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This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.

We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.

Graduate

  • Ocean and Climate

    Problem set focused on paleoclimate from the course Climate Physics and Chemistry.

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  • Final Research Paper

    Students are also responsible for a 20 page research paper exploring an environmental issue in which they are interested and which will be due in the final class. 

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  • Historiographical Essay

    For the historiographical essay, you may select your own topic (and within that a framing question) from among those considered in the course. Students should also develop a useful bibliography on the topic. The expectation is that you will encompass a major literature while demonstrating the ability to think critically about the theories and methods engaged by other historians to answer the question you have posed. You should organize the paper around this question, giving careful consideration to why different historians sometimes answer important questions in such different ways.

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  • Book Review Assignments

    The first two writing assignments for this course are to select two of the books we are reading in class and complete a 3–4 page review of them. If there is another book you wish to review, this is fine as long as you seek permission in advance. Such a review should accomplish three things:

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  • Weekly Responses

    Each week students will write a very brief (at most 2 paragraphs but could be just bullet points) response to the readings. These might offer comparisons between readings, a summary of the main arguments as you understand them, a series of questions the reading left you with, or if warranted the occasional rant about a particular reading.

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  • Environmental Ethics

    Traditionally economists have argued that humans are utility maximizers, although some behavioral economists and social psychologists have recently raised questions about this. With this in mind, please write a paper addressing the following questions.

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  • National Environmental Policy-making

    Given what you have read in Unit 1 and what we have discussed in class, provide the simplest model you can of national environmental policy-making for any country you choose. 

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  • Pre-Travel Tutorial

    Students are expected to commit 5+ hours a week during November and December in a guided self-study on Malaysian culture, history, politics, geography, planning and economics. Students write three short response papers based on the assigned readings and are encouraged to integrate any additional readings on Malaysia beyond what is assigned. Students are also required to write a short topical literature review on a theme of their choice that is specific to a Malaysian city of focus

    Read more: Pre-Travel Tutorial

  • Urban Plans (Assignment 2)

    The purpose of this exercise is to explore the nature of plans and their impact on the form and function of cities. We are interested in the motivations for creating plans, the processes by which they are prepared, the languages of urban design which underlay them, and the long-term effects of plans — or lack thereof — on the city. Having considered these issues, you are asked to answer the question: What makes a good plan?

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  • Urban Change (Assignment 1)

    This assignment addresses the underlying urban dynamics that are causing a city to change. It also seeks to develop or sharpen your skills of observation, encouraging you to make inferences from the evidence of the physical environment and to test these through interviews and research.

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Notice something that doesn’t seem right? Want to make a suggestion or provide feedback about how something is classified? 
Please reach out to esi [at] mit.edu and include SCALES Website in the subject of your email.
Feedback and any actions taken with regards to the feedback, will be shared as they are addressed.