On Saturday I went on a tour of Boston focused on environmental justice with other UEP first-years. One of the second-years who organized the tour wrote about it on the UEP blog here. I was tired and hungry throughout the tour, but it was an eye-opening experience. I went on the East Boston part of the tour, and seeing the redeveloped (and not) housing projects was something I’d never done before. It’s useful to get out and see on-the-ground impacts of good and bad planning, to deepen the education you get at a university-on-the-hill. It seems my program is aware of that, which I am glad of.
Tomorrow classes begin! My classes consist of three core courses and one elective. The three cores are “Cities in Space, Place, and Time” (a history of cities, which I have tomorrow afternoon), “Foundations of Policy & Planning”, and “Economics for Policy & Planning”. I would like my elective to be “Developing Sustainable Communities”, but I am on the waitlist and I am unsure whether or not I will be able to take it. The contingency plan is to take “Social Welfare Policy”, which also meets on Tuesdays.
This afternoon I’m going bike shopping! And my housemate, a German economics post-doc at Harvard Kennedy School, just moved in, so it’s nice getting to know him as well. I hope your Labor Day is relaxing and helps you decrease your stress load as we enter the autumn.
