UPP 516
Issues of Class, Race, and Gender in Planning
Fall 2013
Department of Urban Planning and Policy
University of Illinois at Chicago
Instructor:
Class:
Office:
Phone:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Keisha Farmer-Smith
Lincoln Hall 321 – Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:45 PM
CUPPA- Suite 215 or wherever we need to meet
312-355-4622 or 708-280-3278 (mobile)
kfarme1@uic.edu
Call or email to schedule an appointment
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the place of race, class, and gender in urban
environments and to arm them with knowledge of the ways this insight can be used to plan and develop neighborhoods, cities,
and regions on the principle of racial and social justice.
We will explore race, class, and gender as social constructs, which become powerful material forces that constrain the life
chances of certain groups and that stratify them in residential space. In this regard, the course pays particular attention to the
socioeconomic and cultural forces that produce and reproduce communities, urban amenities and services segregated on the
basis of race and class.
A key goal of the course also is to learn how structural racism, class and gender inequality act as frameworks that guide the
urban environments. We will discuss whether these frameworks also inform the activities and action of public policy makers,
urban and regional governance, and planners. In some readings, we will focus on ways that urban planners build and sustain
the segregated metropolis. Other readings will support discussion about ways that planners can use their knowledge and insight
into race, class, and gender to construct cities and urban spaces built on principles of social justice.
Race and class matter in urban planning. They impact the urban metropolis, drive city process, and determine the life chances of
people of color. Urban planners cannot understand fully the city and the principles and practice of urban planning without taking
into account race and class. Gender, in this context, is viewed as a social construct that operates within the framework of race
and class. Taken together, race, class, and gender, are central to understanding the 21st century urban metropolis and to
formulating planning strategies that will support processes, neighborhoods and cities.
Place is key to understanding race, class, and gender from an urban and regional planning perspective. Social science
research on urban society argues that people’s lives are affected by where they live—experiences, opportunities, and the quality
of life. Residential location, then, not only affects the quantity and quality of housing but also access to public services,
neighbors, neighborhood amenities, and society’s opportunity structure.
Today, inequality is primarily reflected in structural relationships that produce constrained life chances and distressed
neighborhoods characterized by dilapidated housing, rundown neighborhood, bad public schools, crime, violence, poverty, high
unemployment, underemployment, hopelessness and despair. Socioeconomic inequality, gender issues, and ethnic/racial
conflicts have taken on new meanings. At the same time, these limited opportunities and neighborhood conditions are created
and sustained by racial attitudes, cultural values and beliefs, and urban and regional planning practices. Consequently, without
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understanding the dynamics of race, class, and gender, U.S. planners will not be able to build cities and regions on the basis of
racial and social justice.
Class Participation
Building a cohesive classroom community is vitally important. Students are expected to participate in classroom discussions and
their comments should reflect the assigned readings and previous discussions. Students will take turns facilitating the readings
by preparing a brief review or presentation and 2-3 guiding questions to support class discussion. Reading facilitators should
email summaries of the readings to be posted on Blackboard. The summaries should be brief reviews - no more than two to
three paragraphs.
Group Project
The class will split into three groups for this semester long project. The group should act as a planning team, hired to gain
insight into the ways that race, class, and gender are shaping the development of a central city community. Groups should meet
outside of class to determine how it will organize itself to carry out the project and how to organize its presentation. The
presentation should be approximately 45 minutes with 5 minutes for discussion. It will be graded on the basis of (1) quality of
research (2) The integration of classroom readings and lectures into the presentation, and the (3) creativity, organization, and
coherence of the presentation.
The purpose of this project is to explore the relationship between race, class, gender or other factors and construction of
community. In this exercise, the group will:
1. Explore the connection between race, class, gender and the construction of the built environment by examining living
conditions in terms of condition of streets, sidewalks, curbs, houses, abandoned structures, dilapidated units, vacant
lots, garbage; presence of commercial establishments--factories, businesses, offices—and retail establishments—
stores, shops, etc.
2. Look at neighborhood housing, commenting on the utility of the housing, architectural style and character of the
housing, regardless of condition. Does the housing meet the need of its residents? If so, how? If not, why not?
3. Your assessment of neighborhood conditions should be anchored in an analysis of the class and racial structure of the
community. Concurrently, you should examine place making activities and determine their relationship to race, class or
gender.
