abbreviated CV
Selected Experience
ACADEMIC: Faculty
Adjunct Assistant Professor. Barnard College, Columbia University. New York. 2024 - present.
Assistant Professor. Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. New York, NY. 2016 - 2024.
Term Assistant Professor. Barnard College, Columbia University, Barnard & Columbia Colleges Architecture Department. New York, NY. 2013 - 2016.
Adjunct Assistant Professor. Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. New York, NY. 2012 - 2013.
Adjunct Instructor. New Jersey Institute of Technology, College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey School of Architecture. Newark, NJ. 2012-2013.
ACADEMIC: Research
Adjunct Associate Research Scholar. Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia University. NYC. 2009 - 2013.
Research Scientist & Adjunct Instructor. Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health, New York University. NYC. 2010 - 2012.
PRACTICE
Principal. Meisterlin Projects. NYC. 2024 - present.
CEO & Co-founding Partner. Office:MG. NYC. 2015 - 2016.
Principal, Director of Research. Special Project Office. NYC. 2013 - 2014.
Co-Founding Partner. PRE-Office. NYC. 2008 - 2012.
Selected Publications
Arsen, C., G Baics, and L Meisterlin. “Population Density in Nineteenth-Century American Urbanism.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 2024, 114(9): 2104-2131,
Baics, G., M Linn, L Meisterlin, and M Zhang. Envisioning Seneca Village. Website with interactive 3D model, 2024. envisioningsenecavillage.github.io.
Baics, G., W Kennedy, R Kobrin, L Kurgan, L Meisterlin, D Miller, M Ngai. Mapping Historical New York: A Digital Atlas. New York, NY: Columbia University, 2021. https://mappinghny.com.
Meisterlin, L. “Cartographies of Distance” in Kurgan, L. and D. Brawley, Eds. Ways of Knowing Cities. New York: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2019.
Meisterlin, L. "Not Yet #AfterRikers: Looking for #JusticeInDesign." The Avery Review, Issue 32, 2018.
Meisterlin, L. "Research Ransoms: On Expelling Undue Influence" ARPA Journal 4 Conflicts of Interest. 2018. (interview with Samantha Parsons from UnKoch My Campus).
Baics, G and L Meisterlin. "The Grid as Algorithm for Land Use: a Reappraisal of the 1811 Grid of New York." Planning Perspectives. Published Online 13 November 2017. Print forthcoming.
Baics, G and L Meisterlin. "Zoning before Zoning: Land Use and Density in Midnineteenth-Century New York." Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 2016, 106(5): 1152-1172.
Meisterlin, L., et al. "Forensic Methodology." ARPA Journal 3 Performance. 2015.
Meisterlin, L, et al. "Symposium: The Intersection between Urban Health and Architecture." in Sample, Hilary, Ed.. Questions Concerning Health: Stress and Wellness in Johannesburg. New York: GSAPP Books, 2015.
Meisterlin, L and G Baics. "Old Maps, New Tricks: Digital Archaeology in the 19th-Century City." Urban Omnibus. June 2015.
Meisterlin, L. "Antipublic Urbanism: Las Vegas and the Downtown Project." Avery Review. November 2014 (3).
Meisterlin, L. "The City is Not a Lab." ARPA Journal 1 Test Subjects. 2014.
Guilamo-Ramos, V., Padilla, M., Meisterlin, L., McCarthy, K., Lotz, K. "Tourism ecologies, alcohol venues, and HIV: Mapping spatial risk." in Cadena, Cirilo H. Garcia, et al, Eds. Recent Hispanic Psychological Research on Feeding Behavior and HIV Patients. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Publishers, 2014. [book chapter reprint of 2012 paper of the same name.]
Guilamo-Ramos, V., Jaccarda, J., McCarthy, K., Quinones, Z., Lushina, V., Skinner-Day, M., Padilla, M., Meisterlin, L., "Taxonomy of Caribbean tourism alcohol venues: Implications for HIV transmission." Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2013, 32(1-2): 238-243.
Meisterlin, L Ed. Comments on Foreclosed. New York: The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, 2013.
Guilamo-Ramos, V., Padilla, M., Meisterlin, L., McCarthy, K., Lotz, K. "Tourism ecologies, alcohol venues, and HIV: Mapping spatial risk." International Journal of Hispanic Psychology, 2012, 5(2).
Meisterlin, L. "Foreclosed." Metropolis Magazine: Point of View. 15 March 2012.
Martin, R, L Meisterlin, and A Kenoff. The Buell Hypothesis: Rehousing the American Dream. New York: The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, 2011.
Browning, G Ed. The Studio-X New York Guide to Liberating New Forms of Conversation. New York: The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, 2010. [features Rapid Response: Spontaneous Architecture and other projects by or with L Meisterlin]
Kottas, D. Contemporary Digital Architecture: Design and Techniques Barcelona: Links, 2010.
