I was recently invited to RMIT to critique students work by lecturers Craig Douglas and Greg Afflick, who are part of OUTR (Office of Urban Transformation Research), a research laboratory within the School of Architecture & Design at RMIT. It’s a compelling model which effectively brings industry into the educational environment, and offers access to real projects for students. In critiquing the students’ work (the reinvention of the Rio de Janeiro waterfront, a subject of mutual interest to Craig, Greg and I after our visit to Rio late last year), I was struck by their sophisticated enquiry and their prototyping of analytical ideas. Under the solid guidance of experienced tutors and practitioners acting as mentors, with reminders to avoid being seduced by the modeling process in isolation and staying focused on ‘the story’, the depth of imagination these students exhibited augers well for the profession.