Of the three topics I proposed, I would like to look more into the development of the Washington Metro system and how it changed the way the city is looked at today. Many facets of rapid transit systems, like their layout and their sheer importance, fascinate me and finding out more about the one close to home would be very interesting. Things like the initial plan of the Metro and the other ideas that were had for a mass transportation into the city would be helpful to look at. The construction of the system would also be interesting to research. A lot of information regarding the Metro system would also deal with its effect of it on the city and surrounding areas. Finding articles and statistics about the impact on things like real estate prices, development of the suburbs, and the change in different neighborhoods inside the District would provide useful to my research. Much of this information would probably be found in online databases, although a few print books could be helpful to look at.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
5 Responses to “Final Project Topic”
Interesting topic! For this project, you will probably need and want to narrow the scope of your inquiry–perhaps by time period; perhaps by a topic such as displacement and eminent domain–there are many possibilities according to what interests you. Your BEST secondary source will be the book by Professor Zachary Schrag, The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro (Creating the North American Landscape) as well as various articles and talks he’s given. You may know that Professor Schrag is in the history department at GMU. Check his website as well!
I think your topic is cool because not a lot of people think about the foundation of the metro system and I think it is pretty interesting how its all connected. I think more focus upon the origins of the metro would be interesting to build upon too. A source that could help you with your overall topic could be one in this link if you haven’t found it already.http://www.hnet.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12155
Okay, so, I think this is an interesting topic, you can definitely find lots of information on it. Another place to get information might be to question why the Metro is so different from the Subway. I don’t know of any exact sources for this, but hey, Wikipedia is always a good start.
As stated, I think your topic is way too broad. Consider limiting it to one or two of the aspects you listed like “layout” or “effect on real estate prices.” Do you think there’s a correlation between the subway layout and the road layout?
Sarah,
It is important for you to keep up with your blog posts. How has your project been coming along? How have you find the Omeka software. For Lee Ann and I to give you important feedback on your project, we need to hear about the steps you are taking to work with it.
– Claire