REVISED – 9/13/04
Professor Judith Kenny
Bolton Rm. 472
jkenny@uwm.edu
(414) 229-6598
Fall 2004
GEOG 441 U/G: GEOGRAPHY OF CITIES AND METROPOLITAN
AREAS
Class Time: 5:30 – 8:10 pm, Tuesday
Class Location: Bolton B95
Office Hours: T 3 – 5 pm and after class; W 3:30 – 5 pm; Or by appointment
Office Location: Bolton 472
COURSE OBJECTIVE: Urban geographers traditionally have examined both the
internal and external structure of cities in order to understand the urbanization process.
The “external” focuses on links among cities and the development of urban systems. Our
focus in this class – the “internal structure” of the city and metropolitan areas – considers
instead the form, structure and appearance of the urban environment. Particular attention
will be given to the changing economic, cultural, social and political dynamics of North
American cities; and, the effects of these changes at the neighborhood level. Although
you will not find race, ethnicity, class, and gender explicitly listed in the course syllabus
headings, we will be considering the experience of “difference” and responses to
categories of difference throughout the course.
In addition to our survey of urban literature, the course will provide opportunities to
develop your critical skills of analysis, oral and written communication skills, and – in
keeping with a course taught by a geographer – introduce you to primary research sources
and techniques appropriate to an examination of the built environment. Graduate
students will have additional requirements as outlined below and will be expected to use
research skills in the examination of an area of Milwaukee for the final project.
RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES: A summary of university and departmental policies
related to your rights and responsibilities is provided on the last page of this syllabus for
your information. If you will need special accommodations in order to meet any of the
requirements of this course, please contact me as soon as possible.
ASSIGNMENTS & COURSE EVALUATION: Details of assignments can be found
on separate sheets (to be handed out in class). Total points for grad students = 300; total
points for undergrads = 200.
Regular participation in class discussion
20pts
(Grad students meet an additional hour every other week. Time to be
arranged by mutual consent.)
Exams:
Undergrads – short answer/essay
80pts Two exams:
Graduate students – take home
80pts Mid-term - Oct. 19th
Mid-term - Oct. 19th
Final
- Dec. 21st
2
Field Exercises - #1 House Form & Urban Design
20pts
Final
- Dec. 21st
Due: Sept. 21st
#2 Census Information &
Neighborhood Development
20pts Due: Oct. 12th
#3 New Urbanist/Smart Growth
60pts Due: Dec. 14th
#4 Individual Projects
(Grad Students only)
100pts Presentation
Due: Dec. 7th
Paper
Due: Dec. 14th
30pts
70pts
READINGS:
The readings are accessed in three ways:
 An assigned texts is available in the University Bookstore:
LeGates, R. & F. Stout (2003) The City Reader (3rd Edition). New York:
Routledge.
 Others are available on the library’s electronic reserve website.
 Several will be circulated via email – so please make use of your UWM
email account.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE & READINGS:
To facilitate discussion, readings must be completed prior to the appropriate session (as
indicated below). The outline may be subject to change (with advance warning) so please
assume responsibility for keeping up with classroom announcements.
Week 1
Sept. 7
Introduction: Urban morphology & the physical structure of cities -- lecture.
Week 2
Sept. 14
The Industrial City: Urban Form & Industrialization
Read in electronic reserve:
1) J. Kenny (1996) “Polish Routes to Americanization: House Form and
Landscape on Milwaukee’s South Side,” Wisconsin Land & Life, eds. Vale &
Ostergren. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pp.
Read in City Reader:
2) F. Engels (1844) Excerpts from “The Great Towns,” pp. 58-66.
3) W.E.B. DuBois (1899) Excerpts from “The Negro Problems of
Philadelphia,” & “The Question of Earning a Living,” pp. 119-125.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment:
3
Electronic Reserve: 1) G. Wright (1981) “Americanization and Ethnicity in
Urban Tenements,” Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in
America. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. pp. 114 –134.
2) Knox (1995) “Urban morphology and the physical structure of
cities,” Urban Social Geography. NY: Wiley.
Assignment: 1) Distribute 1st field exercise – due Sept. 28th
Week 3
Sept. 21
The Industrial City: Urban Form, Reform & Visions
Read/Distributed by email:
1) R. Walker & R. Lewis (2001) “Beyond the Crabgrass Frontier: Industry and
the Spread of North American Cities, 1850-1950,” Journal of Historical
Geography 27: pp.3-19.
Read in City Reader
2) F. L. Olmsted (1870) Excerpts from “Public Parks and the Enlargement of
Towns,” pp. 302-308.
3) E. Howard (1898) Excerpts from Garden Cities of To-morrow. pp. 309316.
4) LeCorbusier (1929) Excerpts from The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning
pp. 317-324.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment:
1) D. Harvey (1997) “Contested Cities: Social Process and Spatial Form,”
City Reader. pp. 227-234.
In electronic reserve:
2) Boyer, C. “Zoning and the Single-family Home,” Dreaming the Rational
City.
