The School of Architecture and the Climate Resilience Institute are pleased to announce the appointment of Thomas Klein as the new director of the Center for Urban and Community Design (CUCD). Klein brings a wealth of experience in resilient design, policy development, and interdisciplinary collaboration, positioning him to lead the CUCD into its next chapter of impact and innovation.
Founded in 1992 in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, the Center for Urban and Community Design was established with a mission to foster collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to building sustainable communities. The Center integrates research, teaching, and service, encouraging cross-disciplinary action in historic preservation, urban design, community engagement, and resilient design in subtropical and tropical regions. Building on its legacy in post-disaster recovery, the CUCD is now poised to deepen its impact through a strategic partnership between the School of Architecture and the Climate Resilience Institute (CRI). The partnership with CRI will allow CUCD to further expand intersections with the built environment with innovation across UM's 12 schools and colleges as well as further deploy that innovation to communities across Florida and beyond.
Thomas Klein is a landscape architect and designer who has spent the past decade working at design firms in New York and Denver. His roles have primarily involved serving as a project manager or lead designer on large-scale infrastructure projects. A consistent theme in his work has been urban water and resilience—specifically, how we manage stormwater, engage with waterfronts, and hybridize infrastructure systems to support both ecological and human needs.
Klein's career reflects a deep commitment to using design as a catalyst for policy change. His work on the Gowanus Canal with SCAPE helped shape his understanding of how resilience standards can be deployed as a tool for creating impactful design. . At the Waterfront Alliance, he expanded the Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines (WEDG) to include inland ecosystems, supporting broader ecological resilience. To address the challenge of funding implementation, Klein pursued graduate studies at Harvard Kennedy School, focusing on policy, economic development, and infrastructure finance.
As CUCD director, Klein is already shaping new initiatives. The Center will host a workshop during New York City Climate Week on September 24th, and Klein is actively working to involve faculty in these efforts. He will also co-teach a fall studio course at the School of Architecture with senior lecturer Veruska Vasconez focused on resilient housing typologies in the Bahamas, guiding students through community engagement and master plan development. These deliverables will be further refined by CUCD after the course concludes, reinforcing the Center's commitment to long-term, community-driven design.
