The University of Western Ontario
Department of Geography

*SAMPLE OUTLINE*
Geography 322F/G
URBAN CULTURE

Instructor: Dr Jeff Hopkins
Telephone: 679-2111 Ext. 5027
Office Hours:  TBA
Office: Room # 2423 S.S.C. 

Lecture: Two Hours
Lab: Two Hours

INTRODUCTION
            We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.
                                                                                                (Winston Churchill)

At the human scale of the everyday, lived world is there any human creation more complex than the urban environment? Cites are a seemingly eclectic mixture of coffee shops and public parks, skyscrapers and shopping malls, automobiles and private houses, pedestrians and cyclists, hospitals, parents, children, senior citizens, various ethnic identities and so on. What sense can we make of a setting as diverse and seemingly chaotic as the people who are its occupants? Does chaos rule the urban environs, or are there patterns and structures to its built forms and the behaviour of its inhabitants? How might we systematically study the city and city-dwellers? Using the everyday, accessible evidence that surrounds us here in London, Ontario--as well as a variety of readings, lectures, discussions and videos--we will attempt to answer these and other questions about the human-urban environment relationship. In this course we examine 'urban culture' and the processes that create, recreate, challenge and modify its constitution at the scale of the everyday, lived world.

Urban culture may be loosely defined--and quite arguably so--as the ongoing outcome of our organized activities that create a built environment high in material and human densities, diversities and complexities. On a global scale, the urban setting has become the most important kind of human habitat; at least half of the world's population are urbanites. On a human scale, it is the environment most of us, certainly all of us in this course, experience everyday as we go about living our lives. Where we live effects how we live and who we are. The urban environment helps to shape our beliefs, attitudes and values: it both constrains and enables us. We, in turn, shape the urban environment. This ongoing dynamic--one that commences with individual actions at the local level--is the process that sustains, modifies and challenges that aspect of the human-urban environment relationship we conceptualize as 'urban culture'.

OBJECTIVES
This course has three primary objectives: 1) to explain and critique urban culture theoretically, conceptually and experientially 2) by way of systematically observing, recording, evaluating and writing about the built environment and human behaviour toward 3) understanding the ways the built environment effects behavior, how behaviour effects the environment we build, and how we might improve our urban environs. The material covered is intended to increase your knowledge of the human-urban environment relationship, challenge your existing views about urban life, and encourage you to develop your own thoughts about urban culture. The field work (lab assignments) will introduce you to and develop your participate-observation skills, and promote your abilities to synthesize concepts and theory with real-world observations and personal experiences. The class discussions and written assignments in this essay-designated course will exercise, strengthen and test your critical thinking and communicative skills. The final examination will test your comprehension of the lectures, assigned reading materials and lab assignments, and provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think critically and independently.

By the end of this course, you should be able to better observe and critique the human-urban environment relationship, and express your opinions and positions concerning the city in a more knowledgeable and articulate fashion.

COURSE CONTENT
The following is a brief, general outline of the topics that will, more or less, be addressed in the course. Several videos and numerous slides will enrich these classes. Lectures will be drawn from the text book, assigned readings and a variety of other sources. You must attend all of the lectures, do the labs and assigned readings, and follow--if not actively participate in--the class discussions in order to successfully complete the essays, the final exam and, consequently, the course.

LECTURE TOPICS (Sample)
1. What is Urban Culture?
2. Reading Urban Landscapes: Searching for Clues & Questions
3. Public Parks as Epitome Districts
4. Public Streets and Pedestrian Space
5. Auto Strips and Fronts of Decay and Growth
6. Beats: Urban Pace, Pulse and Rhythms
7. Social and Physical Stacks and Sinks
8. Turfs and Territoriality
9. A Hardening of Public Places?
10. Indoor and Underground Cities
11. Fantasy, Placelessness and Elsewhereness
12. Divided Highways: The Rise of Automobile Culture
13. Urban Culture? A Review, A Synthesis, A Beginning ...

