Boston: An Urban Analysis PL 216 • Boston College Introduction • Course Requirements • Texts
Introduction
"Intuition alone is never enough to explain what you see. One must learn to trust intuition but also to pursue its leads; to follow hints from peripheral vision but always to dig beyond first impressions: to see through a scene and its many processes, but also to see through it in time to understand how it came to be, and to guess more skillfully at what it might become." Grady Clay, Close-Up-How to Read the American City
"Here name was Jane Jacobs. And her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, would do more than any other single piece of writing in a century to change the way people looked at New York – and at all cities." Ric Burns and James Sanders, with Lisa Ades, New York, An Illustrated History
"In our American Cities, we need all kinds of diversity." Jane Jacobs, Death and Life of Great American Cities
This course is intended for PULSE students who are willing to investigate, analyze, and understand the history, problems, and prospects of Boston's neighborhoods. The above quotes by Grady Clay and Jane Jacobs frame our method of investigation. Assignments will require that you spend time observing, researching, and writing about the neighborhood in which your PULSE placement is located.
With the exception of the fourth session, class meetings in the first half of the semester will meet on campus. Class #4 will meet in the Skywalk Observation Deck at the Prudential Center. For the second half of the semester, as snow banks give way to slush and sun and blossoms, we will meet in the South End of Boston for a first hand case study of a most intriguing and changing inner-city neighborhood.
Panorama of Great Boston Fire
Requirements:
• Participation in a Boston College PULSE Program field placement
• Four Workbook Assignments
• Careful reading of the texts and spirited discussion
• Final Project
Levine & Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community
Gans, The Urban Villagers
Roessner, A Decent Place to Live
Jacobs, Death and Life of Great American Cities
Walk Boston: Shawmut Peninsula Walk
Whitehill, Boston, A Topographical History
Boston City Hospital in the South End
Additional information about this class is available on-line at http://004e136.netsolhost.com/bcclasses.html
