CSULB GEOG301i The Urban Scene
Spring Semester 2005
M19:00 - 21:45 LA4-102 Instructor:
Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov
Web: www.csulb.edu/~dsidorov/geog301_S05.html
Office: LA4-206c, MW1:45–3:00, M18-18:30, or by app. via email dsidorov@csulb.edu (pref.).
phone: 51861 (don’t use)
Text: Macionis, J, Parrillo, V. 2004. Cities
and Urban Life. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 3rd ed.
Description of the course: Prerequisites: ENGL
100 and upper division status. Not open to students with credit in SOC
419. Review and analysis of the changing urban scene: urban lifestyles;
community patterns of land use and design; population trends; conflicts
in the increasingly multicultural setting of the central city; housing and
community development; suburban-central city relationships; human utilization
of urban life spaces; examination of the views of landmark urbanists; and
future trends. Same course as U/ST 401I.
| Date |
Topic/Test |
Readings |
Films |
Useful Links |
| . |
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| |
I. UNDERSTANDING THE CITY
|
|||
| Jan 24 Mon |
Introduction to the course 1. Exploring the City |
1-25 [25] |
The City |
|
| |
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| II. HISTORY OF
CITIES AND NEW TRENDS. |
||||
| Jan 31 Mon |
2. The Origins and Development of Cities |
26-62 [36] |
We Built the City: London |
The Writer's Resource Lab:
www.csulb.edu/~wrl |
| Feb 07 Mon |
3. The Development of N American Cities |
63-106 [43] |
Boston, Chicago [New York?] |
Guidelines to Writing Standards: www.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/writmech.html |
| Feb 14 Mon |
4. Cities and Suburbs of the 21st Century |
107-138 [31] |
Road to the Future (Tyson's Corner/LA);
Understanding Urban Sprawl (LA, Mexico City, Portland) |
|
| Feb 21 Mon |
President's
Day (campus closed) |
|||
| III. DISCIPLINARY
PERSPECTIVES. |
||||
| Feb 28 Mon |
5. Urban Sociology Assignment 1 Due 18:59 |
139-168 [29] |
||
| 6. Social Psychology |
169-197 [28] |
Designing for disaster |
||
| Mar 07 Mon |
7. Geography and Spatial Perspectives |
198-223 [25] |
Los Angeles |
|
| Mar 14 Mon |
Examination
1 StudyGuide |
[223] |
||
| Mar 21, 23 |
Spring Recess,
no classes |
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| Mar 28 Mon |
8. Comparative Urbanism: Culture |
224-253 [29] |
Beijing? |
|
| Apr 04 Mon |
9. The New Urban Sociology: Capitalism |
254-284 [30] |
Aspects of Central Place |
|
| |
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| IV. THE ANATOMY OF THE CITY. |
||||
| Apr 11 Mon |
10. Social Class: Lifestyles |
285-309 [24] |
Chicago |
|
| 11. Race, Ethnicity, and Gender |
310-337 [27] |
|||
| Apr 18 Mon |
12. Housing, Education, Crime |
338-367 [29] |
Housing America; Someone Is
Watching Over Us |
|
| |
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| V. GLOBAL URBANIZATION |
||||
| Apr 25 Mon |
f. Communist Cities Mitchneck (reserve) Assignment 1 Due 18:59 |
223-254 [31] |
Moscow |
|
| May 02 Mon |
13. Cities in the Developing World |
368-410 [42] |
Sao Paulo |
|
| VI. THE PLANNING AND EVALUATION OF CITIES. |
||||
| May 09 Mon |
14. Planning
the Urban Environment |
411-440 [29] |
Brazilia. Le Corbusier, FL Wright |
|
| 16 May Mon |
Examination
2 7:15-9:15 p.m. 
StudyGuide
|
[243] |
||
| |
COURSE REQUIREMENTS To receive a grade for this course you
are required to complete the two examinations and two take-home
writing assignments. In addition, you will receive some credit for
your other activities (attendance and response letters). We don’t have
a comprehensive final test: Test #2 covers only the material of the second
segment of the course (after Test #1). Tests consist of short essay types
of questions and True-False/Multiple Choice questions.
