American Studies 371.01

Urban America

Roger Williams University

GHH 108

M, Th,  2:00 - 3:20 p.m.

Fall, 2016

Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D

Office: GHH 215

Hours:  M,  12:00-1:00

T-Th 9:30-10:50 or by Appointment

Phone:   (401) 254-3230

E-mail:  mswanson@rwu.edu

For  Monday, September 26

For Thursday, September 29

Read, in Rybczynski,

• Chapter 8.  Country Homes for City People  pp. 173-196
  

• Chapter 9.  The New Downtown, pp. 197-217
  

The results of the poll I took on Monday showed that of those who were there, most of the class preferred the traditional paper, rather than creating their own website (three chose the website method). It will be possible to do either, so if anyone changes his/her mind just let me know.  What won't be possible will be the possibility of collaboration.  The next step in this process will be to have each of you select a city you'd like to investigate.  It seems fairest to do something like draw names out of a hat.  Perhaps we'll try  that on Thursday.  Look over the City General chart and the City Newspaper Chart, and choose about five places which interest you.  I'll draw names, and the first chosen will get first choice.  Hopefully you'll select enough variety so everyone gets one of his or her favorites.  It will be a good idea to put a variety of different sizes and kinds of cities on your list--looking at different regions, as well.  Do prowl around a bit.

• In Chapter 8, we'll start to look at one of the great changes in America--the growth of suburbs and "Suburbia".  As our author suggests, and as the name also suggests the outskirts of towns were considered inferior--as late as the early twentieth century.  Remember that the prefix "sub" means below, and to call an area suburban was no compliment.  It may surprise you that many cities reached their peak size around 1950.  As you read this (and the following chapter, I'd like to have you so some searching on Google Maps and Google Streetview of the places our author mentions.  Using the Irfanview tool I'll introduce to you in class the day I post this part of the syllabus, I'd like to have you make a screenshot of the place, turn it into a .jpg, and add it to your resource folder, indicating a little about the location in using the bridges add notes tool.
  

Two inner city suburbs of Boston, Side by side, separated by Boylston St.  Look at the names of the streets, and I bet you'll get a clue to the populations of each. Prowl around the neighborhoods and see if you note any differences.

• In Chapter 9, we'll look at the other side of the coin.  The migration to the suburbs changed the nature of the center city as well.  People no longer lived in them--at least not so many people did, but people still worked in them.  The age of the commuter had begun.  We'll look at the changes which happen--and we'll continue to look at them when we begin to stick our noses into Alison Eisenberg's Downtown America.  Unlike Rybczynski and Jacobs, Isenberg does illustrate her book--copiously, in fact.  Be sure when we get there that you take the time to inspect them carefully.  Too many people think that the presents of pictures is a good deal, because it means there is less reading required.  Don't make that mistake.
  

• In the meantime,  Rybczynski spends most of his time in this chapter comparing Plattsburg in Upstate New York with with "downtowns" developed for elite inner suburbs like Lake Forest Illinois--serving people who commuted to Chicago.  Make note of the criteria urban planners used to create these "new" small cities.  Take a look using Google Street View and other resources to compare some of the other places our author mentions in this chapter.  Do you like them, or do they seem a bit "too cute."  How are we to compare these efforts with the strip malls like Southdale in Edina, Minnesota, which he mentioned as the end result of the suburban revolution?
  

Read, in Rybczynski,

• Chapter 10, The Best of Both Worlds.  pp. 218 - 235
  

in Isenberg, Downtown America,

• Introduction. pp 1-12
  

Rybczynski begins with a question, "So where would you live if you could live anywhere at all?  I'd like to spend part of the period going around the room asking people the same question:  Where would YOU like to live if you could live any place at all?  Perhaps some of the cities at which we've been looking might help form your answer.  Perhaps you'll change your mind when we look more closely at the idea of the importance of community and places to "hang out".  But for now, perhaps we can focus on interesting places and focus on finding interesting people later.

Isenberg begins on a rather sad note--and in way provides a transition from some of the ideas with which Wrybczynski concludes.  Don't miss the pictures before the introduction...downtowns as they used to be before the late 20th and early 21st century.  You will want to see what you can find in terms of early photographs of downtown's in your city of choice.  Remember if you do find something interesting browsing in preparation for class, add it to your resource folder so your classmates might see it and perhaps be able to use it.  Here are some examples of one historic downtown:

Downtown Miami, Florida, c. 1908