Urban Theory - bmc.CITY.B361.001.SP26
Section outline
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HOW TO READ FOR THIS WEEK
Please read:
- Hackworth chapter
- Peck
I am going to ask you to block 2 hours in your schedule -- twice between now and Monday night (4 hours total). Your goal is not completion of a certain amount of reading - YOU MIGHT NOT FINISH THE READINGS, THAT'S OK. instead, it is about reaching a time-based goal.
In each of these TWO reading sessions, you must first create a space/ find a setting that allow you to read...
- Materially (on paper). In a screen-free environment
- Actively - take notes on that paper in a non-black ink. short sentences or even single words. It might be a reaction statement ('but if this is true, then what about x?) or just a indexing word or a key concept or definition (crisis = feature not bug)
- Deeply - that means blocking 'on' and 'off' time in a way that works for you. 20 minutes on, 10 minutes off? when and how long are your optimal breaks?
- IN YOUR OFF/BREAK TIME, DO ANYTHING BUT USE A SCREEN - ideally integrate a physical aspect, like stretching or walking
- Musical white noise or total silence? What is your ideal sound environment?
How to structure your time
For the first 90 minutes...
- Cycle through 2-4 blocks (90 minutes = 3 blocks of 20+10, for example, or 2 blocks of 30+15
Then, summarize for 30 minutes
- 15 minutes: write a brain-dump, 'madman' reaction - gut reactions, no mistakes. Set a timer for 15 minutes here - that's enough.
- 15 minutes: react more systemically (using the guide in the reader). Use that work, and do go back to the readings themselves. Make tables or bullet lists, use illustrations, whatever works. Can be paragraphs, but doesn't have to be. The goal is to communicate a response that covers 1) key ideas 2) connections with other readings 3) connections with the 'real world' or your own experience 4) questions you might have
Then, enjoy a nice cartoon about end-stage capitalism (see Youtube link below)
Finally, bring to class...
- Let's see what this looks like as a final product when we meet on Monday - in class, I'm hoping to see your in-text annotations and writing product for as much as you read in the time limits given!
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- Habermas, Jürgen, Sara Lennox, and Frank Lennox. 1974. “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964).”New German Critique, no. 3: 49–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/487737.
- Fraser, Nancy. 1990. “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy.”Social Text, no. 25/26: 56–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/466240.
Both of the following readings are scholars and 'public intellectuals' (I hate that term) who were hugely influential in political science and planning circles, respectively - both at the turn of the twenty-first century. The idea here is to have you read these and really think through what rings true, what is outdated, etc.
- Putnam, Robert. 2015 [2000]. “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.”In The City Reader, edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout, 134–42. Routledge.
- Friedmann, John. 1998. “The New Political Economy of Planning: The Rise of Civil Society.”In Cities for Citizens: Planning and the Rise of Civil Society in a Global Age, edited by Mike Douglass and John Friedmann, 1st edition, 19–35. Chichester, England ; New York: Academy Press.