You all did very well in coming up with questions for the final exam, so you earned some bonus points and will have the benefit of knowing many questions going into it. Of course, there was a lot of material from which to make these questions. So, without further ado, here they are:
HANNAH: earn 20 points, plus one bonus point.
1. As I noted in my summary comments on Chapter 3, Fabric of Enterprise, Rae identifies 3 factors that would later help unravel this "fabric of enterprise." Identify any TWO of them. (2)
ANSWER: Any TWO of the following: (a) Retailing depends on export industries that feed the cycle of exchange, but as exports decline, the richness of retail circulation is curtailed. (b) Small, very decentralized retail operations are vulnerable to competition from larger operations that can achieve economies of scale and undercut prices, which is exactly what began to happen by the 1950s. (c)The richness of the fabric depended on a permissive treatment of mixed-use neighborhoods by government, but zoning ordinances across the country set out to homogenize land uses and drive a wedge between residential and commercial areas.
2. In my summary comments on Chapter 8 of "City:" Race, Place, and the Emergence of Spatial Hierarchy, what did I highlight were TWO of the three actions which reinforced municipal inequality? (2)
ANSWER: Any TWO of the following: (a) municipal zoning, (b) neighborhood security studies of the HOLC (Home Owners Loan Corp.), (c) initial phases of public housing.
3. In the video, "Taken For a Ride," Lewis Mumford poses what interesting question about transportation and cities, and how does he answer that question? (2)
ANSWER: Does the city exist for people or for cars? For cars.
4. In Chapter 3 of "The Geography of Nowhere," what did Lewis Mumford say about industrialism in the 19th century? (1)
ANSWER: that it produced the most degraded human environment the world had yet seen.
FRANCES: earns 20 points, plus one bonus point.
1. In terms of the emergence of cities and human civilization in general, what was the single most influential step in human history? (1)
ANSWER: the development of AGRICULTURE, which creates a surplus that allows craft, trade and the development of an intellectual life beyond survival needs; it facilitates the later stages of development -- i.e., villages and cities.
2. In "Heat Wave," what analogy does the author use (one used by Durkheim and other classic sociologists) to examine the events that unfolded in the city of Chicago? (1)
ANSWER: the organic or organismic analogy, as evidenced by his term, "social autopsy."
3. Identify ONE of the two theoretical principles Klinenberg brings out in "Heat Wave" that can be used to approach a broader inquiry into the life of the city. (1)
ANSWER: ONE of the following: (a) the first deriving from Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim, "is that extreme events such as the Chicago catastrophe are marked by 'an excessiveness which allows us better to perceive the facts than in those places where...they still remain small'scale and involuted.'" (b) The second, is that institutions have a tendency to reveal themselves (and not-so-obvious flaws in these systems) when they are stressed and under pressure -- in how they react or respond to such crises.
4. Define Rae's term "useful inefficiency," as used in "City." (2)
ANSWER: In essence, that urbanism was constructed out of several "useful inefficiencies," i.e., mom-and-pop groceries, smaller streets which played important roles in the community and civic fabric, despite being "inefficient" or outdated, in a sense, from a market or economic standpoint.
MIYA: earns 20 points, plus one bonus point.
1. Identify any TWO of the four major themes of the city that I introduced at the very beginning of the course. (2)
ANSWER: Any TWO of the following: (a) cities and urban life vary according to the time and place, (b) cities reflect and intensify a society and culture, (c) cities reflect the best/worst about the human condition, (d) cities offer the promise, but not always the reality, of a better life.
2. Define and contrast URBAN IMPLOSION and URBAN EXPLOSION. (2)
ANSWER: Urban implosion -- centripetal forces were dominant and people were drawn into the city. Cities are compact, densely populated, polluted due to industry -- characteristic of the 19th century. Urban explosion -- centrifugal forces draw people out of the cities into surrounding suburbs. Forces include auto/highway system -- characteristic of the 20th century.
3. In my summary comments on Chapter 2 of "City," what comment did I make about Rae's noting the inaccurate growth assumptions for New Haven circa 1910? (2)
ANSWER: "To make more accurate predictions...we must understand these larger technological/economic/ecological factors which have proven to be the real keys to urbanization, not necessarily political decisions of local officials."
4. Describe GM's "motorization campaign," as presented in the video, "Taken For A Ride." (2)
ANSWER: This involved replacing sttreet cars with diesel buses and eventually cars. National City Lines Bus Co., which was financed by GM, bought up trolley systems all across the country and made these trolley systems more expensive, less accessible, and less attractive, which eventually led to their dismantlement.
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That's it. See you Friday morning in Main 122, as my email note indicated.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Abbreviated Notes: The Geography of Nowhere
Below are some abbreviated notes on Chapters 7, 8, & 9 in "The Geography of Nowhere." So, after your presentations tomorrow we'll pick up with Chapter 10 in the book, and should be able to finish it by the end of next week.
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE EVIL EMPIRE
A. The "evil empire" being the automobile-suburb. Kunstler focuses on the considerable social, ecological, and aesthetic shortcomings of this evil empire.
1. Although suburbs are generally regarded as better places to rear children, Kunstler highlights the impediments to children moving about safely in the modern suburb. Roads are often too wide, giving rise to higher traffic speeds, and many suburban streets lack sidewalks which are very expensive for homeowners with large lots. And in shopping areas with huge parking lots, larger arterial roads almost never have sidewalks, which makes it difficult for children, the elderly, even adults to negociate on foot.
2. He talks about the extreme separation of uses and vast distances between things as another significant contributor to our over-reliance on the auotmobile. This grew out of the first zoning ordinances which sought to separate residential from commercial from noisy, smelly factories. It once may have served a valid purpose, but not so much anymore, and today it is taken to extremes -- separating high-income areas from low-income areas.
