This course is structured as a transdisciplinary studio in which students work in teams in order to develop design frameworks aimed at speculating on alternative spatial formations, participatory frameworks, and environmental strategies, as well as new models of ownership, property, community organizations, and innovative social and ecological relations. DUE Studio 2 engages with an assigned urban territory in New York City in which students discover urgencies as well as opportunities, and create partnerships with local organizations in order to discover specific possibilities for urban transformation. Subsequently, student teams develop design scenarios, strategies, proposals and projects in collaboration and in coordination with local partners, while also considering issues such as the impact of global flows on regional economies and resources. In that sense, DUE Studio 2 serves to prepare students for thesis work. In parallel with Urban Colloquium 2, this studio will explore how design can act as a critical medium through which ‘preferred’ urban futures can be imagined and enacted. Relationships between design and socio-spatial/environmental justice is central to this studio. Topics include environmental degradation and remediation, public space, public health, urban agriculture, urban food systems, public transportation, urban mobilities, and others.