Meet Our Faculty: Grace Ong Yan, Assistant Professor, Interior Design, Jefferson College of Architecture and the Built Environment

If you think of real estate development as something that often tends to be mercenary, this program presents a different view. The triple bottom line—the socially conscious philosophy of businesses meeting the needs of people, planet and profit—is given a fourth dimension with this program: placemaking.

While it is a new program, its (literal and figurative) architect, Dr. Suzanne Singletary, says the program is a natural extension of work that has been going on at Jefferson over the past decade. Historic Preservation started 10 years ago as a single course, but interest was strong and it gained momentum.

Smart cities are made possible by technology, but the core philosophy behind them is ultimately humanistic. “The person has a different role in a smart city, and it is at the center,” says Dr. Edgar Stach, a professor of architecture at Thomas Jefferson University.