FINAL PAPER -- The New Urban Ring
OUTLINE RECOMMENDED: Wednesday, 30 April 1997
PAPER DUE: Monday, 12 May 1997
It is Spring Term in the year 2017. You have been asked to teach a Case Study on the New Urban Ring in the "Big Plans" course in the Department of Urban Studies at MIT. You haven't been back in a classroom for years, but you certainly do know the neighborhood! For a substantial chunk of the intervening twenty years since you took "Big Plans" in 1997, you were the Project Manager of The New Urban Ring Project. You know the project inside and out, but how are you going to teach a class about it?
To prepare for the class, you decide to put your experiences down on paper. The two most important things to convey are a description of the project as it has turned out, and the process that made it possible. (And, of course, you want to brag just a little about your role in guiding the process.)
Writing the description of the project might be accomplished by telling about the vision that you had. That vision, after all, is what got you the job at such a young age; and it is what sustained you through the difficult years that followed. On the other hand, you might describe the project as if you were taking a friend of yours on a tour of the Urban Ring, now that the project has been up and running for a while.
The amazing thing, in retrospect, is that the process that you set up really worked. You need to write it down on paper, so that you can tell the class (and some of those aging professors who are still around) about the key principles that you kept in mind as you guided the project from concept, through design and construction, and into operation.
You've decided to make your paper from 4 to 8 pages long, and you would like to add two diagrams: one, illustrating the most important features (the vision) of the physical characteristics of the project; and the other, illustrating the way you organized the process.
You are a little unsure of your abilities to draw good diagrams, so you think of this as extra credit. You know, however, that a diagram will make it easier for you to explain the New Urban Ring quickly to others in the class; so maybe it would help to start with a sketch of your ideas right away. Perhaps today? You can then test out the diagrams as you write.