Boting Zhang - Resume Supplement Boting Zhang

About Me

I’m most interested in the corners of the real estate industry that intersect with community development and neighborhood-level social structure. I believe that real estate developers are accountable for the block-by-block demographics that contribute to public life, and that more can be done to exercise this power in thoughtful ways. The rest of this page supplements my resume with samples of past work.
[Download Resume]

Writing and Graphic Design

A Power Structure Analysis of Occidental Square, 2011

My graduate thesis used community power structure as a lens for evaluating the role of community process in urban design. I concluded that the popular view of political positions as matters of self-interest did not make sense here. In this case study, landscape architects were not simply defending their profession and developers not simply defending their businesses. Rather, stakes were laid out along an ideological spectrum, ranging from a preference for efficiency to a preference for complexity. Within that paradigm, simplicity wins when the economy is growing, while complexity wins when the economy stagnates. Although some might argue that it should be the other way around, influential power explains why the pendulum swings as it does.
[PDF]

Real Estate

NAIOP Challenge Final Report, 2011

Our team’s development proposal won this annual competition against much larger teams. I played a lead role in the graphic and verbal presentations for judges and for 300+ breakfast guests, and contributed to the market and financial analysis.
[PDF]

Development Coursework, 2010

Excel workbook with development pro forma, sources & uses, and operating model for a joint venture development project. I used macros to help me see the interrelationships between development decisions and financial outcomes. Assignments involved suggesting preferred loan terms, partnership terms, building design, unit mix, and other development decisions.
[XLS] (Needs macros enabled)

Investments Coursework, 2010

Team project evaluating office markets throughout the United States for investment potential in 2010. I led the numerical analysis of market metrics, which included location quotients, changes in educational attainment, and inventory absorption. See the graphical mapping of these results in the final pages of the report. It is worth noting that our predictions (p. 35) proved to correlate well with the recent Grubb & Ellis map of office market momentum in 2011.
[PDF]

Interactive/Presentation

Seattle Public Safety Map, 2012

I used the excellent Tableau Public to visualize crime stats, as an aid toward making more informed design recommendations on the neighborhood Design Review Boards.
[Web]

Thesis Topic Introduction, 2009

This thesis proposal was inspired by another pet issue of mine: the overwhelming lack of post-construction evaluations of development projects to which urban design theories have been applied. I still really like this video, even though I moved on to a more manageable project.
[Flash video] (Requires sound)

Ecological Design Studio, 2008

Produced for a touch-screen kiosk in UW’s Gould Hall to accompany a verbal presentation. This was designed as an imaginary kiosk installed on the Smith Cove site 20 years from now. My design maintained the existing riprap at the shoreline, unplugging just a small section to allow natural processes to take over. Hovering the mouse equates to touching the screen, so your browser will not replicate the experience perfectly.
[Flash]