Breaking news: before the application deadline, I got my acceptance.
This ought to change things for the better for me, in some fundamental ways.
Describe a particular place or experience that has influenced your interest in sustainable urban and regional planning, and explain why. (In 250 words)
For five years, I worked as a civil engineer in Baltimore. While designing the second phase of yet another new housing development, I realized that the focus of my work was too narrow and misdirected. Walking the site, I noted the marked contrast between the existing neighborhood with its small houses set back on large lots that gently sloped toward a stream, versus the adjoining development’s first phase with its enormous houses set close together on minimally-sized lots and a detention pond whose outfall pointed toward an existing garage. As one who intimately invests in my designs, it distressed me to be enabling inefficient, short-sighted, and awkward developments like that one.
We as a species literally shape the world around us. We owe it to ourselves to ensure it’s a good one, an environment that nurtures and supports our lives from every angle. One of the greatest predictors of the health and success of a community is the quality and longevity of its infrastructure and the efficiency of its access to daily needs. Instead of building tract mansions for developers whose primary concern is how quickly they can sell the individual lots, a good design would be based on a holistic plan that focuses on the interactions and needs of the community and environment as a whole system through time. It would need to be equally beautiful, efficient, and livable for future generations. In order to make the right impact on my world, I need to help develop that plan.
...and, just because I'm that freaky geeky, it's exactly 250 words.
Describe a particular place or experience that has influenced your interest in sustainable urban and regional planning, and explain why. (In 250 words)
For five years, I worked as a civil engineer in Baltimore. While designing the second phase of yet another new housing development, I realized that the focus of my work was too narrow and misdirected. Walking the site, I noted the marked contrast between the existing neighborhood with its small houses set back on large lots that gently sloped toward a stream, versus the adjoining development’s first phase with its enormous houses set close together on minimally-sized lots and a detention pond whose outfall pointed toward an existing garage. As one who intimately invests in my designs, it distressed me to be enabling inefficient, short-sighted, and awkward developments like that one.
We as a species literally shape the world around us. We owe it to ourselves to ensure it’s a good one, an environment that nurtures and supports our lives from every angle. One of the greatest predictors of the health and success of a community is the quality and longevity of its infrastructure and the efficiency of its access to daily needs. Instead of building tract mansions for developers whose primary concern is how quickly they can sell the individual lots, a good design would be based on a holistic plan that focuses on the interactions and needs of the community and environment as a whole system through time. It would need to be equally beautiful, efficient, and livable for future generations. In order to make the right impact on my world, I need to help develop that plan.
...and, just because I'm that freaky geeky, it's exactly 250 words.