Kent Larson, Director of City Science Initiative, Ryan Chin, Managing Director, City Science Initiative
Enrollment: First come, first served
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: participants are encouraged, but not required to go to all sessions.
Prereq: This is a non-credit IAP course. Permission of instr.
Description The world is experiencing a period of extreme urbanization. In China alone, 300 million rural inhabitants will move to urban areas over the next 15 years. This will require building new infrastructure to accommodate the equivalent of the current population of the United States in just a few decades. It is a global imperative to develop systems that improve livability while dramatically reducing resource consumption. This workshop will explore the complex and interdependent nature of housing, mobility, energy, and food production systems for high-density cities.
Student Deliverables Students will explore urban systems at both the neighborhood scale (~1km²) and the block scale. Participants will develop a process for understanding and resolving a set interdependent urban parameters including building massing, space use, shared mobility networks, streetscape types, parks, urban food production, and energy generation nodes. Students may elect to work with either 3D physical models using color-coded LEGO bricks as an abstract framework, or parametric computation software such as Grasshopper. Precedents from existing cities and current urban theory will be used to inform the development of urban strategies that maximize livability and positive human interaction while minimizing the consumption of resources.
Research Areas Electric Mobility Ecosystems, Resilient Energy Systems, Transformable CityHomes, Urban Food Systems, and Streetscapes for Compact Urban Cells
Sponsor(s): Media Arts and Sciences
Contact: Ryan Chin, E15-392, 617 253-6828, RCHIN@MIT.EDU
The workshop will meet on Tuesday and Thursdays from 130-430pm for three weeks in January (8th, 10th, 15th, 17th, 22nd, 24th) and will meet in E15-368.
Kent Larson - Director of City Science Initiative, Ryan Chin - Managing Director, City Science Initiative