You may pursue more deeply researched aspects of a topic that has been discussed in the class lectures. Here the task is to examine an aspect of a topic critically, to solidify vague but provocative notions, or to use the paper to strengthen your own interest in a special area. You either have to find more detailed information, or be able to arrange arguments in a different way.
Examples of Past Student Papers
While the full text of the following student papers may not be available online, the list of examples is intended to provide a better understanding of successful topics and fruitful directions for this assignment.
McFarlan III, E. “Alexander: The Language and the Ideology.” 1977.
Polton, R. “Socialism and City-making: An Overview and Analysis.” 1977.
Dean, C. “Towards a Theory of City Form: Le Corbusier’s Plans for the City of Algiers, 1930-1942.” 1978.
Poodry, D. “Social Structure and Spatial Structure: Observations.” 1978.
Wang, M. H. “The Ends-Means Dilemma in the City-making Process.” 1978.
Shah, V. “Ancient Town Planning Principles in India.” 1980.
Watiker, J. “What Forces Influenced the Development of Early Cities?” 1988.
Unger, M. “The Block in the European Context.” 1981.
Dale, J. “Thomas Jefferson’s Image of the City.” 1984.
Kim, J. “Modernization and the Everyday Built Environment.” 1986.
Nielsen, B. “The Other Side: Gender-based Theories of City Form.” 1986.
Kapadia, K. “Transformational Nature of Urban Pattern.” 1987.
Tuttle, W. “Aldo Rossi and Leon Krier.” 1987.
Brady, N. “Cities of Infinite Possibilities.” 1988.
Sim, K. “Regent Street and the City: An Alternative History.” 1988.
DeShong, M. “Housing Typology and Urban Morphology: London and Paris.” 1990.
Kumar, S. “The ‘Non-City’ and City Form.” 1991.
Vernooy, A. “Polynuclear Cities: Crisis in Form or Perception.” 1991.
Rashid, M. “Chaos Reigns.” 1992.
Scheid, A. “Garnier and Gill.” 1993.
Knight, L. “Seats of Power.” 1994.
Mar, E. “The Border Condition: Uneven Development and the Space of Flows.” 1995.
Crabtree, A. “The City of Man.” 1996.
Moustafa, A. A. “Colonial Planning Policies in Morocco 1912-1923.” 1997.
Papaefthimiou, N. “Cape Town, Kingston and Rio: Case Studies in Spatial Segregation.” 1998.
Han, H-S. “Sustainable Development: Sustainable Urban Design.” 1999.
Brown, R. S. “Typology as Urban Form: Urban Morphology in Boston’s Back Bay.” 2000.
Ho, J. C. “The Implications of Broadacre: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Suburban Utopia.” 2001.
Meyer, W. “The Social Process of the Malecon.” 2002.
Raber, C. “Through the Eyes of an Artist.” 2003.
Foxe, D. “Toward the Nature of Meaning and the Meaning of Nature in Urban Design.” 2005.
Arkaraprasertkul, N. “Towards Modern Urbanism: Kahn’s Plan for Philadelphia.” 2006.
Romanos, C. “From Open System to Closed Grid.” 2007.
Shepard, C. “The City Goes to the Fair: Lewis Mumford and the Filmic Case for Planning.” 2007.
Outram, C. “City-Sense: Constructing an Image of the City through GEO-tagged Data and the Web.” 2008.
Koh, C-L. “Chaos Theory of City Form.” 2008.
Madden, S. “Representing the City: Tracing the Development of Mapping and City Plans.” 2009.
Watabe, M. “Forms of Cities, Forms of Communication.” 2009.
Levesque, A. “Why the West End? Controversy and Consequences of Urban Renewal.” 2010.
Cappelletti, D. “Nature, Cities and Gardens.” 2011.
