Yang M

- Research Program Mentor

Project ideas

Make No Little Plans

...they have no magic to stir men's blood. So says Daniel Burnham, author of the 1909 Plan of Chicago and in many ways the master architect and planner of the 20th Century American City. We're no longer living in Burnham's times, but the desire and need for big plans will always be with us. Using the city of your choosing as a starting point, this project will combine a deep dive into history, economics, demographics, policy, and governance with the realities of trying to enact civic change -- including the need to stir people's blood enough for them to care. You will be invited to do your due diligence, soberly consider the possibilities, recognize all the stakeholders, and carve out incremental improvements wherever they may appear. But at the same time, you will also be participating in that timeless, irresistible tradition of utopic city-building.

Intensive Study: The Scenes of a Neighborhood

How do you get to know a neighborhood? What is local knowledge vs. expert knowledge? From an urban design point of view, how do we perceive our environment? How does the local connect to a greater network? How does the past and present inform the future? By starting small and working from the most concrete details of one's surroundings, the student will gradually build up to a greater understanding of a particular place and one's role in relation to it. The project will be structured around a series of modules with deliverables that will combine to form a final report on the neighborhood.