Alan Berger
Associate professor of urban design and landscape architecture, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
areas of expertise: landscape architecture and urban design, urbanization, including suburban and exurban development, brownfields, landscape reclamation (natural resource extraction sites), wetlands reclamation and agricultural water development, north american mobility and transportation trends, urban studies
Alan Berger is associate professor of urban design and landscape architecture at MIT where he teaches courses in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
He founded and directs P-REX, the Project for Reclamation Excellence, a multidisciplinary research effort at MIT focusing on the design and reuse of deindustrialized landscapes worldwide. By using low-angle aerial photography, maps and other graphic evidence, Berger visually reveals evidence and trends of landscape waste throughout the world — from public health hazards such as abandoned mine pits, mountains of slag and pools of cyanide to vacant land, landfills, military installations and places associated with high- and low-density urbanization. How these sites are cleansed, valued and considered for adaptive reuse at local and regional scales is Berger's main area of interest.
His work emphasizes the link between our consumption of natural resources and the waste and destruction of landscape to help us better understand how to proceed with redesigning our wasteful places for future productive uses and more sustainable outcomes.
request an interview: Sarah McDonnell | 617-253-8923 | s_mcd@mit.edu