Anticipatory Spatial Practice will address the inevitability of unpredictable shocks to the built and natural environment, whether due to earthquakes and floods or radical social ruptures. The concentration will provide students with the intellectual skills to develop preemptive, anticipatory practices in the areas of design, analysis, urban and territorial management, and development.

Critical and Strategic Conservation uses the techniques and procedures of design to extend the social, economic, and cultural usefulness of buildings, landscapes, and cities. It construes the contexts for analysis very broadly, including the cultural histories of a place, and attempts to consider a wide range of possible strategies for intervention.

The concentrations complement the existing six tracks within the MDesS program: Art, Design, and the Public Domain; History and Philosophy of Design; Real Estate; Sustainable Design; Technology; and Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology.

More information on the MDesS program and how to apply for Fall 2011 may be found at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/mdes/.