Dr. Alan Berger

Biography

Alan M. Berger is a Professor in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He teaches courses that are open to the entire student body and is the founding director of MIT's P-REX lab, which focuses on environmental problems caused by urbanization, design, remediation, and the reuse of waste landscapes worldwide. His work emphasizes the links between urbanization, the loss of natural resources, and waste growth, helping to understand and redesign intelligent outcomes. Berger's research spans a wide interdisciplinary range, covering sustainable cities, suburban forms, urban planning, autonomous mobility, resilient urbanism, growth boundary landscapes, and ecological reclamation. He coined the term “Systemic Design” to describe the reintegration of disvalued landscapes within urbanized territories and regional ecologies. His recent book, Blueprint Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics, Policy, was published by Island Press in early 2021. He has authored and co-authored several award-winning books that present research on global suburban expansion and its implications. He served as the Director of the MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism from 2015 to 2020 and held positions at Harvard GSD prior to his tenure at MIT.

Research Interests

Experience