As the globe spins into senselessness, and in spite of every kind of information at our fingertips, we struggle to piece together all that is unfolding. There is a shared understanding, however, that each of us, no matter where we are from, is yearning for a vision for a future that is rooted in history, hope and resistance.

In War Talk, Arundhati Roy prophetizes, “The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling— their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

Our Design and Urban Ecologies cohort of 2025 has worked against all odds to show us a glimpse of what this sense of possibility, this other world might look like if our responses to radical violence were crafted with radical love and in relationship with each other.

Over the last year, students have redefined the ways in which academic outcomes are expected and produced research and proposals that challenge us to resist anguish and embrace our urgent responsibility to reimagine alternative ways to move through the political, social, cultural, environmental and economic realities of our everyday lives.

While being firmly rooted to the ground, they have branched out into visions that will hopefully bear fruits and benefit many for years to come. To invoke Audrey Lorde, as we continue experimenting with these journeys where classrooms become political spaces teeming with creativity, “To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give it up. Do not be misled into passivity either by false security (they don’t mean me) or by despair (there’s nothing we can do). Each of us must find our work and do it.”

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Thesis Studio Coordinators: Masoom Moitra and Lauren Hudson.

Class of 2025: Soraya Barar, Socheta Chey, Avery Crower, Aqdas Fatima, Isabelle Groenewegen, Rhay Lloyd, Leah Roy, Lauren Leiker, and Natalia Temple.