Revision Reflection

What I found to be most helpful in this reading was the idea of refining the thesis. I had
some trouble with making a “point” to by EIP. I think that refining my thesis and really making
sure that it is talking about what I want it to will allow me to effectively and efficiently revise my
EIP paper. I also found that having someone else read the paper to be an interesting point,
because they are able to see if the information pieces together well and if they can understand it.
One of the least helpful points made in the article was the wrestling match metaphor. I didn’t
find it to be a good way to see how well your essay works. I find that there should be a good
balance of source material and of your own opinions. So, by having a match, it implies that there
is a winner when really there should be a tie. I’d also like to use some of the mentioned “reject”
and “save” pile to help me to begin to revise my current essay before I go and find more
information. This should help me to find the holes in my paper.

Margin Outline
1. Ecological Urbanism supports the idea of a self-sustaining city.
a. Importance of design and research
b. Design strategy necessary for sustainable and environmentally friendly cities
c. Strategies lead to chaotic and dense cities with many confusing barriers
2. City planners lean away from doing land surveys
a. Surveys give information of conditions on the site
b. Bolt on sustainability
c. Problems of building on rivers
3. Regulations and Organizations to promote sustainable design
a. USGBC and LEED pressure designers to be sustainable
b. Rules include waste reduction, impact on site
4. EPA creates laws
a. Laws more environmentally focused compared to LEED regulations
b. Greener Living promotion; quality of life
c. Community driven strategies
5. Government programs beneficial in theory, they don’t actually force green building
design
a. Bolt on sustainability method
b. Don’t look at underlying problems
c. Only look at the one building and not the context
d. Urban places are complex
6. Mid 20th century buildings more sustainable than current
a. Limited resources made sustainability more necessary
b. Technology advancement allows for cheaper energy consumption
7. Garden Cities are also working
a. Vegetation integrated with building design
b. Urban sprawl made less centralized and formal
c. Boundary of physical and artificial world conceptual
8. HafanCity prime example of a sustainable city
 a. Self-sustaining
b. Smaller region of control
c. Community works to help maintain the city
9. How does the methods of HafanCity transfer to developing cities?
a. Sustainable design too broad a topic
b. People an important factor of helping a design be sustainable.