Collaborative thesis writing

Lots of cool stuff coming out of CoLab at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning - including a collaborative thesis group, working to create a thesis document that doesn’t just end up on the shelf:

The group aims to take the concept of a masters thesis, a document that requires a great deal of time to prepare but is often relegated to a university library shelf, and elevate it to a dynamic product that can be useful to the cities it examines.  Each thesis writer will make a technical assistance document and media piece to supplement her research.  These additional products are designed to reach practitioners and community members.

The cities they cover between them are: Oakland, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Lawrence and Lowell, Massachusetts; The Bronx Bronx, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Camden, New Jersey and Boston, Massachusetts.

The ‘technical assistance’ documents sound particularly promising.