FIELD LAB ASSIGNMENTS
Considerable emphasis in this course is placed upon improving your methodological and participant-observation skills. The labs are a crucial component: they are not optional. With the major exception of sharing your fieldwork observations and experiences with others in class, most of the time spent on these exercises will be conducted at your leisure in various locations about London, Ontario (e.g., Victoria Park, city streets, a shopping mall). In other words, although I reserve the right to meet with you during the formally scheduled lab time on Wednesday afternoons, you will most likely, but not necessarily always, use this two-hour block of time, and the time one could expect to devote writing up a lab, conducting the exercises with your field partner and completing the assignments on your own time at your own convenience. The data you collect and the conclusions you draw will provide the basis of our class discussions, and assist you with your essays and the final examination.

You are required to select a permanent field research partner with whom you will conduct the field labs; you are each responsible for taking your own field notes and completing your own labs. I strongly recommend that you record your observations in one self-contained notebook or binder. Do read the assigned material on field notes and participant-observation.

FIELD LAB SCHEDULE

1. A Culture of U.C.C. Plaza
2. Victoria Park: An 'Epitome' District?
3. Critiquing Un/Successful Sidewalks
4. Strips of London
5. Beats: Personal and Collective
6. Stacks and Sinks
7. Turfing and Spatial Identities
8. Cracking a Hardened Public Place
9. Sites of Placelessness & Elsewhereness

EVALUATION

Since this is an upper-level undergraduate course with an essay designation, emphasis is placed upon independent work: field research, peer discussion, reading, synthesizing of information, and writing. Your evaluation is based primarily on your ability to fulfill the three primary objectives of the course as evidenced in the assignments, exercises and final exam. Your final standing in the course is based upon two essay assignments and one final examination. Each essay will be 1,500-2,000 words/6-8-typed pages. Topics, requirements and means of evaluation will be outlined when assigned. Although the precise format of the final, three-hour examination will be explained well in advance of its sitting, it may include all or some of the following formats: essay questions, short answer, multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank.

GRADES
How do I grade? I regard the mark of 'C' (60%-69%) indicative of average work, both competent and acceptable. You have completed all of the assignments and readings and demonstrated a general understanding of the course material as evidenced in the essays, labs and final exam. A grade of 'B' (70%-79%) reflects evidence of an above average effort and performance. Not only have you fulfilled the assignments in a more meticulous fashion, you have demonstrated a more thorough understanding of the material and gone a few extra steps beyond the average student as evidenced on the test and in your written work. As Honours Geography students, please be aware that work warranting the minimum of a low 'B' (70%) is expected as a minimum level of performance. An 'A' (80%-89%) is reserved for outstanding effort and achievement. Exceptional diligence, a thorough knowledge of the course material, and the ability to apply and convey concepts in an effective, logical and literate fashion are clearly evident. Hard labour and exceptional effort are necessary but not, by themselves, sufficient to warrant an 'A.' An 'A+' (90%+) is extremely rare. An exceptionally outstanding performance on the examination, and essays demonstrating a superb command of English and a critical mind capable of synthesizing complex facts and ideas to arrive at particularly astute conclusions, will earn this prestigious grade.

TEXT AND ADDITIONAL READINGS
Clay, Grady (1980) Close Up: How to Read the American City. Chicago:
    University of Chicago. (Approximately $25.00)

You are required to read the above text book; it is very reader friendly. There is one copy placed in the Heavy Reserve section of D.B. Weldon Library and copies are available for purchase in the bookstore. This text book has been used in previous years, so you might be able to buy a used copy. You are also responsible for the mandatory readings listed below and are strongly encouraged to read the optional works as your time and interest permit: the former are in the Heavy Reserve section of the D.B. Weldon Library; the latter are not: you must locate these on your own.. These weekly readings--roughly 40 pages of text per week--will help you significantly with the class discussions, essay assignments and the final examination. The reading schedule is as follows:

Lecture # 1: What is Urban Culture?
Zukin, Sharon (1995) 'Whose Culture? Whose City?' In The Cultures of Cities, pp.
    1-48. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Mumford, Lewis (1986) 'What Is A City?' In The Lewis Mumford Reader, D.L.
    Miller (ed), pp. 104-107. New York: Pantheon Books.

