Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
United Kingdom
fellow
Jacob Boswell
2025-2026
Home institution
Ohio State University
Country of origin (home institution)
United States
Discipline(s)
Anthropology and ethnology; Earth, environmental and climate sciences; Economy and finance; Urban and architectural studies
Theme(s)
Cities & States; Energy & Renewable Resources; Environment, Sustainability & Biodiversity
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Jake Boswell is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at The Ohio State University. His work centers on the entanglement of cultural, technological, and natural systems in the production of designed and vernacular landscapes, with a focus on climate modification, climate change, and energy. With a background in landscape architecture, city planning, and cultural anthropology, Boswell pursues this work through a hybrid practice centered on historical inquiry and design speculation. His writing has been published globally and his design works have received recognition in numerous international design competitions. He is the 2026 Fulbright Scotland Distinguished Scholar at IASH.
Research Project
Community-based distributed energy resources in Scotland: a built environment inventory
Jake’s Fulbright project will investigate and document the wide variety of community-based distributed energy resource (DER) projects that have been built in Scotland since the creation of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) Act in 2010. While in Scotland he will document a cross section of these community-based energy projects to better understand the forms they have taken and decision making around their design. Currently, we know very little about the physical form these projects take, or how that form can be understood in relation to their specific social and environmental context. Jake seeks to produce a series of case studies on exemplary models that situate the functional and economic aspects of each project within its discrete social and environmental context.
Research Interests:
Landscape architecture; climate change; energy; urban planning