I am interested in studying the urban environment and the problems with our modern cities.  I feel that one of the major problems and potentials for change in our modern city is the habitation within the city limits.  I believe that if we can bring people back to living within the city, close to work in vibrant and interesting environments, life can be brought back to the North American city.  The trend over the last 50 years has been towards suburbs.  This has created innumerable problems including; traffic congestion, financial ghettos, pollution, sprawl, etc..  I believe that there will be a growing number of families and individuals who would prefer to live in a more urban environment.  A place where they would be able to walk or take public transportation to work, to do there shopping or to visit friends.
 

 For my thesis project I would like to find a location within an urban environment and create an entire community.  The community would create a rich and beautiful space.  The goal would be to design something along the lines of a Venice or Paris, a great urban space.  It would consist of residences and commercial uses.  A mixed use community with offices and stores and homes.  The streets would be more pedestrian oriented and the community would be built around a human scale as opposed to that of the automobile.  This would be a step towards improving and revitalizing our urban environments.
 
 

Hamish Whitefield
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