Optional:
Agnew, J., Mercer, J. and David Sopher (1984) 'Introduction.' In The City
    in Cultural Context, J. Agnew, J. Mercer, and David Sopher (eds.), pp. 1-21.
    Boston: Allen & Unwin.
Wirth, L. (1938) 'Urbanism as a way of life.' American Journal of Sociology
    (44), 1-24.

Lecture # 2:Reading Urban Landscapes: Searching for Clues & Questions
Text book, 'Introduction', pages 11-37
Northey, M. and D.B. Knight (1992) 'Chapter 10: Writing Field Notes.' In Making
    Sense in Geography and the Environmental Sciences, pp. 94-103. Toronto:
    Oxford Univ. (Weldon Library Reference Section G73.N67 1992)
Whyte, William Foote (1984) 'Participant Observation, Rationale and Roles' and
    'Observational Methods.' In Learning From the Field: A Guide From
    Experience, pp. 23-33 and 83-96. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Optional:
Ford, Larry R. (1992) 'Reading the Skylines of American Cities.' Geographical
    Review 82 (2),180-200.
Jackson, Peter (1983) 'Principles and Problems of Participant Observation.'
    Geografiska Annaler 65 (1), 39-46.

Lecture # 3: Public Parks as Epitome Districts
Text book, 'Epitome Districts', pages 38 - 65
Armstrong, Frederick (1986) The Forest City: An Illustrated History of London,
    Ontario, pp. 57-61, 128, 170, 240. Northridge, California: Windsor
    Publications.
Jacobs, J. (1961) 'Chapter 5: The Uses of Neighbourhood Parks'. In The Death
    and Life of Great American Cities, pp. 89-111. New York: Vintage Books.

Optional:
Swerdlow, J.L. (1993) 'Central Park.' National Geographic 183 (5), 2-35.
Whyte, William H. (1989) 'Small Space Is Beautiful: Design as if People
    Mattered.' Annual Editions: Urban Society, 4th Edition, J.M. Elliot (ed.),
    pp.149-159. Guilford: Dushkin.

Lecture # 4: Public Streets and Pedestrian Spaces
Jacobs, J. (1961) 'Chapters 2, 3, 4: The Uses of Our Sidewalks'. In The Death
    and Life of Great American Cities, pp. 29-88. New York: Vintage Books. Rapoport, Amos (1991) 'Pedestrian Street Use: Culture and Perception'. In Public
    Streets for Public Use, Anne Vernez Moudon (ed.), pp. 80-92. New York:
    Columbia University.

Optional:
Gubbay, A. (1989) 'The Fine Art of Enhancing Public Places.' In Grassroots,
    Greystones & Glass Towers, B. Demchinsky (ed.), pp. 93-105. Montreal: Vehicule Press.
Bosselmann, P. (1986) 'Redesigning American Residential Streets.' Built
    Environment 12 (1-2), 98-106.

Lecture # 5: Auto Strips and Fronts of Decay and Growth
Text book, 'Fronts, Strips', pages 66-109.
MacDonald, Kent (1985) 'The Commercial Strip.' Landscape 28(2), 12-19. Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D., and S. Izenour (1977) Learning From Las Vegas, pp.
    19-39. Cambridge: MIT.

Optional:
Day, Christopher (1990) 'Chapter 7: Space for Living In.' In Places of the Soul, pp.
    71-94. San Francisco: Aquarian.
Riccio, R. (1992) 'Strolling the Strip: Prostitution in a North American City.' In
    Geographical Snapshots, D. Janelle (ed.), pp. 114-116. New York: Guildford.

