CED launches American Academy in Rome fellowship for the study of social housing
We are happy to announce that the College of Environmental Design has established an Affiliate Fellows program with the American Academy in Rome. This new program is made possible by a gift from Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Urban Design Daniel Solomon, FAIA (MArch 1966), and Shirley Sun, together with Robert Davis, founder of Seaside, Florida, and a past recipient of the Rome Prize. The first fellowship, for summer 2024, has been awarded to Ben Metcalf, adjunct professor of city and regional planning and managing director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
The College of Environmental Design–American Academy in Rome Fellowship provides the opportunity for CED faculty or advanced doctoral students to spend eight weeks in residence at the academy, engaging in design and/or research focused on social housing and participating in the intellectual and artistic exchange that the renowned interdisciplinary center cultivates among its international fellows.
— Dan Solomon
“The experience of the institution itself; the companionship of remarkably gifted and interesting people; the splendid environment of the academy and its gardens; and the fascinating collision of humanistic disciplines have been enriching to me personally and we feel a deep gratification in the opportunity to share this with the next generation and to build a long-term relationship between the the American Academy in Rome and CED,” says Solomon. Solomon and his wife, filmmaker Shirley Sun, have both visited the academy several times as visiting scholars.
The donors’ goal is to support projects that focus on publicly sponsored housing. In particular, they hope that fellows explore how urbanism can reflect local histories and building cultures while creating inclusive, integrated communities. Returning fellows will share their research with the CED community through coursework, a public presentation, exhibition, or other means.
“Generations of Roman architects and planners knew how to honor the soul of this amazing city as it grew thirteen-fold,” says Solomon, “and modern Rome, post 1870, provides a rich vein for architects that has scarcely been explored.”
Metcalf’s CED-AAR Fellowship project is a comparative study of social housing in European contexts that aims to inform solutions to California’s housing crisis. He plans to investigate models that can be applied to a next-generation of housing development, seeking a middle way between “affordable” and “market” that is responsive to local planning contexts and design goals.
“We received many excellent proposals that would take the lessons of social housing in Rome and its surroundings and apply them to contemporary urban challenges,” says William W. Wurster Dean Renee Y. Chow. “The jury selected Ben’s proposal because of his deep expertise in California housing and his emphasis on understanding both the regulatory and social contexts for housing propositions.”
Metcalf’s background — as a former developer and builder of mixed-use projects, director of HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing under the Obama Administration, and director of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development in the late 2010s — and his current role at the Terner Center position him to take his findings and make a direct impact on housing development in California.
Metcalf intends his fellowship experience to inform implementation of the recently passed Stable Affordable Housing Act (Senate Bill 555), which mandates that the state prepare a roadmap for how social housing might be scaled in the California context to create new social housing programs. The research will also impact CED: Metcalf expects to redesign two of his courses, a development and design studio and an advanced group study course on housing policy, in light of his findings.
As Metcalf notes, “Communities in the U.S. are increasingly realizing that government-sponsored housing, typically in partnership with private sector and nonprofit developers, can unlock more housing affordable to middle-income households. I deeply appreciate the opportunity afforded to me by the CED-AAR Fellowship to dig in on lessons learned from at-scale models abroad as California looks to add another tool to its toolkit in support of vibrant and inclusive communities.”
“We are grateful to Dan, Shirley, and Robert for their gift that connects CED with American Academy, a setting that brings together creative minds to advance interdisciplinary exchange,” says Chow. “We wish Ben a fruitful summer in Rome and look forward to seeing how his research will advance thinking about social housing here at CED.”