3. Kunstler says the least understood, and most difficult to measure, consequence of this is the loss of a SENSE OF PLACE (i.e., "the geography of nowhere").
a.) Notes the general impoverishment of public building.
b.) He challenges the claim made by some that the mall is an adequate substitute for the traditional Main Street (see, pp. 119-120).
c.) Criticizes the typical strip development on major highways coming into a city as gaudy and ugly.
d.) He notes the failure of academics who should have been more critical and foresighted with respect to this destructive pattern of suburban development.
B. He closes the chapter by highlighting some urban areas that have managed to maintain neighborhoods and roads that are more human scale and aesthetically pleasing, such as Charleston, SC. And from an economic standpoint, he notes how such areas have maintained their real estate value as well, if not better, than the artificial, isolated subdivisions of McMansions.
C. Finally, the "geography of nowhere" theme is captured well in the last paragraph of the chapter, p. 131.
CHAPTER EIGHT: HOW TO MESS UP A TOWN
A. Kunstler uses his hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY as a case study of how to mess up a town. It could just as easily be Spartanburg, SC or any small or medium-sized town in America.
1. Especially telling is the development of a commercial strip on the way into town -- South Broadway (think West Main or Asheville Highway in Spartanburg).
2. A good, insightful, observation: "The unwillingness to think about the public realm of the street in any other terms besides traffic (or commercial exploitation, I would add), shows how little value Americans confer on the public realm in general." (p. 138)
3. Also notes that after WWII there was little interest in fixing up the old. We wanted new things. And since gas was plentiful and cheap, why not build with the car in mind.
CHAPTER NINE: A PLACE CALLED HOME
A. Kunstler provides a critical history of architectural styles of houses, which culminates in the mass-produced home of the post-WWII period. "These housing 'products' represent a triumph of mass merchandising over regional building traditions, of salesmanship over civilization." (p. 166) -- and he goes on to make some further critical observations on this same page.
B. Again, the final paragraph of this chapter (p. 173) captures well this "geography of nowhere" theme as it relates to housing in particular.
____________________________
Again, that brings us up to Chapter Ten. DON'T FORGET, YOUR CITY PAPERS ARE DUE TOMORROW (THURS. 12/2) AND AFTER YOUR PRESENTATIONS WE WILL GET BACK TO "THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE."
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE EVIL EMPIRE
A. The "evil empire" being the automobile-suburb. Kunstler focuses on the considerable social, ecological, and aesthetic shortcomings of this evil empire.
1. Although suburbs are generally regarded as better places to rear children, Kunstler highlights the impediments to children moving about safely in the modern suburb. Roads are often too wide, giving rise to higher traffic speeds, and many suburban streets lack sidewalks which are very expensive for homeowners with large lots. And in shopping areas with huge parking lots, larger arterial roads almost never have sidewalks, which makes it difficult for children, the elderly, even adults to negociate on foot.
2. He talks about the extreme separation of uses and vast distances between things as another significant contributor to our over-reliance on the auotmobile. This grew out of the first zoning ordinances which sought to separate residential from commercial from noisy, smelly factories. It once may have served a valid purpose, but not so much anymore, and today it is taken to extremes -- separating high-income areas from low-income areas.
3. Kunstler says the least understood, and most difficult to measure, consequence of this is the loss of a SENSE OF PLACE (i.e., "the geography of nowhere").
a.) Notes the general impoverishment of public building.
b.) He challenges the claim made by some that the mall is an adequate substitute for the traditional Main Street (see, pp. 119-120).
c.) Criticizes the typical strip development on major highways coming into a city as gaudy and ugly.
d.) He notes the failure of academics who should have been more critical and foresighted with respect to this destructive pattern of suburban development.
B. He closes the chapter by highlighting some urban areas that have managed to maintain neighborhoods and roads that are more human scale and aesthetically pleasing, such as Charleston, SC. And from an economic standpoint, he notes how such areas have maintained their real estate value as well, if not better, than the artificial, isolated subdivisions of McMansions.
C. Finally, the "geography of nowhere" theme is captured well in the last paragraph of the chapter, p. 131.
CHAPTER EIGHT: HOW TO MESS UP A TOWN
A. Kunstler uses his hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY as a case study of how to mess up a town. It could just as easily be Spartanburg, SC or any small or medium-sized town in America.
1. Especially telling is the development of a commercial strip on the way into town -- South Broadway (think West Main or Asheville Highway in Spartanburg).
2. A good, insightful, observation: "The unwillingness to think about the public realm of the street in any other terms besides traffic (or commercial exploitation, I would add), shows how little value Americans confer on the public realm in general." (p. 138)
3. Also notes that after WWII there was little interest in fixing up the old. We wanted new things. And since gas was plentiful and cheap, why not build with the car in mind.
CHAPTER NINE: A PLACE CALLED HOME
A. Kunstler provides a critical history of architectural styles of houses, which culminates in the mass-produced home of the post-WWII period. "These housing 'products' represent a triumph of mass merchandising over regional building traditions, of salesmanship over civilization." (p. 166) -- and he goes on to make some further critical observations on this same page.
B. Again, the final paragraph of this chapter (p. 173) captures well this "geography of nowhere" theme as it relates to housing in particular.
____________________________
Again, that brings us up to Chapter Ten. DON'T FORGET, YOUR CITY PAPERS ARE DUE TOMORROW (THURS. 12/2) AND AFTER YOUR PRESENTATIONS WE WILL GET BACK TO "THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE."
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