Required Reading
Required readings are on reserve in the Rotch Library or are available electronically on Stellar. Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier is available for purchase at the MIT Coop.
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I. Reading the City Required Reading: Grady Clay, Close-Up: How to Read the American City, pp. 11-16 and 38-65 (Chicago, 1980). |
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| February 6 |
How Can Cities Be Read and Why |
| February 11 | The Once and Future City: Processes That Shape |
| February 13 | Reading and Writing the City: The Case of Philadelphia |
| February 19 | Project Assignment #1 Due in Class: Select a Site |
| February 19 [Tuesday] | Perspectives on Boston Sites |
| February 22 | Assignment #1 Due Online |
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II. City and Nature: Natural Processes as Agents of Change Required Reading: Anne Whiston Spirn, The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design (Basic Books, 1984); James Elkins, How to Use Your Eyes (Routledge, 2000): "Preface," "How to Look at a Culvert," "How to Look at Pavement," "How to Look at a Twig"; Alex Krieger, ed., Mapping Boston. |
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| February 20 |
Boston, A Natural Environment Transformed |
| February 25 | Field Trip: Introduction to Fieldwork |
| February 27 | Discussion of Findings |
| March 1 | Project Assignment #2 Due: Your Site and Natural Processes |
| March 4 | Boston Sites: What Patterns Emerged? |
III. City and Society: Social Processes as Agents of Change Required Reading: Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (Oxford, 1985); Sam Bass Warner, in Mapping Boston, edited by Alex Krieger. |
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| March 6 | Change Over Time: Discovering and Explaining Patterns |
| March 11 | Workshop: Observing Change |
| March 13 | Workshop: Analyzing Change |
| March 18 | Workshop: Analyzing Change |
| March 20 | Workshop: Describing Change |
| March 23-31 | SPRING VACATION |
| April 1 | Workshop: Explaining Change |
| April 3 | Boston in Historical Context |
| April 5 | Project Assignment #3 Due: Your Site Through Time |
| April 8 | Boston Sites: What Patterns Emerged? |
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IV. Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Envisioning and Shaping Future Cities Required Reading: Dolores Hayden, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History (MIT Press, 1995) pp. 14-43 and 226-238; Spirn, "The Yellowwood and the Forgotten Creek" and The West Philadelphia Landscape Project website. |
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| April 10 |
Field Trip: Discovering and Photographing Artifacts, Traces, and Trends |
| April 15 | PATRIOTS DAY HOLIDAY |
| April 17 | Discussion of Findings |
| April 19 | Project Assignment #4 Due: Artifacts, Layers, Traces, and Trends |
| April 22 | Boston Sites: What Patterns Emerged? |
| April 24 |
West Philadelphia Landscape Project |
| V. Boston Sites: How Have They Evolved, Where Are They Headed Required Reading: 2011 Boston Sites; Jane Jacobs, "The Kind of Problem a City Is," in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, pp. 428-448. |
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| April 29 | Presentation and Discussion of Sites |
| May 1 | Presentation and Discussion of Sites |
| May 6 | Presentation and Discussion of Sites |
| May 8 | Presentation and Discussion of Sites |
| May 13 | What Patterns Emerged? |
| May 15 | |