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Outside Resource: podcast episode “How Urban Planning Works” (30:18 min)

Website description: “In this episode, Josh and Chuck discuss the origins, philosophies and practices of urban planning.”

Part of the podcast series “Stuff You Should Know” hosts Josh and Chuck explain in this episode how urban planning “works.” I chose this episode because this past week’s discussion focused on Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, planner and anti-planner, and the history of urban planning provided in this podcast puts both figures into a broader historical context.

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one urbanist you should know & links about redlining

Pete Saunders

Forbes | blog | @petesaunders3

Pete Saunders writes for Forbes in addition to running his own blog and working as an urban planner. While much of his work focuses on the Rust Belt, by writing about race and gentrification, he inevitably addresses issues of redlining. As an introduction to his work, here are some links to pieces at Saunders’ blog as well as one of his columns for Forbes:

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Atlantic | @tanehisicoates

MacArthur Genius Fellow, writer for The Atlantic and currently one of the most important public intellectuals, Coates’ book Between the World and Me won a National Book Award for nonfiction. In my opinion, his article “The Case for Reparations” serves as one of the best introductions to an intersectional approach to urban policy and U.S. history.

General

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Email from Prof. Alonso: updated schedule for Feb. 16, 23, and March 2

This week we will discuss last week’s assigned readings on Robert Moses. I will also get you set up in your research teams so you can begin to work on the project.

For Thursday’s class, please review the assigned readings on “The Corporate City” that focus on Robert Moses and which were assigned for last Thursday. Please also think about the following five questions:

  1. How did Title I, a program designed to benefit low-income people, come to benefit middle-class whites? What does this example teach you about the complexities of policy making?
  2. What do you think of the public-private partnerships that Moses came to rely on?
  3. What do you make of the discussion of Moses and race in the readings?
  4. What was Moses’s vision of the city? What do you think of this vision? Why?
  5. According to Moses, who should have the power to shape the city? Do you agree or disagree with him? Why?

On Feb. 23 we will discuss the readings on “The Urban Village” that were originally assigned for Feb. 16th. Groups A, B, and C will submit a 3-page critical review of the readings we will discuss this week and next week.

On March 2, we will discuss the readings on “The Neoliberal City” that were originally assigned for Feb. 23rd. Groups D and E will submit a 3-page critical review of the assigned readings.

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“The city planners are ravaging our cities!”: An intro to Jane Jacobs

The header image for our site is a reproduction of an advertisement for Jacobs’ book that was published in The New York Times in 1961:

1961 ad for Jane Jacobs’ book that ran in The New York Times

This post discusses the image used for the eportfolio header and also serves as an intro to your reading for February 16, Jane Jacobs’ book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Parts of this post are modified excerpts of a paper that I wrote for a graduate seminar titled “Mid-Century Narratives,” and I’m super excited to get to share some of my research. This post first addresses the advertisement’s line, “The city planners are ravaging our cities” followed by a comparison between the ideas of Jane Jacobs and her former mentor, then-architectural critic for the New Yorker, Lewis Mumford.

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New paged added to “Resources” section

Check out this new page created to help students with their critical review papers: Critical review papers: some tips & strategies.

I’d be happy to meet with students during office hours to review the tips and strategies on this page or, if you’re interested in similar types of resources, work with you to find the right resources and guides for you.

You can find the schedule with the critical review deadlines & download the syllabus from the menu bar item “Schedule & Readings.”