Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fall 1998
Syllabus
Units: 2-2-5
Prof. Lawrence Vale, Office: 10-489, x3-0561, ljvale@mit.edu
Visiting Prof. Sam Bass Warner, Jr., sambass@mit.edu
Instructor: Anne Beamish, anneb@mit.edu
Prerequisites: Introduction to Urban Design and Development and/or Urban Design Politics and/or Urban Design Seminar, or permission of the InstructorsTime:
Colloquium, Mondays 4:30-6:30 in 10-485
Seminar, Wednesdays, 4:30-6:30 in 10-485Kevin Lynch's landmark volume, The Image of the City (1960), emphasized the perceptual characteristics of the urban environment, stressing the ways that individuals mentally organize their own sensory experience of cities. Increasingly, however, city imaging is supplemented and constructed by exposure to visual media, rather than by direct sense experience of urban realms. City images are not static, but subject to constant revision and manipulation by a variety of media-savvy individuals and institutions. In recent years, urban designers (and others) have used the idea of city image proactively-- seeking innovative ways to alter perceptions of urban, suburban, and regional areas. City imaging, in this sense, is the process of constructing visually-based narratives about the potential of places.
This media-enriched image-building process involves not only place-based and form-based visions but also strategies for economic opportunity and environmental stewardship. Place promotion transcends economics-grounded efforts to attract new investment; it is also a strategy for reinforcing (or reconstructing) city image. As such, it always matters who builds these images, for which reasons, and for whom. Image-building efforts encompass not only changes to the built environment but also encode broad conceptual orientations; image-making is about finding new ways (and new technologies) to represent and promote cleaner environments, better communities, and socio-economic progress, yet images may also serve to mask or perpetuate existing inequalities. Images may be promoted in service of some broad "public good," but they are also subject to extreme manipulation by market forces that resist any such wider efforts to plan.
The Colloquium and the Seminar
This is a seminar for advanced graduate students held in conjunction with the 1998 DUSP Faculty Colloquium on "Imaging the City." For the Colloquium, we have commissioned papers from a variety of scholars and designers, and asked them to explore emerging directions for city imaging, issues that seem to bridge the concerns of physical planners, media professionals, and city developers in ways that affect planning practice throughout the United States and abroad. The first few sessions of the Colloquium examine the interconnections between urban development and media, while the second half identifies arenas where urban designers and planners can intervene to help re-image cities in positive ways, as well as methods by which such involvement can take place.
Assignments
This seminar is intended to complement the investigations of the Colloquium. Participants will read the draft Colloquium papers and other background material in advance of the presentations. Following each of the presentations, they will prepare a one or two page critique/reflection/commentary to be used as the starting point for our seminar discussions (3 copies of these should be handed in on the day of that discussion). Out of 12 possible commentary papers, students are expected to complete 10. One of these short critiques will then be developed into a final paper of 5-10 pages, intended to help the Colloquium presenter revise his or her draft paper. This is intended to be a thoughtful critique of the topic, as well as a commentary on the paper itself, so it should involve reading and incorporating some additional material on the subject.
Web site
The Colloquium has its own web site: http://web.mit.edu/imagingthecity/www/, which contains the schedule of speakers, paper abstracts, draft papers (by password access only), speaker bios, and an introductory overview essay addressing colloquium themes. This web site will be updated weekly to include summaries of each week's discussions.
Readings
Readings will either will either be available on the class web site or distributed in class. A full set will be available on reserve in Rotch library.
Enrollment is limited to 12 students
Note: You do not need to take this seminar in order to attend the Colloquium sessions. Those interested in attending the Monday Colloquium but who are not part of the seminar must register with Janice O'Brien in DUSP HQ, since seating is limited.
Wednesday September 9
Reading due:
Lawrence J. Vale, Colloquium Introduction and Overview (please read from web site--http://web.mit.edu/imagingthecity/www/-- before 1st class, if possible)
Sennett and Beinart Draft papers
Monday, September 14: Colloquium Presentations
Conflicts Between City Image and City Process
Richard Sennett
University Professor of the Humanities, NYU and Centennial Professor of Sociology, LSEImage Construction in Pre-Modern Cities
Julian Beinart
Professor of Architecture, MIT1-2 pp. critique of Sept. 14 colloquium, due Sept. 16
Wednesday, September 16
Discussion of Sept. 14 colloquium
Reading due: Jenkins paper
Monday, September 21: Colloquium Presentation
We
NY?: Mapping the Urban Imagination in the American Cinema
Henry Jenkins,
Professor of Literature, MIT
Director, Master's Program in Comparative Media Studies1-page critique of Sept. 21 colloquium, due Sept. 23
Wednesday, September 23
Discussion of Sept. 21 colloquium
Reading due: Campanella/Beamish paper
Friday, September 25: One-day Symposium (optional, but encouraged)
Digital Cities: Urban Environments and Interactive Technologies
Bartos Theater, MIT Media Lab, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.How are new technologies representing urban spaces? How will these representations affect our notions of what cities are, how they look, how they might be designed or reimagined? This symposium will include commentary from urban planners and specialists in cultural geography as well as audio-visual demonstrations of a range of projects--pedagogical, documentary, games--that represent real or imagined urban environments. The symposium will conclude in a synthesizing discussion with the audience on the uses of digital media to capture something of the experience of living in cities.
