Your first one I like best. This is an idea that you can limit in a useful way for the short timeframe of this class but potentially expand over time. As you noted, there are a couple of ways to approach this photographically. When you say deadpan, I take that to mean in a direct somewhat formal way in a manner stylistically similar to Atget or Evans. Alternately, this could be a form of photographic typology; Bernd and Hilla Becher are the archetypical photographers in this mold.

Your second and third ideas are good too. Each provides a structure within with to work by limiting the location but leaves plenty of room for exploration of content and form.

I’ll be interested to see what you bring in tomorrow.

Another idea is to shoot the same places (streets, corners, markets) at different times throughout the day, evening, and night. Passage of time, different uses/usage from moment to moment, emphasizing traffic and people.

A third idea is to shoot consecutively from corner to corner, or street to street. Up/down Broadway, Fifth, Madison, Park … or lesser-known streets.