4. Each group should be sure to explore whether gender, race or class matter in the production and reproduction of the
built environment. If so how? If not, why not?
5. A professionally developed report will take into consideration how various groups are distributed in the selected
community and how this distribution impacts relations among the different racial/social/ gender related groups. Feel
free to incorporate any of the themes discussed in the class in your report.
Term Paper
The final paper is an individual assignment and should provide a deeper analysis on an issue emerging from your group project.
Team members should not research the same issue, though issues will be interrelated, given that they emerge from the same
community. The paper should be detailed, professionally cited and include data from a variety of stakeholders and resources. A
successful analysis will include: a community profile; a discussion of the issue from the standpoint of race, class and/or gender;
a review of potential or proposed strategies to address the issue and a final recommendation. Term papers should be no longer
than 20 pages double spaced. Please Note: Plagiarism will not be tolerated. The source of any material used in your
paper must be cited and under no circumstances should a student copy the works of others and represent it has their own.
Grade Breakdown
Assignment
Due Date
Maximum
Points Available
1. Class Participation
ongoing
300
2. Group Project Report*
300
3. Term Paper
4/30
200
Final Exam: Group presentation*
Finals Week
200
TOTAL
1000
*a portion of this grade is determined by feedback from members of the classroom community
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Percent of
Grade
30
30
20
20
University Support and Accommodations
If you are a student with a physical or learning difference (e.g. mobile impairment, learning,
psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) and think that you might need special assistance or a special
accommodation in this class or any other class, contact the Disability Resource Center: 1190
SSB- 1200 W. Harrison, T- 312-413-2183, TDD- 312-413-0123 or email: drc@uic.edu.
If you are a student dealing with sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking or any hate crime,
please contact the Campus Advocacy Network: 802 UH- 601 S. Morgan, T- 312-413-8206 or
email: can@uic.edu.
If you find that personal problems, career indecision, study and time management difficulties,
etc. are adversely impacting your successful progress at UIC, please contact the Counseling
Center at: 2010 SSB, 1200 W. Harrison, T- 312-996-3490.
Plagiarism Statement
In this course, there will be individual and group assignments. Please read and heed the
following information regarding academic dishonesty. For more information, refer to the UIC
Student Handbook.
What is cheating?
 Supplying or using work or answers that are not your own.
 Faking data or results.
 Interfering in any way with someone else's work.
What is plagiarism?
 Copying a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgment.
 Buying a paper from a research service or term paper mill.
 Copying a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgment.
 Copying materials from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out
quotation marks.
 Paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate documentation.
 Turning in a paper from a term paper website.
Required Materials
Readings and other materials will be available on the course Blackboard site or emailed to the
class 2-weeks prior to the due date.
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August 28th - Introduction to the Course: Race, Class, Gender and the Urban Reality:
Andersen, Margaret. Restructuring for Whom? Race, Class, Gender, and the Ideology of Invisibility
Busà, Alessandro. Ed, The Right to the City
Bobo, Lawrence and Michael Dawson. One Year Later and The Myth of a Post Racial Society
McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
September 4th - The Construction of Race, Class and Gender in the United States
Winant, Howard. Race and Race Theory
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formations
Brodkin, Karen. How Jews Became White Folks and What that says about Race in America
Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender
September 11th - The Construction of Race, Class and Gender in the United States
Baynton, Douglas. Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History
Gans, Herbert. Deconstructing the Underclass
Davidio, John and Samuel L. Gaertner. On the Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: The Causes, Consequences and
Challenges of Aversive Racism
Mantsios, Gregory. Class in America
Recommended: Greenman, Emily and Yu Xie. Double Jeopardy? The Interaction of Gender and Race on Earnings in
the United States
September 18th- Intersectionality
Rothenberg, Paula. The Social Construction of Difference: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality
Lees, Loretta. The Ambivalence of Diversity and The Politics of Urban Renaissance