Monday, September 28: Colloquium Presentation
The City in Cyberspace: Representation of Community and Place
Tom Campanella and Anne Beamish,
Doctoral Candidates, DUSP, MIT1-2 pp. critique of Sept. 28 colloquium, due Sept. 30
Wednesday, September 30:
Discussion of September 28 colloquium
Reading due: Schuster paper and
Kevin Lynch, "Celebrating Time" pp. 83-89 and "The Direct Display of Change" pp. 180-184, from What Time is This Place?.
Dean MacCannell, "Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings. American Journal of Sociology 79 (3) (1973) : 589-603.
Sarah Bonnemaison, City Policies and Cyclical Events. Design Quarterly 147 (1990): 24-32.
Monday, October 5: Colloquium Presentation
Ephemera, Temporary Urbanism, and Imaging
Mark Schuster,
Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT1-page critique of October 5 colloquium, due October 7
Wednesday, October 7
Discussion of October 5 colloquium
Reading due: Holcomb paper and
Briavel Holcomb, "City Make-overs: Marketing the Post-Industrial City." In Place Promotion: The Use of Publicity and Marketing to Sell Towns and Cities (Wiley, 1994).
Tim Hall, "Transforming the Image of the City." In Urban Geography (Routledge, 1998), pp. 110-132.
Tuesday, October 13 (Monday classes meet on Tuesday) Colloquium Presentation
Place Marketing: Using Media to Promote Cities
Briavel Holcomb,
Professor of Urban Studies and Community Health, Rutgers University1-page critique of October 13 Colloquium due October 14 (sorry!)
Wednesday, October 14:
Discussion of October 13 Colloquium
Reading due: Birch Paper and TBA.
II. Imaging Cities: Opportunities for Urban Designers
Monday, October 19: Colloquium Presentation
Negotiating Conflicting Images
Eugenie Birch
Professor of City Planning, University of Pennsylvania1-page critique of October 19 colloquium due October 21
Wednesday, October 21
Discussion of October 19 Colloquium
Reading due: Lowenthal and Frenchman papers
David Lowenthal, "The Purpose of Heritage" and The Practice of Heritage," The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (New York: Free Press, 1996, 1998), pp. 127-172.
Monday, October 26: Colloquium Presentations
Fabricating Heritage Narratives: Locale, Region, Nation
David Lowenthal,
Professor Emeritus of Geography, University College, Londonand
Designing Local and Regional Heritage Narratives
Dennis Frenchman
Professor of the Practice of Urban Design, MIT1-2 pp. critique of October 26 Colloquium due October 28
Wednesday, October 28
Discussion of October 26 Colloquium
Reading due: Hill, Burgess, and Durack paper and TBA
Monday, November 2: Colloquium Presentation
Re-imaging the Rust Belt: The New Cleveland Campaign
Edward Hill, Cleveland State University
Patricia Burgess, Cleveland State University
and Ruth Durack, Kent State University1-page critique of November 2 Colloquium due Nov. 4
Wednesday, November 4
Readings due:
Ford and de Monchaux papers and
Ford, Larry. 1993. A Model of Indonesian City Structure. Geographical Review, 83 (4): 374-396.
John D. Landis and David Sawicki, "A Planner's Guide to the Places Rated Almanac," APA Journal, Summer 1988, pp. 336-346.
Monday, November 9: Colloquium Presentation
Architectural Mega-Projects in Asia: New City Images and New City Form
Larry Ford,
Professor of Geography, San Diego State University1-page critique of November 9 Colloquium due November 18
Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day Holiday--No Class
Monday, November 16: Colloquium Presentation
Rating Place-Ratings
John de Monchaux,
Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, MIT1-page critique of November 16 Colloquium due November 18
Wednesday, November 18
Discussion of November 9 and November 16 colloquia
Reading due: Hayden and McLean paper and TBA
Monday, November 23: Colloquium Presentation
Inner Cities and Outer Cities
Dolores Hayden,
Professor of Architecture and American Studies, Yale Universityand
Alex MacLean, architect and aerial photographer,
Cambridge, Mass.1-page critique of November 23 colloquium due November 25
Wednesday, November 25:
Discussion of November 23 Colloquium
Reading due: Martin and Warner paper and TBA
Monday, November 30: Colloquium Presentation
Assessing Modern City Regions
Judith Martin,
Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota,and
Sam Bass Warner, Jr.,
Visiting Professor, MIT1-page critique of November 30 Colloquium due December 2
Wednesday, December 2
Discussion of November 30 Colloquium
and critique of overall Colloquium
Monday, December 7: Colloquium wrap-up
What have we learned about City Imaging and what have we failed to discuss?
Wednesday, December 9
Final Paper due, and discussed
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