Classes

Focuses on the synthesis of urban, mixed-use real estate projects, including the integration of physical design and programming with finance and marketing. Interdisciplinary student teams analyze how to maximize value across multiple dimensions in the process of preparing professional development proposals for sites in US cities and internationally. Reviews emerging real estate products and innovative developments to provide a foundation for studio work. Two major projects are interspersed with lectures and field trips. Integrates skills and knowledge in the MSRED program; also open to other students interested in real estate development by permission of the instructors.

Introduces a range of practical approaches involved in evaluating and planning sites within the context of natural and cultural systems. Develops the knowledge and skills to analyze and plan a site for development through exercises and an urban design project. Topics include land inventory, urban form, spatial organization of uses, parcelization, design of roadways, grading, utility systems, off-site impacts, and landscape strategies.

Introduces a range of practical approaches involved in evaluating and planning sites within the context of natural and cultural systems. Develops the knowledge and skills to analyze and plan a site for development through exercises and an urban design project. Topics include land inventory, urban form, spatial organization of uses, parcelization, design of roadways, grading, utility systems, off-site impacts, and landscape strategies.

Introduces a range of practical approaches involved in evaluating and planning sites within the context of natural and cultural systems. Develops the knowledge and skills to analyze and plan a site for development through exercises and an urban design project. Topics include land inventory, urban form, spatial organization of uses, parcelization, design of roadways, grading, utility systems, off-site impacts, and landscape strategies.

This is the second in a 2-class project; register for 15 units. You must also register for 6 units of 11.s938 for the IAP 2025 term (21 units total).

INFO SESSION: Friday Nov 15 @ 1:10PM Stella Room 7-338 (also on zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/96150219429)

Format: Studio ; Required IAP Travel - Intensive workshop in Mexico City in January (01/20- 01/30) (Expenses covered)* 

The studio is an international collaboration with UNAM School of Architecture, Sustainable Environments Lab  (LES) and Generadora FENIX, S.A.P. an energy company that manage and run Bordo Poniente. It is part of a long-term partnership between DUSP, the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) MIT and the Mexico City Government with the purpose of addressing the city's environmental, and planning goals through research, innovation, design and civic discourse.  

Building on the Spring 2024 Mexico City practicum studio, this year's effort will explore landscape planning, alternative energy, and potential industrial development at Bordo Poniente—Latin America's largest urban landfill.  Identified through collaborations with partners in Mexico, the project will test new design ideas, landscape strategies, and energy transition approaches for Bordo Poniente, situated in Mexico City's outskirts. This 1,000-acre capped waste site, closed in 2011, offers redevelopment and ecological restoration opportunities despite its environmental challenges. Methane gas and leachate wastewater production continue, presenting economic development potential. The project's objective is to apply innovative planning, ecological restoration, and integrate production through an "industrial remix." The strategy combines industrial urbanism, landscape restoration, and energy transition, leveraging the site's energy potential, natural environment, and proximity to disadvantaged communities. This work aims to provide insights and expertise applicable to other disturbed sites in Mexico and globally. 

Some specific goals include:

• To explore landfill zones focusing on site planning, infrastructure, ecological systems, design and policy recommendations.
• Examine Mexico City’s environmental and industrial history, highlighting the spatial impacts of hydrology, ecology, and industrial development.
• To contribute to a strategic plan proposing sustainable design for the integration of energy production and urban development of Bordo Poniente.
• To provide new insights and design techniques in areas such as site planning, clean energy integration and industrial urbanism that can be utilized for the future development of the city.

Application Process

Please submit by November 19th by 5pm in PDF format and as one file : a one-page letter of interest, a one-page CV, as well as up to three 8.5" x 11" pages of visual material/portfolio (class or professional work).

* Note that per sponsored travel policies if an enrolled student decides to drop the course after the paid trip, they will be
responsible to reimburse the department for all covered expenses.
† The studio will count both as an M.Arch option studio and fulfill the studio requirement for SMArchS Urbanism

Through extensive reading and writing, students will explore the promise and perils of the variegated city, focusing on topics that demand urgent attention: climate change, inequality, racial injustice, and public space. Students will work to create artful narratives by examining how various forms—essay, memoir, longform journalism, poetry, fiction, film, photography, and song—illuminate our understanding of cities. Special emphasis will be on the imagination as a rich reservoir for inhabiting and understanding cities, the writer as the reader's advocate, and on the indispensability of the writer-editor relationship, with the goal of better engaging with and understanding cities, not to mention writing with greater creativity and sophistication for specialized and general-interest audiences. 

Admission is only by application. Prerequisite: Submit by Saturday, September 10, at 8:00 p.m. an application letter (no longer than 600 words, and as a Microsoft Word document with your full name in the top right margin) that explains your interest in the class, and discuss a work—novel, essay, film, painting, sculpture, song, play, building—that influences how you see a particular city.

Through extensive reading and writing, students will explore the promise and perils of the variegated city, focusing on topics that demand urgent attention: climate change, inequality, racial injustice, and public space. Students will work to create artful narratives by examining how various forms—essay, memoir, longform journalism, poetry, fiction, film, photography, and song—illuminate our understanding of cities. Special emphasis will be on the imagination as a rich reservoir for inhabiting and understanding cities, the writer as the reader's advocate, and on the indispensability of the writer-editor relationship, with the goal of better engaging with and understanding cities, not to mention writing with greater creativity and sophistication for specialized and general-interest audiences. 

To be considered for the class (deadline 9pm, 9/4/24)

In no more than 350 words, and in a Microsoft Word document (Microsoft Word is available for free to all MIT and GSD students; absolutely no Google Docs), please submit the following application essay:

Introduce yourself to me by letting me know why you’re interested in this seminar and what you hope to gain from it, any experiences you have writing, and what cities you’ve lived in and how you hope to better understand cities through writing. If there are particular narrative genres—essay, short story, novel, poetry, film, music—that move you, discuss them and tell me about an especially significant work that you love.

Submit application essays to Garnette Cadogan.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Explores initial thesis ideas and bases for choosing among multiple interests. Assessment of design research strengths and weaknesses. Overview of conceptual frameworks and research methods. Preparation for summer field research and proposal development.

Explores initial thesis ideas and bases for choosing among multiple interests. Assessment of design research strengths and weaknesses. Overview of conceptual frameworks and research methods. Preparation for summer field research and proposal development.

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

This offering of 4.288 is for SMArchS Architecture Design program students.

Note: Computation students now register for 4.588 instead of 4.288

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

Notes: 

• Schedule change from T 2-5 to M 9-12
• Computation students now register for 4.588 instead of 4.288

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

8/17/22 Note: The design and urbanism sections will now meet together.

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

• Computation students: register for section L2
• Design & Urbanism students register for L1

Note: Computation students now register for 4.588 instead of 4.288

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.