McCall, Leslie. The Complexity of Intersectionality
Class Updates on Group Assignment (Question 1)
September 25th - Race and Class Segregation in the Post-Industrial City
Denton, Nancy A. and Douglas . Massey. Suburbanization and Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas
Bobo, Lawrence and Camille Z. Charles. Race in the American Mind: From the Moynihan Report to the Obama
Candidacy
Furstenburg, Frank F. If Moynihan Had Only Known: Race, Class, and Family Change in the Late Twentieth Century
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Rivera, Gustavo, Favelas and Public Housing
Sanborn, Kathy, Homeless in Tent City, USA
October 2nd The Right to the City- Class and Socioeconomic Issues in Urban Politics and Policy
Marcuse, Peter. Ignoring Injustice In Disaster Planning
Neil Smith: Revanchist Planet
Betancur, John J. and Douglas C. Gills. Community Development in Chicago: From Harold Washington to Richard
M. Daley
Herbert, Steve. The Trapdoor of Community
Class Updates on Group Assignment (Question 2)
October 9th - The Right to the City- Focusing on Race and Ethnicity
Dávila, Arlene. Empowered Culture? New York City's Empowerment Zone and the Selling of El Barrio
Wilson, William Julius. Another Look at the Truly Disadvantaged
Sanjek, Roger. Color-Full before Color Blind: The Emergence of Multiracial Neighborhood Politics in Queens, New
York City
Ashlin Rich, Meghan. "It Depends on How You Define Integrated": Neighborhood Boundaries and Racial Integration
in a Baltimore Neighborhood
October 16th- The Right to the City- Focusing on Race and Ethnicity
Stoll, Michael A. Race, Neighborhood Poverty, and Participation in Voluntary Associations
Betancur, John J. The Settlement Experience of Latinos in Chicago: Segregation, Speculation, and the Ecology
Model
Elsheshtawy, Yasser. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Informal Street Corner Encounters in Dubai
Denton, Nancy A. and Douglas S. Massey. Racial Identity Among Caribbean Hispanics: The Effect of Double
Minority Status on Residential Segregation
Class Updates on Group Assignment (Question 3)
October 23rd- The Right to the City- Focusing on Race and Ethnicity
Fong, Eric and Kumiko Shibuya. Multiethnic Cities in North America
Wacquant, Loïc. Urban Desolation and Symbolic Denigration in the Hyperghetto
Yiftachel, Oren and Haim Yacobi. Urban Ethnocracy: Ethnicization and the Production of Urban Space in an Israeli
"Mixed-City"
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Ueland, Jeff and Barney Warf. Racialized Topographies: Altitude and Race in Southern Cities
October 30th - The Right to the City- Focusing on Gender
Hayden, Dolores. Placemaking, Preservation and Urban History
Hayden, Dolores. What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human
Work
Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses: Urban Fight of the Century - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUeuQT6t7kg
Parting Words: Jane Jacobs (Dark Age Ahead) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKWi5tfAZsQ
October 30th - The Right to the City- Focusing on Gender
Snyder, Margaret. Women Determine Development: The Unfinished Revolution
Karjanen, David. Gender, Race, and Nationality in the Making of Mexican Migrant Labor in the United States
Gittell, Marilyn et al. Social Capital and Social Change: Women's Community Activism
Alozie, Nicholas O. and Catherine McNamara. Gender Differences in Willingness to Pay for Urban Public Services
Class Updates on Team Assignment (Questions 4 and 5)
*Rough Draft Term Papers due (optional)
November 6th - The Right to the City- Focusing on LGBQT Identity
Doderer, Yvonne. LGBTQs in the City, Queering Urban Space
Frisch, Michael. Planning as a Heterosexist Project
Doan, Petra L. and Harrison Higgins. The Demise of Queer Space? Resurgent Gentrification and the Assimilation of
LGBT Neighborhoods
*Rough Draft Group Reports due (required)
November 13th- Planning in the Face of Power
Elwood, Sarah. Beyond Cooptation or Resistance: Urban Spatial Politics, Community Organizations, and GIS-Based
Spatial Narratives
Costa Vargas, João H. When a Favela Dares to Become a Gated Condominium: The Politics of Race and Urban
Space in Rio de Janeiro
Mason, Beverly. And I am Part of the Greatness: Twelve Black Elderly Women and Men Decry their Urban
Community's Reality
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November 20th - Reflections: The New Urban Reality and our Role as Planners
Fainstein, Susan. Cities and Diversity: Should We Want It? Can We Plan For It?
Ayvazian, Andrea. Interrupting the Cycle of Oppression: The Role of Allies as Agents of Change
Calpotura, Francis. Recipe for Organizing
Hill Collins, Patricia. The New Politics of Community
November 27th – Movie Night and Discussion Detropia or Do the Right Thing
Discuss group presentations
Final Group Reports due/ Final Term Papers due
December 4th – Group project presentations and final class
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