of the program's curriculum. The compulsory, interdisciplinary city seminar is entitled "Urbanism and Change: Strategy, Tactics, and the Guerilla Movement."

According to Stanford, the seminar will "make extensive use of the city as its classroom to examine New York as both an essential space for human thriving and self-actualization as well as a contested space of conflict. The course will consider how urbanists enact change in the city’s multi-layered systems, and how New York City has been shaped by different approaches to urban planning, design, and intervention. Most class sessions will be spent on-site in different parts of the city, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District, the Bronx, the Queens Museum, Central Park, and some of the city's pocket and community gardens.

"The program will allow students to experience first-hand how urban planners and arts organizations function in a big city environment and the impact their work has on neighborhoods and communities."

Scott has been delighted to work with Dr. Miller and Stanford on writing the inaugural chapter of this exciting new program. We look forward to sharing updates once classes are underway.

Tags: teaching, nyc, stanford university