Metropolis to Megalopolis Syllabus Fall 2017 Student Copy PDF

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From Metropolis to Megalopolis: An Introduction to Urban Theory Fall 2017 ANTH 249 Mon & Wed 10:50am-12:10pm Contact Info Daniella Gandolfo Department of Anthropology 281 High Street, room 24 [email protected] Office hours: Monday 1:30-3:30PM (please sign up through calendly.com/dmgandolfo) Course Description What is the urban experience today? Are the old European metropolises, the global cities of New York or Tokyo, and the new megacities of the Global South commensurate entities? What are the theoretical and methodological challenges we face in thinking about “the urban” today given the vastly different histories, trajectories, and physical and social realities of cities around the world? This course is an introductory and interdisciplinary survey of urban theory. We will critically examine “the city” as a transhistorical category of analysis and focus on issues of anthropological concern regarding the experience and epistemology of urbanization and urban life. No prior background in urban studies is expected but an interest in theory is a must. Readings All readings are in a course pack to be purchased through your portfolio. Students must complete the readings by the date noted on the syllabus. Please bring your course pack to every class. Participation I expect all students to come to class prepared to ask questions and participate in the discussion. A separate guideline will be provided with specific instructions on how to prepare for class. Written Assignments & Midterm Students will work throughout the second half of the semester on a research project and will turn in a prospectus, an annotated bibliography, and a term paper. Separate guidelines will be provided for each research and writing assignment. There will also be a written, in-class, open-book midterm exam. Grading Participation & attendance Open book midterm Final project prospectus Final project annotated bibliography !

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Electronic device policy Electronic devices—including laptops, smartphones, and tablets—may not be used during class time. Students with disabilities policy It is the policy of Wesleyan University to provide reasonable accommodations to students with documented disabilities. Students, however, are responsible for registering with Disabilities Services, in addition to making requests known to me in a timely manner. If you require accommodations in this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible (during the 2nd or 3rd week of the semester), so that appropriate arrangements can be made. The procedures for registering with Disabilities Services can be found at www.wesleyan.edu/deans/disability-students.html. Weekly Syllabus: Please check my Moodle updates for every class 9/4 Introduction No readings due. Introduction to the questions and problems to consider this semester. 9/6 Urban Ecology Burgess, Ernest W., and Robert E. Park. “The City,” “The growth of the city,” “The Ecological Approach to the Study of the Human Community.” 9/11 and 9/13 “The City”: A Transhistorical Entity? Mumford, Lewis. “What is a City?” and “The Culture of Cities.” Lynch, Kevin. “The Image of the Environment” and “The City Image and Its Elements.” 9/18 and 9/20 A New Urban Experience: The Metropolis Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels, excerpts from “The Communist Manifesto.” Simmel, Georg, “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Benjamin, Walter. “Paris: Capital of the Nineteenth Century.” Wirth, Louis. “Urbanism as a Way of Life.” Lefebvre, Henri. “From the City to Urban Society.” 9/25 and 10/2 Modernity, Modernism, and the City (Please Note: 9/27 NO CLASS) LeCorbusier. “A Contemporary City” and “New York is not a Completed City.” James Holston, Selections from The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia. Baudelaire, Charles. Selections from Paris Spleen. Jacobs, Jane. “The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety.” Berman, Marshall. Selections from All That is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity.

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10/4 Ghettos, Slums, and Crowds Engels, Friedrich. “The Great Towns.” In The Condition of the Working Class in England. Poe, Edgar Allan. “Man of the Crowd.” Sennett, Richard. “Community Becomes Uncivilized.” Gans, Herbert. Selection from Urban Villagers. 10/9 and 10/11 Walking the City Debord, Guy. “Theory of the Dérive.” De Certeau, Michel. “Walking in the City.” Tonkiss, Fran. “Embodied Spaces: Gender, Sexuality and the City.” 10/16 and 10/18 Midterm Review & Exam * 10/23 FALL BREAK * 10/25, 10/30, and 11/1 Post-Marxism and the Production of (Urban) Space Lefebvre, Henri. Selections from The Production of Space. Harvey, David. “The Urbanization of Capital” and “Flexible Accumulation through Urbanization.” Smith, Neil. Selection from Uneven Development: Nature, Capital and the Production of Space. Prospectus due on Friday 10/27 via link on Moodle 11/6 and 11/8 Postmetropolis Mumford, Lewis. “Megalopolis as Anti-City.” Fishman, Robert. 2005. “The Fifth Migration.” Gottmann, Jean. “How large can cities grow?” Fishman, Robert. “Megalopolis Unbound.” In Metropolis: Center and Symbol of our Times. New York: NYU Press, 1995, 395-417. Soja, Edward. “Regional urbanization and the end of the metropolis era.” Hayden, Dolores. Selection from Building Suburbia. 11/13 and 11/15 Mega-Cities and the Planet of Slums Davis, Mike. “Planet of Slums.” Riofrio, Gustavo. “Lima: Megacity, Megaproblem.” Holston, James. “Spaces of Insurgent Citizenship.” Harvey, David. “Reclaiming the City.” Roy, Ananya. “Why India Cannot Plan its Cities: Informality, Insurgence, and the Idiom of Urbanization.” Bayat, Asef. “The Un-Civil Society.” Annotated bibliography due on Friday 11/17 via link on Moodle

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11/20 Space, Place, and Non-Place Cresswell, Tim. Selections from Place: An Introduction. Augé, Marc. Non-Place. An Introduction to Supermodernity. New York and London: Verso, 1995. Low, Setha. “The Erosion of Public Space and the Public Realm.” Weintraub, Jeff. “Varieties and Vicissitudes of Public Space.” * 11/22 THANKSGIVING BREAK * 11/29 and 11/27 Global Cities Friedmann, John. “The World City Hypothesis.” Sassen, Saskia. “The Global City: Introducing a Concept.” 12/4 and 12/6 Planetary Urbanism Brenner, Neil and Christian Schmid. “Theses on Urbanization” and “Planetary urbanization.” Farías, Ignacio. “Introduction: Decentering the Object of Urban Studies” and “The Politics of Urban Assemblages.” Final paper due on Monday, December 18th in the Anthropology Department

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