LIB 2205ID LEARNING PLACES: UNDERSTANDING THE CITY
1 classroom hour, 4 lab/studio hours, 3 credits
D960 Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-12:35 pm, Room A543
Course Description: This Special Topics Course offers an interdisciplinary approach to investigating our built environment using a case study focused on a specific place each semester. This course combines physical examination with information research and data collection using methodologies developed in multiple disciplines. Students from a variety of departments engage in on-site exploration and in-depth research of a location in New York City. Faculty from the Library and Architectural Technology Departments are teaching the course this semester, and will thus focus course material through a lens of architecture, urban studies, and information studies.
Course Context: This Special Topics Course is an Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts and Sciences Course that applies toward the BTech/BS General Education Common Core College Option requirements.
Prerequisites: ENG 1101 and any Flexible Core Course
Course Materials: Unlined notebook and soft pencils for sketching and note-taking. All required reading / viewing / listening can be found here
Recommended Texts:
Crowe, Norman, and Paul Laseau. Visual Notes for Architects and Designers. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012. Print. On reserve at the City Tech Library: NA 2750 C76 2012
Laseau, Paul. Freehand sketching – An Introduction. New York, London: W.W Norton & Company, 2004. Print. On reserve at the City Tech Library: NA 2708. L37 2004
Attendance Policy: No more than 10% absences permitted during the semester. Students must arrive to class on time or will accumulate absences – two latenesses are considered one absence. Students exceeding this limit are at risk of failing.
Course Structure: This course combines a series of research seminars with fieldwork, site visits and documentation, and on and off campus research. Combinations of individual and team assignments as well as class participation are the basis for the final grade. The culmination of the weekly assignments is the Final Report as well as a podcast. The Final Report will be published on the Open Lab and accessible to the entire City Tech community.
Grading:
- 5% Blogs
- 10% In-Class Participation
- 35% Site Documentation Reports
- 50% Final Project
- 10% Project site design, images, and reflection
- 10% Annotated Bibliography
- 5% Outline
- 25% Podcast
Academic Integrity: Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting and citation of sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the college recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension and expulsion.
Course Schedule
T8.29.2017
Welcome and introductions
- Read: Wikipedia articles on Urban Renewal, Downtown Brooklyn; Gowanus Canal and surrounding neighborhoods
- Join OpenLab Course
TH8.31.2017
GENIUS LOCI – A Sense of Place
Introduction to the Site
Watch and discuss: Characters of the Gowanus
Homework:
- Blog Post 1: 500-word report of the street you live on – due Sept 5
- Listen: Bowery Boys Gowanus Podcast
T9.5.2017
Preparation for field work: note taking, sketching and visual notation
Research questions
Review Site Reports
Blog Post 1 DUE
Homework:
- Read: Visual Notes, Introduction, pp. 1-15; Appendix: tools and techniques, pp.181-187 (Handout)
TH9.7.2017
Site Visit 1: Gowanus
T9.12.2017
Gowanus History
Conducting background Research
Evaluating sources
Site Report 1 DUE
Homework:
- Read: “Prologue,” Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal (Handout)
- Prepare questions on reading for guest lecturer
TH9.14.2017
Guest Lecturer: Joseph Alexiou
Homework:
- Blog Post 2: a 500-word discussion: your reaction to a topic raised by guest lecturer — Due Sept 19
T9.19.2017
Approaches to urban development
Watch and discuss: My Brooklyn
Zoning presentation and discussion
Blog Post 2 DUE
Homework:
- Blog Post 3: a 500-word discussion: your reaction to a topic raised by the movie due sept 26
- Read: Visual Notes, Ch. 2, pp. 17-29 (Handout)
TH9.21.2017 NO CLASSES
T9.26.2017
Environmental Context
Watch and Discuss: Cleaning Up a Local Superfund Site
Homework:
TH9.28.2017
Site Visit 2: Gowanus Conservancy
Blog Post 3 DUE
Homework:
Read: “How the Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor”
T10.3.2017
Newspaper Research
Research questions and Citations
TH10.5.2017
Library Visit 1: Brooklyn Public Library
Site Report 2 DUE
T10.10.2017
Approaches to urban development 2
Watch and discuss Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Library Report 1 DUE
Homework:
- Read: “The Uses of Neighborhoods” (Handout)
- Blog Post 4: a 200-word discussion: your reaction to a topic raised by the movie Citizen Jane: Battle for the City due Oct 17
TH10.12.2017
Site Visit 3: In-Depth Exploration of Gowanus
T10.17.2017
Guest Lecturer: Abby Subak from Gowanus Arts
Blog Post 4 DUE
TH10.19.2017
Intro to Archival Research
Government Documents
Homework:
T10.24.2017
Library Visit 2: NYPL Map Room
Site Report 3 DUE
TH10.26.2017
[Guest Lecturer: Mike Clemow Radio Free Gowanus]
Homework:
Listen: Audio Interference “Radio Free Gowanus”
T10.31.2017
Library Report 2 DUE
Waterfront Renewal lecture and discussion
Final Project Assigned
TH11.2.2016
Guest Lecturer: Susan Phillip Waterfront history and Renewal
T11.7.2017
Group Project Development
TH11.9.2017
Library Visit 3: Interference Archive
T11.14.2017
Thematic Research
Outlines
Library Report 3 DUE
TH11.16.2017
Annotated Bibliographies
Group Project Development
T11.21.2017 / TH11.23.2017 NO CLASSES SCHEDULED
T11.28.2017
Group Project Development
Group Outline Drafts Due
TH 11.30.2017
Group Project Development
T12.5.2017
Group Project Development
Annotated Bibliography Drafts Due
Copyright Discussion
TH12.7.2017
Group Project Development
T12.12.2017
Group Project Development
Group Outline Final Due
TH12.14.2017
Group Project Development
T12.19.2017
Final Presentations / Peer Evaluation
Final Projects posted to OpenLab / Final Podcasts and Annotated Bibliography Due
