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City Visionaries: Summer Program for High School Students

A transformative, cross-disciplinary introduction to foundational principles of city design at the scale of New York City.
Student presenting a large city model to a gathered group.

Contact

Program Manager for Strategic Initiatives

sydneyboyd@cornell.edu

City Visionaries is a Cornell AAP summer program based at the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center on the Cornell Tech campus. The rigorous curriculum is designed for high-achieving and high-potential high school students interested in studying the collective aspirations, methodologies, and processes involved in the design of cities.

Coordinated by Cornell faculty, the program 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 Certificate of Completion and a folio of analytical and speculative works organized around their select areas of interest.

Receive the most up-to-date information for Summer 2027:

Group of people in a circle discussing a model.
Urban island campus connected by a bridge.
Person presenting work to a group in front of multiple screen projections.

Program Dates
Coming soon for 2027! Register your interest above to receive updates

Program Hours
Weekdays 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Eligibility
Rising high school juniors and seniors (ages 16–18)

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

Type
Non-credit certificate program

Program Contact
Sydney Boyd, sydneyboyd@cornell.edu

Application Timeline
Applications for Summer 2027 will open in December! Register your interest above to receive updates