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Experiential learning, world citizenry, global partnerships, and comparative analyses are the focus and frame of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design’s International Design Exchange (INDEX) Studio initiative. Kent State’s Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Urban Design, and Master of Architecture students studying at the Cleveland Studios explore how the relationship between built and natural form has evolved and how facing new socio-economic, cultural, and environmental conditional could, and should, be reconsidered. By indexing similarities and differences between Cleveland, where the studio is located, and other international cities, lessons learned can be drawn—literally. At the conclusion of the studio, students travel internationally to the selected city to experience its idiosyncrasies first-hand. Kent State students have explored the urban landscapes of Beirut, Medellín, Havana, Cuba and Queretaro, Mexico.

With a view toward institutionalizing engagement with world cities and travel as part of these degree programs at Kent State, the INDEX Studio is key to realizing the college's mission to prepare graduates to lead in a rapidly changing world—and it does so through comparative urban analyses, precendents, perspectives, and proposals for better urban futures.