Neighborhood, City, Society: Urban Change in the American Industrial City

3 units

This course will explore the way that cities evolve in the face of changing social, economic, and political conditions. Focusing on the historical development of American industrial cities and regions, the class will examine how theoretical approaches to understanding the role of politics, social conditions, and design interventions in the ways cities change and develop. By focusing on neighborhoods in Saint Louis, the course will explore how local urban development has addressed suburbanization, urban renewal, the loss of industry, decrease in population, and recent process of investment and gentrification. The course will use fieldwork and archive-based case study research to trace the historical and contemporary forces that are shaping particular neighborhoods within Saint Louis in relationship to similar phenomena in other cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and other rust belt cities. The project-based group and individual assignments will help students build research skills in historical archive research, urban statistical data processing, social apping, and case study presentation. Fulfills History/Theory elective requirement. Fulfills Urban Issues elective requirement.