This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
Part I. Reading the City
1 How Can Cities Be Read and Why  
2 The Once and Future City: Processes That Shape  
3 Reading and Writing the City  
4-5 Perspectives on Boston Sites

Project Review
Project assignment 1 (select a site) due
6 Review of Assignment 1 Assignment 1 due
Part II. City and Nature: Natural Processes as Agents of Change
7 The Granite Garden: Boston, A Natural Environment Transformed  
8 Workshop: Designing Your Web site  
9 Guides to Reading Boston  
10 Earth and Water  
11 Air and Life  
12 Project Review Project assignment 2 (your site and natural processes) due
13 Boston Sites: What Patterns Emerged?  
Part III. City and Society: Social Processes as Agents of Change
14 Looking at Maps  
15 Technology, Innovation, and Change  
16 Economics, Politics, and Change  
17 Culture, Fashion, and Change  
18 Boston in Historical Context  
19 Project Review Project assignment 3 (your site through time) due
20 Boston Sites: What Patterns Emerged?  
Part IV. Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Envisioning and Shaping Future Cities
21 Looking Back, Looking Ahead  
22 Shaping Future Cities (Panel)  
23 Project Review Project assignment 4 (artifacts, layers, traces, and trends) due
24 Top-Down / Bottom-Up: Frameworks for Action  
Part V. Boston Sites: Where Have They Been, Where Are They Headed
25 Presentation and Discussion of Sites Final presentations and sites due
26 Field Trip  
27-29 Presentation and Discussion of Sites  
30-31 Workshop