Research Project

Every student will develop a semester-long research project. In this exercise you need to select an urban artifact (a building, a neighborhood, a street, an infrastructure) that you can approach as a historian. This artifact must have been built, even if it has disappeared since its original construction. Then, your work should illuminate at least three things: 1) how this element was produced and what is its relation to the history of the area where it is located; 2) what conditions this urban element has enabled or enables; and 3) why it is important and we should be looking at it today.

The final format of the project is a pdf booklet with a 3,000-word text, properly referenced and sourced, plus six visualizations of your own making. The instructors will provide an InDesign template for the pdf. The students will present their project the last day of class. The visualizations must be printed independently in a tabloid paper.

The project will be developed sequentially and debated with the instructors during office hours. We will organize your topics thematically so that you can always develop your work in conversation with your peers. The idea is that we will be able to discuss urban topics collaboratively.

The submission sequence is as follows:

Week 2: Meet Roi to discuss topics.

Week 3: Discuss projects with TAs.

Week 4: Presentation. Bring to class three reference images. These last are images you find, not images that you produce. Just a part of your personal archive.

Week 5: Submission 1 due. This submission should include 1) the project title; 2) a 300-word abstract; 3) three main questions that you want to study; 4) a basic bibliography with ten titles (in MLA citation format); 5) two drawings of your urban artifact, with captions, dimension 22 x 17 inches; 6) themes of potential next six drawings; 7) the three images you used to present your project; and 8) archival images.

Week 9: Submission 2 due. This submission should include two new analytical drawings with captions, along with revised versions of your previous work.

Week 12: Submission 3 due. This submission should include two new analytical drawings with captions, along with revised versions of your previous work.

Week 15: Final submission due:

3000-word research paper (plus bibliography and notes) and images, formatted according to the exercise template.
Six images submitted independently of the paper.

In addition, during class time we will a hold two presentations and two or three workshops to discuss the projects. The projects must be also coordinated and discussed with the TAs.