Motivation, Reflection, and Professional Aspiration, Essay Example

Mai Nguyen

I always feel a dire obligation to preserve the integrity of our environment and strengthen communities’ resolve to embrace sustainable development goals. For this reason, my career path has been skewed toward fields that revolve around protecting the global ecosystem and enhancing the capacity for human civilization and the earth’s biosphere to co-exist. In light of biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, overconsumption, climate change, society’s pursuit of unlimited economic growth in a closed system, and population surge especially in the urban areas, I have developed a strong interest and gained wide professional experience in the built environment and physical and spatial aspects of cites. As a believer in sustainable development, I seek to improve my knowledge in urban economics and finance.  I am familiar with the two topics but a deeper understanding of urban and regional economics, as well as development-oriented financial investments, will complement my design-oriented thinking. The search for a conceptually synthetic framework that valorizes, equally, both design and economics was the motivation for my application to the SPURS/Humphrey program at MIT. The program will embolden my understanding of sustainable development especially in urban and regional planning, finance and banking, and economic development. Besides, the analytical and philosophical framework of suitability that forms the basis for the SPURS/Humphrey program at MIT connects many fields and disciplines, which will position me well to face contemporary sustainability challenges such as ethical consumerism and align my ideals with futuristic concepts such as changing the built environment to develop more sustainable cities that embrace such ideas as circular flow land use management, zero-emission housing, sustainable transport, and sustainable architecture.

Tremendously broadening and transforming my perspectives on development and urban planning are the benefits of SPURS to me. As a result, I started to reflect, rethink, and realize that I need to build up sounder knowledge of economic development and social equity in addition to environmental sustainability. SPURS seminar with various topics on international development and North American planning such as equity challenges, anti-racism, equitable resilience, has given me a thought-provoking journey and added vibrant colors to my then black-and-while structure-based picture of urban design. Hence, my perceptions have been evolving in many areas including relationships among humans, cities, and nature, roles of multiple stakeholders such as policymakers, planners, engineers, NGOs, and all the links to history, cultural backgrounds.

Moreover, taking courses at DUSP has been profoundly valuable. My critical thinking about urban planning has been vastly improved. Course 11.256 helped me to articulate my strong sentiment on a city, a place, and explore the dynamic interrelationship and interaction between humans and cities. That intrigues my curiosity about human well-being in urbanization, particularly informal settlements, and other vulnerable groups. Course 11.433 provided me with fascinating insights that clearly explain my previous innocent observations on the real estate market. These social and economic aspects of cities that I learned actively and unexpectedly at DUSP supplement my missing pieces and strengthen my core practice. SPURS turned out, not only effectively fulfill my expectations but also leverage my aspiration to pursue further education and to broaden my horizon.

My interests could be encapsulated in the climate adaptation capacity of (healthier, more prosperous, greener) communities. On the one hand, I have been developing an avid interest in HCED group research areas, which emphasize economic development and comprehensive community engagement. On the other hand, my attention also links to IDG, where I will be able to acquire valuable knowledge and research associated with tackling climate change, promoting inclusion, connection, and equitable well-being.

HCED offers a number of topics that I aspire to pour my time and energy into. For one instance, I have been encountering multiple significant cost-benefit-related challenges of sustainability investment, course 11.350, for example, is in perfect alignment with the expertise and skill set that I would like to sharpen. Since my own background is green building development, which is associated with environmental sustainability, I believe it will be a solid ground for me to continue with housing community and economic development study; and dovetail to form a cohesive whole to foster an all-inclusive sustainability focus.

Most of my previous training and experience was about designing new buildings, starting new neighborhoods, however, working in the industry has been wrestling me with the question of how to improve the current situations and integrate adaptive capacities for long-standing cities, where the majority of the population inhabit, especially under climate change threats. This work is much harder but more important in my opinion. Adaptation efforts should benefit both climate vulnerability reduction as well as regional economic development. Similarly, sustainability cannot be approached without economic opportunity and social justice because eventually, cities are designed to meet now and long-term human needs. But the stories do not just stop here. Every city, every neighborhood is unique, therefore, the cultural, economic, human, political, social histories of the city must be taken into account to develop adaptive solutions.

By attending course EM.425 at MIT SDM, I have a wonderful opportunity to participate in one of the SDM research projects. A new neighborhood and transit development project in an insignificant part of Denver, where there are social issues such as crime, is attempting sustainable goals. That includes enhancing resource efficiency, reducing material footprint, enabling housing revitalization, avoiding future economically and socially divided communities. Hence, community engagement is currently studied aiming to eliminate negative impacts of gentrification, and benefit all stakeholders including under-served residents, as well as small business owners, but also addressing the financial interests of investors.

The second opportunity that was opened to me is the Zero Net Carbon (ZNC) Building Zoning Initiative of Boston Planning Development Agency (BPDA), where I will start joining in January 2022. The project is not only about technical aspects of the ZNC building, but also about translating these requirements to proper housing/ zoning policy for the city of Boston to reflect reality. Stakeholder and public engagement also play an important role.

Both exciting opportunities will require a high level of competence and expertise that go beyond my engineering background. Therefore, all reflective learning and practical opportunities here at DUSP resonate and inspire me to widen and deepen my understandings, to offer more rational and conscious contributions to any work that I will carry out. It’s fascinating that MIT DUSP is the place where I can attend courses and have real-world practice at the same time. Inter-department, city-academic institution collaborations are happening right here. DUSP has allowed me to access the extraordinarily excellent network which will enrich me with insights and opportunities at the most related level.

At DUSP, I have been studying thoroughly MCP curriculum, the set of required courses will prepare me with sufficient fundamentals to thrive. Furthermore, thanks to SPURS experience, I started being familiar with navigating MIT settings to tailor tremendous resources to me and serve my interests. With MCP, pursuing urban planning education is an essential goal, more importantly, however, I avidly seek active engagement in identifying issues and improving urban economics and communities toward sustainable goals.

I firmly believe that DUSP will direct me to focus on highly practical and important problems within the area of my interest. The uniqueness of DUSP that I have never found elsewhere (or at least in places that I had experienced) is that DUSP addresses many crucial issues about racial justice and economic inequality, history, post-colonialism (that often be overlooked), and in a variety of regions, right here in America as well as in the Global South. I am inescapably encouraged to apply to MCP to extend and make the most out of this enlightening journey of enhanced collective learning. Additionally, I look forward to learning from the cohort and in turn, adding my combination of experience and training to the diversity of the MCP program.

I first arrived at MIT as a SPURS fellow without any plan of getting another master’s degree, and like everyone else, I was excitedly amazed by the remarkable amount of resources at MIT. Being here in the immense intellectual candy store, to me, it’s no longer only about a degree or certificate, it’s about my desire, fascination, and ambition, which have been simmering and marinating and now boiling up inside of me to explore, learn, engage, and thrive. Being well-equipped by DUSP, I envision myself striving to be an impeccably educated practitioner, a more thoughtful engineer, a more rational, conscious, and competent planner, a more sharpened and effective contributor, and a better self.