Lecture # 6: Beats: Urban Pace, Pulse and Rhythms
Text book, 'Beats', pages 110-126.
Levine, R.V. (1990) 'The Pace of Life.' American Scientist 78, 450-59.
Lynch, K. (1972) 'Chapter 4: Alive.' In What Time Is This Place, pp. 65-89.
    Cambridge: MIT Press.

Optional:
Whyte, William H. (1988) 'Chapter 4: The Skilled Pedestrian.' In City:
    Rediscovering the Center, pp. 56-67. Toronto: Doubleday.
Janelle, D. (1993) 'Urban Social Geography in Time and Space.' In The Changing
    Social Geography of Canadian Cities, L.S. Bourne and D.F. Ley (eds.), pp.
    103-118. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University.

Lecture # 7: Social and Physical Stacks and Sinks
Text book, 'Stacks, Sinks', pages 127-152.
Code, W. (1992) 'The Skyscraper: America's Building.' In Geographical
    Snapshots, D. Janelle (ed.), pp. 317-321. New York: Guildford.
Wolch, J.R. (1992) 'Skidrow, USA: Place and Community.' In Geographical
    Snapshots, D. Janelle (ed.), pp. 108-113. New York: Guildford.

Optional:
Cutter, S. (1992) 'Technological Failures and Toxic Monuments.' In Geographical
    Snapshots, D. Janelle (ed.), pp. 117-121. New York: Guildford.
Olson, S.H. and A. Kobayashi (1993) 'The Emerging Ethnic Mosaic.' In The
    Changing Social Geography of Canadian Cities, L.S. Bourne and D.F. Ley
    (eds.), pp. 138-152. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University.

Lecture # 8: Turfs and Territoriality
Text book, 'Turfs', pages 153-175.
Fyfe, Nicholas R. (1996) 'City Watching: Closed Circuit Television Surveillance in
    Public Spaces.' Area (28) 1, 37-46.
Staeheli, Lynn A., and Albert Thompson (1997) 'Citizenship, Community, and
    Struggles for Public Space.' The Professional Geographer (49) 1, 28-38.

Optional:
Brower, S.N. (1976) 'Territory In Urban Settings.' In Human Behaviour and
    Environment Vol. 4, I. Altman and J.F. Wohlwill (eds.), pp. 179-207. New York:
    Plenum.
Mitchell, Don (1995) 'The End of Public Space? People's Park, Definitions of the
    Public and Democracy.' Annals of The Association of American Geographers
    85 (1), 108-133.

Lecture # 9: A Hardening of Public Places?
Text book, 'Vantages', pages 176-181.
Davis, M. (1992) 'Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space.' In
    Variations On a Theme Park, M. Sorkin (ed.), pp. 154-180. New York:
    Noonday.

Optional:
Whyte, William H. (1988). 'Chapter 10: The Undesirables.' In City: Rediscovering
    the Center, pp. 156-164. Toronto: Doubleday.

Lecture # 10: Indoor and Underground Cities
Day, Christopher (1993) 'Chapter 1: Architecture: Does It Matter?' In Places of the
    Soul, pp. 7-12. San Francisco: Aquarian.
Goss, Jon (1988) 'The Built Environment and Social Theory: Towards An
    Architectural Geography.' The Professional Geographer (40) 4, 392-403. Maitland, Barry (1992) 'Hidden Cities: The Irresistible Rise of the North American
    Interior City.' Cities (9) 3, 162-169.

Optional:
Hopkins, Jeffrey (1996) 'Excavating Toronto's Underground Streets: In Search of
    Equitable Rights, Rules, and Revenue.' In City Lives & City Forms, pp. 63-81.
    Toronto: University of Toronto.

Lecture # 11: Fantasy, Placelessness and Elsewhereness
Hopkins, J. (1990) 'West Edmonton Mall: Landscape of Myths and
    Elsewhereness.' The Canadian Geographer 34 (1), 2-17.
Zukin, Sharon (1995) 'Learning From Disney World'. In The Cultures of Cities, pp.
     49-77. Cambridge: Blackwell.

