Welcome to eng 101: Writing About Cities Instructor name: Molly Slavin Contact information

I strive to answer all emails within 24 hours; most times, I will answer more quickly than that, but sometimes (with travel, reduced availability, etc), it might take me 48.

• 
  Highlight key debates in our readings, articulate theoretical issues in the field, and identify debates and arguments in the study of urbanism and cities
  

• 
  Apply theories and historical issues to your own writing, debate, and analysis
  

• 
  Develop written work with a clearly defined focus, thesis, and argument and employ critical thinking and writing skills to articulate your thoughts
  

• 
  Communicate your thoughts eloquently through prose
  

• 
  Focus on a purpose and respond to the needs of different audiences
  

• 
  Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations and use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
  

• 
  Understand how genres shape reading and writing and write in several genres
  

• 
  And develop an understanding of the revision process
  

• 
  Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009.
  

• 
  Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage, 1961.
  

• 
  Kruse, Kevin. White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
  

• 
  Wilson, William Julius. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Vintage, 1997.
  

• 
  The Atlantic magazine runs a website called The Atlantic Cities, which publishes excellent work on many aspects of urban life. These articles are free and we will read many of them. You will need to print them for class, rather than bring in your computer and read off the screen.
  

• 
  We will be reading a number of news articles from online sources such as The Huffington Post, Salon, The New York Times, etc. I will ensure that these are all free and open-access.
  

• 
  Selections from Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities, and John A. Andrew III’s Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society will be made available on Blackboard. While these are excerpts from books, I will make them available to you for free, so there is no need to purchase them.
  

• 
  The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, 2011 (dir. Chad Friedrichs)
  

• 
  Taxi Driver, 1976 (dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro)
  

• 
  Selected episodes of the television show Friends
  

• 
  Boyz N The Hood, 1991 (dir. John Singleton)
  

We may watch other films in class, but the list above represents the films you are responsible for watching on your own time.

• 
  Paper 1/getting started: Your first paper will be a chance for you to start plying your oars in the field of collegiate writing. The prompt will ask you to disprove a certain position posed by a hypothetical family member (“Your aunt thinks cities are unsafe and that she needs apps on her phone to circumvent certain areas,” “Your uncle believes that cities have run their course,” etc). You will write a 2-4 page paper disproving this hypothetical family member, drawing in references from the texts we have read in class and using the tips given by They Say, I Say to help you formulate your paper. This paper will be 15% of your grade and will be due at the start of week 4.
  
• 
  MARTA narrative: As part of our transportation unit, I will ask you to ride a MARTA train and bus and write a narrative about your experience. This will be due in week 6, and will count for 15% of your grade. I expect this paper to be 3-5 pages. Some creative options will be available here.
  
• 
  Research paper: To be due in week 10. You will be asked to consider any of the topics we have discussed from weeks 5-9 and write a short (5-7 page) analytical research paper on how two of the topics are connected (the environment and employment, redlining and city planning, etc). We will discus this more as the time approaches.
  
• 
  Film analysis: In week 12, you will be required to turn in a 3-5 page film analysis on one of the movies we have watched in week 11. This assignment will be worth 15% of your final grade.
  
• 
  ATL Maps project/paper: atlmaps.com is an interactive website that allows users to create a map of his or her own Atlanta. Your final project in this class will be to create a map of your Atlanta using the website and to write a 3-5 page paper explaining your process. This will be due on the final day of the semester.
  
• 
  Presentation: On the first day of class, we will divvy up the units and topics and each student will choose one to present. These presentations will take place on Fridays throughout the semester and should focus on a new aspect of the issues we’ve been considering throughout the week, as well as present questions for discussion. You will be expected to complete one presentation that will count for 15% of your grade. Please see the separate assignment sheet for more information on this.
  
• 
  Attendance and participation: As stated above, attendance and participation is a very key component to this class. You will be allowed three excused absences; after that, your grade will begin to suffer. It is important, however, not only to show up, but also to participate in a meaningful way. While talking the most is not necessarily being the most engaged participant, it is important to show me that you are aware of what is going on around you and fully engaged in the discussion. Attendance and participation will count for 10% of your grade.
  

• 
  it is not turned in on time
  
• 
  it is off-topic or on an unapproved topic
  
• 
  it is completely incomprehensible
  
• 
  it includes no sources or is written as an unsubstantiated opinion
  

Introductions and syllabus information

Graff and Birkenstein, They Say, I Say: Preface and Introduction

“Why Cities Matter,” Richard Florida, The Atlantic Cities website
Friday:

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities: Foreword to the Modern Library Edition, Introduction

Part 1 of They Say, I Say

Three articles from The Atlantic Cities website (Emily Badger, “The Small, Often Imperceptible Reasons Some Neighborhoods Feel Safer Than Others;” Emily Badger, “Enough Already with the Avoid-the-Ghetto Apps;” Emily Badger, “You’re More Likely to Die a Violent Death in Rural America than in a City.”)

