4.557/MAS.552  Creative Places ~ Understanding & Enabling Entrepreneurial & Vibrant Urban Hot Spots

~ Mayors and developers all over the world are proposing and attempting to build “innovation districts” where a critical mass of creative people can live, work, play and share ideas in compact, vibrant communities.  But the relationship between innovation and public policy, design, urban systems, economic assets, entrepreneurial development and cultural values is poorly understood.  With billions of dollars being committed to fostering innovation in cities, it is imperative that we move towards an evidence-based process of understanding and enabling more entrepreneurial, livable, high-performance communities. 

Class Description ~ The class will consist of the three phases: 1) Deconstructing Creative Places, 2) Visualizing and Evaluating Creative Places, and 3) Designing Interventions to Improve Creative Places.  Class participants will be divided into small teams to focus on one or more research areas based on their interest, experience and skill sets.

Enrollment ~ This class seeks highly motivated students with the necessary skills to dive deep into an aspect of understanding and enabling vibrant and entrepreneurial urban hot spots.  Students interested in joining the class will be required to submit a short essay of interest, CV and/or portfolio.  Students with a background in data analysis, visualization, urban design, architecture, public policy, or entrepreneurship are preferred.

Join Us @ First Class ~ Wed 3 Feb 2016 @ 2pm E14-633