Optional:
Relph, Edward (1976). Place and Placelessness. London: Pion.
Rubin, Barbara (1979) 'Aesthetic Ideology and Urban Design.' Annals of The
    Association of American Geographers (69) 3, 339-361.

Lecture # 12: Divided Highways: The Rise of Automobile Culture
Jackle, John A. (1990) 'Landscapes Redesigned for the Automobile.' In The
    Making of the American Landscape, Michael P. Conzen (ed.), pp. 293-310.
    Boston: Unwin Hyman.
Garreau, Joel (1991) 'Introduction: Pioneers, Frontiers, and the Twenty-first
    Centure' and 'The Search for the Future Inside Ourselves.' In Edge City, pp.
    xix-15. Toronto: Doubleday.

Optional:
Garreau, Joel (1991) 'Detroit: The Automobile, Individualism, and Time.' In Edge
    City, pp. 99-138. Toronto: Doubleday.

Lecture # 13: Urban Culture? A Review, A Synthesis, A Beginning ...
Carr, S., Francis, M., Rivlin, L., and A. Stone (1992) 'Chapter 9: The Future of
    Public Space.' In Public Space, pp. 343-368. New York: Cambridge University. Oldenburg, Ray (1991) 'Chapter 14: Toward Better Times...And Places.' In The
    Great Good Place, pp. 284-296. New York: Paragon House.

Optional:
Day, Christopher (1993) 'Chapter 13: Building For Tomorrow'. In Places of the
    Soul, pp. 180-188.. San Francisco: Aquarian.
Zukin, Sharon (1995) 'The Mystique of Public Culture'. In The Cultures of Cities,
    pp. 259-294. Cambridge: Blackwell.

APPEALS, DROPS, EXEMPTIONS, EXTENSIONS, LATE PENALTIES, PLAGIARISM
You are advised to read the course calender to familiarize yourself with the university's regulations and procedures concerning appeals ('relief'), plagiarism and penalties. Should you feel your final grade in the course is biased, inaccurate or unfair, you do have the right to appeal your mark. Be aware that marks may be raised--as well as lowered--through an appeal process. Please refer to the Western Calendar prior to doing so. In an attempt to avoid such time-consuming and stressful procedures, I assure you I reflect carefully on each and every piece of work I grade. I stand by the marks I assign. Plagiarism in all its forms is, of course, unacceptable and those who tempt fate will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed under the university's regulations: do your own work. If you should desire to drop the course you must follow the procedure established by the Dean's office and complete the appropriate forms. Please note that any requests for extensions on essay deadlines must be made in writing to Dr. Hopkins at least seven days before the essay is due. Both essay assignments are due at the beginning of the scheduled class. Late essays will be penalized 10% per day; those over three days late will not count (i.e. they will be graded for your benefit but the mark will be recorded as zero). Never slip late assignments under my door. Requests to have an essay re-evaluated must be submitted in writing to me, Dr Hopkins, within one week of receiving the graded assignment. In this written request for re-appraisal the specifics of what you would like re-visited and the justification for doing so will be clearly and concisely presented. Please seek assistance and adjustments as early as possible.

MUTUAL EXPECTATIONS
You can expect me to come prepared for, and attend, all lectures regularly and punctually. I will strive to promote a collegial atmosphere of mutual respect conducive to the exchange of ideas and learning. I demand the same from you. Reading during a lecture, the disturbing consumption of food or drink, littering the classroom, the use of walkmans, radios and other activities which may impede the ability of you or other students to learn are unacceptable behaviours. If we all abide by this code of civility and mutual respect, we set the stage for a mature, safe and stimulating intellectual forum.

Finally, if you have problems or questions with any aspect of the course, please speak to me during my office hours. I am approachable !

PLEASE NOTE
Course content and order of presentations may deviate from this
general outline due to unforeseen circumstances