Understanding the City
Spring Semester, 2002
Mondays 7-10 p.m.
Dr. Katie Day | Office Hours: |
Professor, Church & Society | Mondays, 1-3 p.m. |
LTSP | Tuesdays, 9-11 a.m |
ext. 6345 kday@ltsp.edu or newdayfam@aol.com | (or by appointment) |
Purpose of this course:
Cities are changing and complex contexts which can overwhelm those ministering in them. This course seeks to unpack some of that complexity by looking at the inter-related systems and dynamics which make up urban centers in North America at the turn of the millenium. We will look closely at demographic shifts and their implications, and some of the primary sectors which shape our cities. Several approaches to creative change will also be considered.
Format:
This weekly seminar will meet from 7-10 p.m. on Monday evenings in Classroom B . The first half hour will be reserved for student presentations followed by presentation and discussion. Philadelphia will be drawn on as a primary case study. Students will need to select another urban area to follow throughout the course and ideally provide background or context for the final paper.
Requirements:
- A critical analysis of a current issue or trend in your case study city
or
- A critical book review on a relevant text as listed in the bibliography
- Note: These will be presented in class and scheduled to complement the theme for the week.
- (=30% of grade)
(=40% of grade)
- Participants are expected to come to come to class prepared and participate fully in discussions.
- (=30% of grade)
Texts:
Required:
- Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-first Century.Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf and Todd Swanstrom (University Press of Kansas), 2001
- Smart Growth, Better Neighborhoods: Communities Leading the Way(National Neighborhood Coalition), 2000
Recommended:
- Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. Jonathon Kozol (Crown Publishers), 1995
- Christian Clergy in American Politics. Sue E.S. Crawford and Laura R. Olson, eds. (Johns Hopkins University Press), 2001
- Code of the Streets. Elijah Anderson (),
- Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun. Geoffrey Canada (Beacon Press), 1995
- Gods of the City. Robert A. Orsi, ed. (Indiana University Press), 1999
- Inside Game, Outside Game: Winning Strategies for Saving Urban America. David Rusk (Brookings Institution), 1999
- Manna in the Wilderness of AIDS. Kenwyn K. Smith (Pilgrim Press), 2002
- Sidewalk. Mitchell Duneir (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 1999.
- When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. William Julius Wilson (Knopf), 1997
Possible paper topics:
- Charitable choice and the viability of faith-based social service
- Unlikely bedfellows: imagining new urban coalitions
- Parochial education and the crisis in public education
- Welfare reform and economic recession
- The struggle for a livable wage policies in light of shrinking municipal treasuries
- Gangs, drugs, cops and clergy
- Theological considerations in land use
Schedule:
1. Feb. 11 Introduction to course
The state of the city
2. Feb. 18
Demographic drama: who's coming, who's going and why
Guest lecturer: Alison Glick, Immigration Specialist
- Required reading:
- Orsi, pp. 1-78
- "Religious Institutions as Agents for Civic Incorporation," Foley, Pew Charitable Trusts' Gateway Cities Project
3. Feb. 25
Sprawl and its Discontents
Required reading
- Dreier, chapters 1 & 2
- Rusk, chapter 5
Recommended:
Wilson, When Work Disappears
4. March 4
Development, Race and Social Distance: What's Old is New Again
Required reading
Dreier, chapters 3 & 5
Recommended:
- Anderson, Code of the Street
- Duneier, Sidewalk
- Canada, Fist Stick, Knife, Gun
- Kozol, Amazing Grace
- Rusk, chapter 6
Players in the Game
5. March 11
Only the facts? The Media in the Changing Metropolis
Guest lecturer: Christopher Hepp, Philadelphia Inquirer
Required reading
6. March 18
Education as Push and Pull Factor
Guest lecturer: David Hornbeck, former Superintendent of Philadelphia Public Schools, founder and Director, Good Schools Pennsylvania
Required reading
- Chapter by Hornbeck in Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity? (Brookings, 2001)
- www.goodschoolspa.org Read: Mission/Goals, Facts, Christian
- Hornbeck, "Children Achieving"
7. April 8
The Role of the Third Sector in Current Urban and Metropolitan Context
Guest lecturer: Prof. Ram Cnaan, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work
Required reading
- In The Newer Deal, Ram Cnaan (Columbia University Press, 1999), chapters 2, 9, 11
- "Philadelphia Census of Congregations and their Involvement in Social Service Delivery," Social Science Review [2001 75(4)], pp. 559-589
Recommended:
Manna in the Wilderness of AIDS. Kenwyn K. Smith (Pilgrim Press, 2002)
Weighing the Options: Strategies for Change
8. April 15
Smart Growth and Economic Development Approaches
Required reading
- In Smart Growth: all of the "perspectives" essays, then choose 8 case studies
- Crawford/Olson: chapter by Day
- Rusk, pp. 21-36
Recommended:
"Faith-based organizations in Community Development," (http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/faithbased.pdf)
9. April 22
Faith-based Community Organizing: Beyond the Proverbial Stop sign
Required reading
- Bobo, Organizing for Social Change, pp. 1-53
- Rusk, pp. 277-290
- Pierce, Activism that Makes Sense, pp. 1-46, 88-102
Recommended:
Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals, Rules for Radicals
10. April 29
Electoral Politics: Possibilities and Limitations
Required reading
Crawford/Olson: chapters 1, 5, 7
11. May 6
Cultural Approaches to Change: Hidden Assets
Required reading
Kretzman & McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out, chapters 1,3,5
12. May 13
Student papers
13. May 20
Student papers