Hurley, A. "New Practice, Un-Practice." Architect. February 2010: cover, 44-49. [features L Meisterlin with PRE-Office]
Holl, S. Urbanisms: Working with Doubt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. [maps contributed]
The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. Public Housing: A New Conversation. New York: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2009.
Davis, A and L Meisterlin. "Upset Ethics." Crisis, Urban China Bootlegged by C-Lab for Volume. February 2009.
Varnelis, K. Ed. The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles. Barcelona and New York: ACTAR, 2008. [Maps by L Meisterlin]
Davis, A and L Meisterlin. "Upset Ethics." Urban China. September 2008.
Varnelis, K and L Meisterlin. "The Invisible City: Design in the Age of Intelligent Maps." Adobe Think Tank. July 2008.
Meisterlin, L and C Newman. "New New Orleans vN.x: An attempt at Rational Planning." The Question of New Orleans. Ed. Columbia University GSAPP. New York: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2006. 22-23.
Selected Work in Exhibition
210 Cities in San Diego at Lightroom Gallery, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 2019. [solo exhibition]
Density & Connectivity: Land Use in Midnineteenth-Century New York at the Metropolitan New York Library Council, NYC, 2017. [w G. Baics]
Density & Connectivity: Land Use in Midnineteenth-Century New York at the McCagg Gallery, Barnard College, NYC, 2017. [with G. Baics]
Cher at the Oslo Architectural Triennale. Oslo, Norway, 2016. [with C. Blanchfield, G. Cummings, J. Kolb, and F. Lotfi-Jam]
"On Broadway" in Public Eye: 175 Years of Sharing Photography at the New York Public Library. NYC, 2014-2015. [contributor]
The Buell Hypothesis in Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream at the Museum of Modern Art. NYC, 2012. [with R. Martin and A. Kenoff]
The Buell Hypothesis in 194X-9/11: American Architects and the City at the Museum of Modern Art. NYC, 2011-2012. [with R. Martin and A. Kenoff]
Currid, Elizabeth and Sarah Williams. "Geography of Buzz" at Studio-X: NYC, 2009. [contributor]
Design and the Elastic Mind at the Museum of Modern Art. NYC, 2008. [contributor to SIDL]
"Urban China" at the New Museum. NYC, 2008. [featured Crisis, with Aaron Davis]
"Architecture and Justice" at the Architectural League. NYC, 2006. [with the Spatial Information Design Lab]
"New Orleans Now." New Orleans, LA, 2006. [with Clare Newman]
Selected Talks & Panels
Digital Urbanisms at Columbia University GSAPP, New York, NY. October 2019. [conference organizer]
“Tracing, Charting, Mapping, Drawing: Analytical Cartography as Historical GIS” [public lecture] at New Directions and Connections in British Urban History, New York University and Columbia University. New York, NY. September 2019.
Rethinking the Grid [presenter, panelist] at the Gotham Center, CUNY Graduate Center. New York, NY. May 2019.
“Some Thoughts on Scale” [conference panelist] at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers. (Pre-organized Session: Pushing the Boundaries of Regional Infrastructure) Washington, DC. April 2019.
“Draw: Revisiting Analytical Cartography as Critical GIS Practice” at Doing Critical GIS, University of Maryland Baltimore County. Baltimore, MD. April 2019.
“Cartographies of Distance and Difference” public talk at Columbia University Global Center Beijing, China. March 2019.
"Cartographies of Everyday Life" keynote lecture at Hofstra University, Department of Geography and Global Studies. Hampstead, NY. November 2018.
"Antipublic Urbanism: Las Vegas and the Downtown Project" at The Strip: Urbanism and Beyond, Center for the Future of Places, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. June 2018.
"Cartographic Distance and the Urban Humanities" at Unlayerings: Critical Conversations on Historical Geography, Dartmouth College, Department of Geography. Hanover, VT. May 2018.
"Distance(d): Remapping Access" [conference paper] at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers. New Orleans, LA. April 2018.
"Distance and Difference" at Turbo, Studio-X Amman. Amman, Jordan. March 2018.
"Cartographies of Distance" at Ways of Knowing Cities, Columbia University Center for Spatial Research. New York, NY. February 2018.
“Measuring the Historical City: New York and Montreal in the Mid-19th Century” [conference paper] at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. Montreal, CA. November 2017.
“Residential Mobility and (In)Stability across Growing Copenhagen, 1890-1925” [conference paper] at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. Montreal, CA. November 2017.
“Here's the Thing: Design, Incarceration, and Communities” [conference paper] at the 57th Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference (Big Ideas Session: Planning’s Engagement with Mass Imprisonment). Denver, CO. October 2017.
“Critical Distance: Notes on GIS from the Ground” at Columbia University GSAPP Lectures in Planning Series. New York, NY. September 2017.
“Maps and Mayhem” at Planning for Sharing: The Science of Urban Design, Lady Science Forum, Grand Central Library, New York, NY. August 2017.
