URBANFRAME
Ideas That Change Cities
visible cities
Spring Break 2026!
The Visible Cities Studio is a one-week field program where students learn to spot the hidden forces shaping daily life, and turn what they notice into clear work they can share.
Most of us make choices before we fully understand what's actually going on
It's why so many good ideas fail. If we want to make great choices and a lasting impact, it turns out that the real advantage isn't unusual confidence or creativity. When it comes to problem-solving, it's knowing how to read what a complex situation is actually telling you, before you commit. Thats what we do. Listen to complexity!
Why it matters
You're about to make decisions that will shape the next decade: where to go, what to study, what kind of work to take seriously. Most of those decisions get made in rooms, based on rankings, advice, projections, other people's frameworks. This studio teaches you how to make them based on contact with how things actually work. Once you can see what's actually present in a situation, the things, the relationships, the patterns, the invisible forces, and the many opportunities most people miss- you stop guessing. You act with grounded truth. And that matters whether you end up in medicine, tech, organizing, design, policy, law, journalism, or something that doesn't exist yet.
How it works
Five fun days. Cambridge, MA. We treat the city like a living lab we can study up close. Each morning we go to places we move through but never really look at: train platforms, hospital waiting rooms, campus dining halls, service desks, building lobbies, street corners where people hesitate. We're not touring. We're tracking... who shows up, what breaks down, where friction happens, what gets ignored. You'll document it, phone, notebook, voice memos, then bring it back to compare with what others saw. Afternoons: find the patterns and name what's shaping behavior.
Figure out what more is possible!
Leadership
Daniel Hewett, educator, architect and Urbanframe founder, with 15+ years designing field-based learning programs. Guest contributors from fine art, design, technology, and civic sectors.
Ages Juniors, Seniors, and Gap Year (16–19 yrs)
Enrollment 20 students
Location The Foundry 101 Rogers St, Cambridge, MA 02142
Dates Session I - 23-27 March 2026 / Session II - 20-24 April 2026
Transportation We encourage use of to nearby MBTA trains and busses. Pay parking is available nearby.
Bring Comfortable outdoor clothing, digital camera (phone), lunch
Tuition $1,200 Early bird: $900 (register by February 15). Financial assistance available by application.
Format Morning: Guided field outings (public places in Cambridge and Boston); Midday: Regroup and lunch. Afternoon: Synthesis, Image Exchange, Creative Studio Wrap-up: Lightning presentations
Where Teams choose their own sites: transit stations, clinic waiting rooms, cafeteria and lunch lines, lobby and reception counters, service corridors, civic buildings, retail checkout zones, parking lots and drop-off loops, entrances and thresholds, etc.
What The ability to walk into a new situations and quickly figure out what is happening. You'll spot patterns and troubles other people miss. You'll learn the language and visual skills that explain what you see and the insights you gain.
Create Field journals. Photographic essays. Hidden Forces Maps
Safety Adult supervision in the field. Buddy system. Public settings only.
Device use is for capture, not content. No social media during the program.
Questions info@urbanframe.org