The points on all tests will be distributed as follows
(total 100):
True-False/Multiple Choice/Short Answer on Reading/Lecture
Material 50
Short essays on Reading/Lecture Material
50
ATTENDANCE This is a video-intensive course;
we will watch a number of films. At least for that reason attendance
of all classes is required. Also, exams will cover lecture/textbook material,
therefore it is important for you to attend class and read the text. Furthermore,
the course will be much more interesting if you actively participate in
class. For each attended class 2 points will be added.
READINGS
You are expected to
submit half a page response letters on the readings assigned and
on videos watched in previous class. It should be typed and submitted to
instructor in advance via email (not as attachment but as imbedded text
in your email). To facilitate cataloging responses, always have the following
top line: Surname First Name Date (e.g., Sidorov Dmitrii 012405). No responses
will be accepted after class begins. Ideally, they shall reflect your critical
analytical reading of the text and understanding of videos highlighting
what you find interesting and what could be done better.
Although any opinion along these lines is welcome, it might be
worth providing some formal guidelines for the responses. Let’s agree
that the minimal content should include the following:
a) two-three sentence summary of the readings; b) your opinion (e.g.,
what ideas/concepts/topics were new, interesting and/or remain unclear
to you); c) two-three sentence summary of the video; d) your opinion (e.g.,
how well the videos help you understanding readings. (2 points)
TAKE-HOME ASSIGNMENTS (two; 15+5 points each) and their
deadlines will be discussed in class.
MAKEUP
POLICY
Makeups for the tests/take-home assignments deadlines are
possible ONLY in the event of a documented unexpected emergency (such
as health problem) or through prior arrangement with the instructor
when the student has advance knowledge of a compelling conflict in schedule.
Makeups under these two circumstances could be only symbolically penalized
(2 points deducted). All other makeup requests are subject to denial or
serious penalty (at least 10 points for each postponed day).
GRADING The max
number of points that can be achieved in the course is ~300. They will be
distributed in the following way: Attendance 14x2=28 Responses 14x2=28
Assignments 2x20=40 Exams 100x2=200
A – above 90% of the best total final score in class, B – 80-89.9%,
C – 70-79.9%; D – 60-69.9%; F – < 60%.
Grades will be posted on the course web-site using as identifiers
the last four digits of students’ ID numbers. If you object to using
portion of your ID for that purpose, provide the instructor with an alternative
number.
UNIVERSITY WITHDRAWAL
POLICY It is the student's responsibility
to withdraw from classes. Instructors have no obligation to withdraw
students who do not attend classes and may choose not to do so. Withdrawal
from a course after the first two weeks of instruction requires the
signature of the instructor and department chair, and is permissible
only for serious and compelling reasons. During the final three weeks
of instruction, withdrawals are not permitted except in cases such as accident
or serious illness where the circumstances causing withdrawal are clearly
beyond the student's control and the assignment of an incomplete is not
practical. Ordinarily, withdrawals in this category involve total withdrawal
from the university. The
SCHOLASTIC CONDUCT As a student at
Academic
misconduct is an act in which a student:
a) seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without
authorization or citation;
b) uses unauthorized materials
or fabricated data in any academic exercise;
c) forges or falsifies
academic documents or records;
d) intentionally impedes
or damages the academic work of others;
e) engages in conduct aimed
at making false representation of a student's academic performance;
f) assists other students
in any of these acts.
Examples of academic misconduct
include, but are not limited to:
• cheating on an examination;
• collaborating with others
in work to be presented, contrary to the stated rules of the course;
• submitting a paper or
assignment as one's own work when a part or all of the paper or assignment
is the work of another;
• submitting a paper or
assignment that contains ideas or research of others without appropriately
identifying the sources of those ideas;
• stealing examination or
course materials;
• submitting, if contrary
to the rules of a course, work previously presented in another course;
• tampering with the laboratory
experiment or computer program of another student;
•
knowingly and intentionally assisting another student in any of the
above, including assistance in an arrangement whereby any work, classroom
performance, examination or other activity is submitted or performed
by a person other than the student under whose name the work is submitted
or performed.