“Density and Connectivity: Land Use in Midnineteenth-Century New York.” University of Copenhagen, Biohistory Group. Copenhagen, DK. 2017.
"Data in Context: Lessons from Urban Space" keynote address at Humanizing Data: Data, Humanities, and the City, New York University, NYC, April 2017 [with G Baics].
"Adventures in Spatiotemporal Context" at GeoNYC No One Ever Said Mapping Time is Easy, NYC, February 2017.
"Geographies of Difference" at the School of Visual Arts, NYC, December 2016.
"Cher: a Review" at the Danish Architecture Center, Copenhagen, DK, November 2016.
“The Grid as Algorithm for Land Use: A Reappraisal of the 1811 Manhattan Grid” [conference paper] at the Eighth Biennial Conference of the Urban History Association. Chicago, IL. 2016.
"Digital Urbanisms & Data In Practice" at the Architectural League of New York's Annual Student Program, NYC, September 2016.
"Data Practices & Welcome Uncertainty" at the AIA Center for Architecture, NYC, September 2016.
"Cher: Whose Line Is It Anyway?" at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Copenhagen, DK, June 2016.
"In/On Construction: Leslie Hewitt & Leah Meisterlin in Conversation" at the SculptureCenter, NYC, June 2016.
The Sharing Movement at The Met Breuer, NYC, June 2016.
"Asymmetric Labors: The Economy of Architecture in Theory and Practice" The Architecture Lobby book launch panel discussion at New Zealand Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale vernissage, Venice, IT, May 2016. [discussant]
"Critical Visualization: Datascapes & the Informal City, 2013-2015" at Teaching through Technology: Faculty Reflections, Barnard College, NYC, 2016.
"Alternative and Pluralistic Mappings of the City" at Reading the City 2, London School of Economics, London GB, 2016.
"Practice, n." at Urban Planning Pecha Kucha, Columbia GSAPP, NYC, 2016.
"Connecting Communities: Transportation Innovation and Social Justice in Developing Cities" at Columbia University DeltaGDP (Growth & Development Project), NYC, 2015. [panelist]
"The Human Face of Big Data" at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC, 2015. [respondent, panelist]
"A Few Notes on an Important Occasion" at GIS Day, Barnard College Empirical Reasoning Center, NYC, 2015.
"Locating the Hinterland: Operative Spaces of Extraction and Agency" [drawing performance] at Armatures of Practice: Politics of Action, Storefront for Art & Architecture, NYC, 2015.
"Zoning Before Zoning: Land Use and Density in Midnineteenth-Century New York" [conference paper] at 40th Annual Meeting of the Social Sciences History Association, Baltimore MD, 2015.
"Evidence: Experienced, Witnessed, Testified, Shared" at After Belonging & the Spaces of a Life in Transit, Storefront for Art & Architecture, NYC, 2015.
"Challenging the City and its Data" at Reading the City: Multilingualism, Multiculturalism, and Urban Landscapes, Columbia University Language Resource Center, NYC, 2015.
"Forensic Methodology" at Columbia GSAPP, NYC, 2015. [respondent, moderator]
"Urban Operative | Operative Planning" at the Future of Planning Forum, Columbia GSAPP, NYC, 2015.
"Re-envisioning Branch Libraries: One Networked System" at the New School for the Architectural League of New York, NYC, 2015.
"Re-envisioning Branch Libraries: One Networked System" at Japan Society for the Center for an Urban Future, NYC, 2014.
"Everyone an Expert: Andres Jacque Remix" at Cabaret Series: Ventriloquism (an evening with the Avery Review & ARPA Journal) at Storefront for Art & Architecture, NYC, 2014.
"Zoning Before Zoning: Land Use, Density, & the Grid in Mid-Nineteenth-Century New York City" at Barnard College, NYC, 2014.
"Kiosk: Copyright, Design, and Digital Culture" at Columbia GSAPP, NYC, 2014. [discussant]
"The Map as an Organizational Device; The Map as Infrastructure." at Hungry City Workshop, NYC, 2014.
"Making Sense of GDELT: Aleppo" at Making Sense of Syria, NYC, 2014.
"Zoning Before Zoning" at Raising the Bar, NYC, 2014.
"Beyond Big Data, Smart Phones, & Social Media: Notes on Advocacy from the Other Side of the Digital Divide" at Columbia GSAPP Lectures in Planning Series, NYC, 2013.
"The Subjective Map: Decision Support & Critical Advocacy" at the Ford Foundation's Change By Design: Telling Meaningful Stories through Data Conference, NYC, 2012.
"GROW[ing] Up: SLOW[ing] Down" keynote address at the 2011 AIA Georgia Design Conference, Athens, GA, 2011.
"Entrepreneurial Architecture in Five Easy Steps" at the Forum for Urban Design, NYC, 2010.
"PRE-Office: Conversations with Architects" at Studio-X: New York, NYC, 2009.