Sara Jensen Carr

Sara Jensen Carr is an Associate Professor and the Undergraduate Programs Coordinator at the Northeastern University School of Architecture. Her work, teaching, and research examines the connections between urban landscape, architecture, climate resilience, and human health. Her work has been funded by the National Endowment for Humanities, Mellon Foundation, Graham Foundation, and J.M. Kaplan Fund, as well as published in varied outlets including Preventive Medicine, LA+ Journal, Places Journal, and the Journal of Architectural Education. Her book, The Topography of Wellness: How Health and Disease Shaped the American Landscape, was published by the University of Virginia Press in 2021 and was a recipient of the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize as well as awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, and the Environmental Design Research Association. She is a nationally-recognized scholar on how epidemics have influenced design, and has been interviewed by the the New York Times, The New Republic, the New Yorker, BBC, and NPR, among others.

At Northeastern, Dr. Carr is a co-founder of the Health and Wellness Design Lab at CAMD’s Center for Design, and holds faculty scholar appointments at the Global Resilience Institute and Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research and affiliate appointments in the Masters of Urban Planning and Policy program and Health, Humanities, and Society program. She is part of a collaborative team (including Northeastern professors Lucy Maulsby, Amanda Lawrence, and Mary Hale) researching and developing a manuscript and exhibits about the Southwest Corridor Project in Boston, Massachusetts. Carr works extensively with nonprofits, local governments, professional landscape associations, and park conservancies both in and outside the classroom on participatory public realm design and community-driven research and is engaged in undergraduate curricular initiatives. She is a licensed architect and member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Prior to coming to Northeastern, she taught at University of California, Berkeley, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.