Cornell AAP to launch first New York City-based high school summer program

Looking toward next summer, Cornell AAP recently announced an opportunity for rising high school juniors and seniors to join City Visionaries: Precollege Explorations, the newest addition to the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center's (AAP NYC) immersive slate of New York City-based programs. City Visionaries complements a number of other summer programs offered across the college's departments, but is the first to be held beyond Cornell's Ithaca campus.

According to City Visionaries Director Milton S. F. Curry, Professor of Architecture and Senior Associate Dean at AAP, the program aims to open young minds to the possibilities of studies and careers related to urban development in a uniquely dynamic and challenging context: New York City.

Curry explains that "in an era in which cities and their diverse populations are the driving force of cultural and social change, it is critical that our youth understand the complexities of urban development and the opportunities for them to help society by becoming the next generation of developers, planners, architects, and designers. It is essential that they are connected with communities and users, as well as conversant in the technical and creative demands of these professions."

Students beginning the program in July 2026 will take an intensive five-week curriculum that reflects Cornell AAP's interdisciplinary approach to design education and establishes foundational concepts, precedents, and practices through work completed both in and outside the classroom. Located at AAP NYC's new home at the Tata Innovation Center on Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus, City Visionaries exposes young people to collegiate-level studio and classroom environments, introduces them to practicing artists, designers, and practitioners, and provides first-hand encounters with select urban spaces in Manhattan that prompt direct observation, experience, and analysis. In addition to fundamental fluencies, students develop skills in new and conventional practices in making, as well as spatial and digital literacy. The program concludes by asking students to apply all they've learned from course materials, exercises, discussions, fieldwork, and site visits to a culminating individual or group design project.

Continue reading on the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning website.