Week 4
Sept. 28
The City & Suburb: The “Rise” of the Suburb
Assignment: 1) 1st Field Exercise due in class
2) Distribute 2nd field exercise – due Oct. 26th
Grad Students Assignment – Description of three course project ideas due
Read in City Reader:
1) E. Burgess (1925) Excerpt from Park et al The City. pp. 156-163.
Read in electronic reserve:
2) K. Jackson (1984) “Federal Subsidy and the Suburban Dream: How
Washington Changed the American Housing Market” In The Crabgrass
Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford
University Press), pp. 190-218.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment:
Distributed by email:
1) H. Hoyt (1939) Excerpt from The Structure and Growth of Residential
Neighborhoods in American Cities.
2) C. Harris & E. Ulman (1945) “The Nature of Cities,” Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science.
4
Week 5
Oct. 5th
The City & the Highway
Read/ Distributed by email:
McCarthy, J. (2003) “The Great Race: Annexation Wars in Postwar Milwaukee
and the Rise of Suburban Sprawl”
Read in electronic reserve:
Gurda (1999) Chapter 8: “The Exploding Metropolis” from The Making of
Milwaukee. Milwaukee: Milwaukee County Historical Society.
Week 6
Oct. 12th
Annexation, (Incorporation) & the Post-War Boom
Film clips - plus: “The World that Moses Built”
Read in City Reader:
1) K. Jackson (1984) Excerpt from The Crabgrass Frontier: The
Suburbanization of the United States - “The Drive-in Culture of
Contemporary America,” pp. 67-76.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment:
Electronic Reserve – Berman (1988) “In the Forest of Symbols: Some Notes on
Modernism in New York” All that is solid melts into air. NY: Simon & Schuster.
Week 7
Oct. 19th
Mid-term
[Graduate students excused from class attendance – take-home exam due
following week]
Week 8
Oct. 26th
Economic Restructuring: The Post-1973 World – lecture
Assignment: Assignment: 1) 2nd Field Exercise due in class
2) Discussion of 3rd Project
Week 9
Nov. 2nd
Economic Restructuring, cont.
Read in electronic reserve:
1) Short, J. (1996) “The City and the Economy,” The Urban Order: An
Introduction to cities, culture, and power. Oxford: Blackwell.
2) Short, J. (1996) “Yuppies, Yuffies and the new urban order,” The Urban
Order: An Introduction to cities, culture, and power. Oxford: Blackwell.
Read in City Reader:
3) S. Sassen (2001) “The Impact of the New Technologies and Globalization
on Cities,” pp. 212-220.
4) E. Soja (1989) Excerpt from Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion
of Space in Critical Social Theory: ”Taking Los Angeles Apart: Towards a
Postmodern Geography,” pp. 189-200.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment:
Distributed by email: Dear & Flusty (1998) “Postmodern Urbanism,” Annals
of the Association of American Geographers 88: 50-72.
Week 10
Nov. 9th
Changing Landscape – Form & Symbolism
Read in electronic reserve:
1) J. Kenny & J. Zimmerman (2004) “’Constructing the Genuine American
5
City: neotraditionalism, New Urbanism, neoliberalism in the remaking of
Downtown Milwaukee,” Cultural Geography
Read/ Distributed by email:
2) D. Ley (1987) Edited - “Styles of the Times: Liberal and Neoconservative landscapes in Inner Vancouver, 1968-86,” Journal of Historical
Geography 13: 40-56.
3) N. Smith (1986) Edited - “Gentrification, the frontier and the
restructuring of urban space.” In eds. Smith and Williams, Gentrification
and the City.
4) P. Knox (1991) Edited - “The Restless Urban Landscape,” Annals of the
Association of American Geographers 81: 181-209.
Additional Grad. Reading Assignment: Distributed by email:
5) S. Clarke & G. Gaile (1997) Edited - “Local Politics in a Global Era:
thinking locally, acting globally.” In D. Wilson ed. Globalization and the
Changing US City
Week 11
Nov. 16th
Sprawl and race
Read in electronic reserve:
1) j. powell (2002) “Sprawl, fragmentation, and the persistence of racial
inequality.” In G. Squires ed. Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences
Week 12
Nov. 23rd
Taming Urban Sprawl -?
Read in electronic reserve:
1) Rusk (1999) “Portland, Oregon: Taming Urban Sprawl,” Inside Game/
Outside Game. Washington DC: Brookings Institute.
Week 13
Nov. 30th
Green Urbanism
Read in electronic reserve:
1) Cieslewicz (2002) “The environmental impacts of sprawl,” in G. Squires
ed. Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences
2) Zimmerman, J. (2001) “The ‘Nature’ of urbanism on the New Urbanist
Frontier,” Urban Geography.
Read in City Reader:
3) A. Duany & E. Plater-Zyberk (1993) Excerpt from “The Neighborhood, the
district, and the corridor,” In P. Katz & V. Scully, eds. The new urbanism:
toward an architecture of community.
Check Congress for New Urbanism website – www.cnu.org
Week 14
Dec. 7th
Graduate Student Presentations
[Graduate student presentations will be on the Undergrad final exam]
Week 15
Dec. 14th
Assignment: 1) 3rd project due - focus of class discussion
2) Graduate Student projects due
Finals Week/ Dec. 21st – Final Exam (Grad Student exam due)