Walking the City

“[I]t has seemed to me that two questions we should ask of any strong landscape are these: firstly, what do I know when I’m in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, questions frame our exploration of the urban form. By walking the city, studying historical and contemporary approaches to life on the streets, and investigating our relationship to our environs through writing and other artistic responses, participants will explore how feet give form to the city.

To be considered for the class:

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, mentioning what cities you’ve lived in and how you hope to better understand cities and landscape through walking. If there is a particular walk you’ve taken that moved you, discuss it and tell me why you found it resonant.

Feel free to give your application essay a title, ensure that your surname is on the top right margin of the essay, and please email applications to Garnette Cadogan with the subject line “Application Essay, 4.242.”