Blog Post on dog whistle political campaigning (http://racecardpoliticswatch.wordpress.com/about/)

p. 520-525 of The Power Broker (BB)

p. 963-968 of The Power Broker (BB)

John A. Andrew III, Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society: Chapter 4, “Model Cities” (BB)

“What is Gentrification?” Benjamin Grant, PBS website

watch The Atlanta Way in class
Week 3: High density vs. low density, suburbs and sprawl
Monday:

Chapter 6 of Jane Jacobs, “The uses of city neighborhoods.”

Chapter 8 of Jane Jacobs, “The need for mixed primary uses.”

Chapter 10 of Jane Jacobs, “The need for concentration.”

*maybe divide these chapters up as sort of a practice run for presentations?
Wednesday:

Part 2 of They Say, I Say

Kevin Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism: Chapter 9, “Urban Separatism and Suburban Secession”

“U.S. Urban Population is Up… But What Does ‘Urban’ Really Mean?” Nate Berg, The Atlantic Cities website

TransLoc article on the benefits of public transportation

APTA article on the benefits of public transportation

discussion on rhetorical situation

Emily Badger, “The U.S. Cities Where the Fewest Commuters Get to Work By Car,” The Atlantic Cities website;

Chapter 18 of Jane Jacobs, “Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles”

p. 897-908 of The Power Broker (BB)

discussion of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

Emily Badger, “Mapping 60 Years of White Flight, Brain Drain, and American Migration,” The Atlantic Cities website

Chapter 3 of Kevin Krause, “From Community to Individuality: Race, Residence, and Segregationist Ideology,”

Epilogue of Kevin Krause, “The Legacies of White Flight”

Chapter 2 of the Kruse is recommended but not required
Friday: Student presentations
Week 6: Public Space, Parks, and Redlining
Monday:

Chapter 5 of Jane Jacobs, “The uses of neighborhood parks”

Chapter 4 of Kevin Kruse, “The Abandonment of Public Space: Desegregation, Privatization, and the Tax Revolt.”
Wednesday:

p. 509-512, 553-561, The Power Broker (BB)

William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears, Chapter 2: “Societal Changes and Vulnerable Ghettoes.”
Friday: Student presentations
*MARTA narrative due on Friday of week 6

Week 7: City Planning, Downtown Revival, Historic Preservation
Monday:

Lee Epstein, “How Augusta Got Locals to Care About City Planning,” The Atlantic Cities website

Jane Jacobs, “Downtown is for People” (1958 essay, available http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/janejacobsarticle.htm)

Zachary Karabell, “The Golden Age of American Cities – And What’s Really Behind It,” The Atlantic.

Longworth, Richard C. “Saving Chicago,” The Chicago Tribune.
Wednesday:

Chapter 10 of Jane Jacobs, “The need for aged buildings”

“What is preservation?” section of the National Trust for Historic Preservation website.
Friday: Student presentations.
Week 8: Environment
Monday:

Interview with Stephanie Pincetl, “Urban Metabolism and the Nature of Sustainable Cities,” The Huffington Post

Bryan Walsh, “How Growing Cities Will Wreck the Environment Unless We Plan Them Right,” Time

look at http://www.urbanheatislands.com/

Part 3 of They Say, I Say.
Wednesday:

USDA definition of food desert (http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/foodDeserts.aspx);

Take a look at http://www.arkfab.gatech.edu/content/atlanta%E2%80%99s-food-deserts

Majora Carter, “Greening the Ghetto” (TED Talk)

Introduction and Chapter 1 of William Julius Wilson, “From Institutional to Jobless Ghettoes”

Chapter 5 of Wilson is recommended but not required
Wednesday:

p. 40-82 of Savage Inequalities, “Other People’s Children: North Lawndale and the South Side of Chicago” (BB)

Chapter 6 of Kevin Kruse, “The Fight for ‘Freedom of Association’: School Desegregation and White Withdrawal.”
Friday: Student presentations
Week 10: Income Disparity
Monday:

Chapter 6 of William Julius Wilson, “The American Belief System Concerning Poverty and Welfare.”

Chapter 7 of William Julius Wilson, “Racial Antagonisms and Race-Based Social Policy.”
Wednesday:

Emily Badger, “The Lasting Impacts of Poverty on the Brain,” The Atlantic Cities website

David Byrne, “If the 1% Stifles New York’s Creative Talent, I’m Out of Here,” The Guardian website

Lisa Mahapatra, “U.S. Income Inequality: The Vast Disparities in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Miami,” Business Insider website.

Soraya Chemaly, “’Smile, baby’: The Two Words No Woman Wants to Hear,” Salon website.

Katherine Brooks, “Public Art Project Addresses Gender-Based Street Harassment In a Big Way,” The Huffington Post website.

Lauren Cahn, “Blurred Lines and the Art of Catcalling, “The Huffington Post website.

Krystie Lee Yandoli, “The One Group Left Out of Every Street Harassment Conversation,” Policy Mic website.

look at http://www.ihollaback.org/

Clare Foran, “How to Design a City for Women,” The Atlantic Cities website. (please read comments)

Teo Kermeliotis, “Africa’s ‘New Cities’: Urban Future or Utopian Fantasies?” CNN website