Thesis Ideas and Other Thoughts

Concepts Need To Be Focused

"Mobile Home" by Antoine Valentim

"Give me your thesis proposals by Thanksgiving"
Asked by professor Fleming last week, it's dawned on me that I'm not ready at all. Not so long ago, I wanted to just be a green builder/developer. It seemed simple enough - but I'm quickly getting interested in the psychology and policy making of urban development and housing projects. Thesis is meant to catapult us out of the MSSD program an into our respective career paths, setting the focus and niche skill-set that will be invaluable in the years to come. I'm similar to a lot of my peers: with a few ideas but need to focus them. Here are my ideas in no particular order:

• Builder focusing on sustainable and efficient homes and apartments. (Which seems the most likely career-path but also the most lame for a thesis project)
• Extremely low-cost LEED certified homes in rural areas. An extension of my position paper from last semester which asked: Can you build at a lower price point and change the surrounding community?
• Develop a modular building for use in disaster relief areas, similar to FEMA trailers. Could be build using existing mobile-home/modular strategies and stored on railcars ready for delivery. 
• Transform an existing modular or building company into a highly-efficient sustainable one.
• Working with neighborhoods or small cities to transform their waste/water/energy systems. Going way above and beyond state/federal requirements.
• Sway perception that space=better homes. Using shared resources (such as laundromats) and smaller urban housing units, moves us towards a more sustainable way of living. (Had a good argument about whether you can make people want to do this, as opposed to forcing them to accept it)

So there's my current thesis ideas. I'm open to other ideas as well, so let me hear it if you can think of anything. 

Other Thought #1:

Have you noticed all the paving projects currently going on? I have been looking for a news article to touch on this but couldn't find any. I know the Fed dolled out billions for infrastructure improvements (which I fully support), but couldn't there have been a stipulation that a percentage of these local-dollars had to benefit public transport? Be it even upgraded bus stops and walking paths along busy streets - I haven't seen anything but black asphalt being put down everywhere! Isn't this like prolonging the changes we know we have to make?

Thought #2:
This article has caught my attention: Obama Administration Rolls Out the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. It recognizes the failures of other government initiatives, like HUD, and seeks a more comprehensive approach to neighborhood improvement. I'd be interested in working on projects like these if the opportunity presented itself.


Thought #3:

The Annual Green Building Celebration is next week, Thursday, October 21, 2010 from 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Put on by the DVGBC, it's the biggest event and the best green industry networking opportunity of the year and will feature the presentation of their 2010 Leadership Awards. Come if you want to meet some great people and collect a lot of business cards as you drink beer and good food. I'll be working one of the tables for two hours or so, signing people up for either the Emerging Professionals committee or general DVGBC registration. Hope to see some of you there!