The Age of the City: The Age of the City, 1825-1933

4 credits · Undergraduate

For most of human history, urban living has been the experience of a distinct minority. Only in the past two hundred years have the physicial spaces, social relations, and lifestyles associated with large cities entered the mainstream. This course examines the long century of urban growth between 1825 and 1933, when big cities came into being in the United States. Focusing on large metropolitian centers (especially on New York, Chicago, and San Francisco), we will study the way urban spaces provided sites and sources of new modes of personal interaction, popular entertainment, social conflict, and political expression.