“People may decide they don’t want to live in densely populated areas and be fearful of working in tall buildings. Businesses may not want all their resources located in one area,” he said.

To address this issue, Krieger said he envisions future GSD studio courses “that raise questions about whether our concern for something like terrorism changes our attitudes to where Americans like to live and work.”

For the students in the World Trade Center Regeneration Group, the future of the World Trade Center site is even less vivid than the future of cities in general.

“The World Trade Center massacre seemed to be a fantastic opportunity to rethink the blighted New York City urban center,” said Mitch Joachim, a second-year graduate student at the GSD and a founder of the new security-focused research group.

Joachim said the team’s analysis will not be “a single design solution or a single viewpoint,” but rather a “brain trust of what could happen” at the site.

“For people working in the field, their interest is based on who is paying them,” Joachim said. “In school, we have the freedom to come up with the best possible solutions.”

Daniel Kinkead, a second-year graduate student participating in the research group, stressed the symbolism inherent in the World Trade Center.

“Before Sept. 11, a lot of people probably would have responded differently if asked how they felt about the World Trade Center,” he said.

“Now, a lot of people are contemplating not only the World Trade Center, but what buildings like it meant to us and to the globe,” he added.