Global to Local to Global Geodesign for Climate Change Mitigation (GLG) Workshop
Friday, Sep 18, 2026, 9:00 am - Saturday, Sep 19, 2026, 5:30 pm
Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge MA 02138
Friday 9/18 12pm-1pm - Introductory Presentation
Saturday 9/19 9am-5:30pm - GLG Workshop & Reception
The Global to Local to Global (GLG) Climate Mitigation Project, in collaboration with Esri, has initiated an innovative workflow to address climate change mitigation through a structured framework designed to implement global-to-local-to-global projects. The GLG strategy creates a scalable geodesign workflow compatible across global, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and diverse jurisdictions and geographic scales directed to projected environmental changes by 2050. It utilizes climate science and optimization designs to inform national to local designs– which, in turn, informs national and global policy, as local implementation is vital for building climate resilience.
Geodesign - design at geographic scale - provides a collaborative approach that integrates multiple disciplines and uses geographical information systems (GIS)-based analytic and design tools to help explore alternative future scenarios in response to stated problems. In this workshop, participants will work in groups to simulate commitments to climate mitigation projects at the regional or local scale, in consultation with national NDCs, climate, land use, land cover, and bio-regional data and their projections to 2050. Their selections will be used to quickly generate a global geospatial model of climate-driven scenarios resulting from combined mitigation actions, to which groups will be asked to respond to how global and national outcomes may inform future design conditions.
This in-person workshop is open to all from Harvard/MIT and participants from the broader academic community. No prior knowledge of GIS is required.
Register
Saturday 9/19 9am-5:30pm - GLG Workshop & Reception
The Global to Local to Global (GLG) Climate Mitigation Project, in collaboration with Esri, has initiated an innovative workflow to address climate change mitigation through a structured framework designed to implement global-to-local-to-global projects. The GLG strategy creates a scalable geodesign workflow compatible across global, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and diverse jurisdictions and geographic scales directed to projected environmental changes by 2050. It utilizes climate science and optimization designs to inform national to local designs– which, in turn, informs national and global policy, as local implementation is vital for building climate resilience.
Geodesign - design at geographic scale - provides a collaborative approach that integrates multiple disciplines and uses geographical information systems (GIS)-based analytic and design tools to help explore alternative future scenarios in response to stated problems. In this workshop, participants will work in groups to simulate commitments to climate mitigation projects at the regional or local scale, in consultation with national NDCs, climate, land use, land cover, and bio-regional data and their projections to 2050. Their selections will be used to quickly generate a global geospatial model of climate-driven scenarios resulting from combined mitigation actions, to which groups will be asked to respond to how global and national outcomes may inform future design conditions.
This in-person workshop is open to all from Harvard/MIT and participants from the broader academic community. No prior knowledge of GIS is required.
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