City Visionaries: Summer Program for High School Students

City Visionaries is a Cornell AAP summer program based at the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center on the Cornell Tech campus. The rigorous, five-week 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.

Program Dates
July 6–August 7, 2026

Program Hours
Weekdays 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

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 Open: December 1, 2025
Early Application Deadline: February 27, 2026
Regular Application Deadline: April 17, 2026

Apply Now