A Short Year Ago Today…

Yup, this is the official one year mark for Agents of Urbanism.  Unfortunately, I have been a faint presence these days, but that is due in large part to the overwhelming success of this blog.  However, this success may not be in line with the statistically defined measures of other blogs.  The success of which I speak relates to how effectively AOU served as a springboard for my own academic pursuits.

If we take a trip down memory lane and revisit the Introduction to this blog one year ago, you will see this had been my intent from the beginning.  Starving for intellectual pursuits beyond my day job, I committed myself to this blog.  Miraculously, it only took two short months for my first payoff, after having written the Sustainable City Series (Definition, Masdar, Dongtan).  At this point, I was asked by a member of Volume Magazine to write a piece on Masdar for their summer issue on Social Engineering.  Three months later, I had my first independently published piece of writing.

This served as the much needed primer for entering the academic circuit.  As such, I attained my first teaching position here in New York last fall.  I started by developing the school’s first Revit course from scratch – no small task – hoping that I would be able to work my way into the ranks and pick up a studio the following fall.  I, not to mention countless others, thought I was setting the bar pretty high.  Apparently not.  The first week of January threw an unexpected curve ball, leaving me testing the extremes of my own capacity.

Up until this point, however, I was facing a spring semester with only 3 students signed up for my Revit course. Read: No one wants to take Revit (or possibly, have me as a professor) unless enrollment surges in the final week of registration. Thus, I find myself asking to teach other courses, thinking/knowing they had all been filled.  However, as I am quickly learning, many of these decisions are not made until the last few days before classes start – a condition from which I greatly benefit.

I had targeted a class on the history of urban form arguing that given my own interests, my outside research and writing – primarily this blog – that I was a perfect candidate for the course.  Compelling enough to the administration, I was given the course.  Score #1.

As part of my preparation for the course, I was at school meeting with the Director of Architectural History and Theory on an opportune day.  Intercepted by the Director of Architecture, I was asked to teach another course – surprisingly with many options to choose from.  Thus, I landed my first studio, Fundamentals of Design I. Score #2.

At this point we could describe my emotions of the previous week.  Dread. Excitement. Elation. Anxiety. Chomping-at-the-bit. Cloud Nine. Panic. Resolute Calm.

Yes, the joy at having two opportunities far earlier than anticipated was quickly followed by the realization of how much work would go into the class.  Then, my rationalization kicked in, and here I am slogging away.

Having found myself catapulted into the academic hemisphere and losing sight of the blogosphere, I am left with a bittersweet moment (keep in mind I accepted these courses while maintaining my full time job practicing architecture in a large office).  I truly enjoy writing and thinking for this site, and I had started to build some thought-provoking content – at least for me – as well as a readership.  To those of you, thank you for stopping by, reading, and commenting.  Feel free to continue discussing amongst yourselves, as I will still host this site until I can actually return.

I, on the other hand, will continue to develop my courses in the hope that the leg work for future courses will be completed and allow me the improbable opportunity to work in the office 40+ hours, teach 8 credits, and maintain a blog.  Best of luck.

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