URBAN THEORY/Pamuk
Feb. 27, 1996
CREATING "HEALTHY CITIES"
Progress Report due: Tuesday, March 19th, 1996
Final Project due: Thursday, March 28th, 1996
Absolutely no exceptions!
Overview of Project #2 and Midterm Review: Sunday, March 3, 3pm
The objectives of this assignment are (i) to reflect upon the work of Jane Jacobs as it
relates to describing and designing "healthy cities" and (ii) to visually
represent some of her contributions to urban theory and planning. As you know, Jane Jacobs
will be visiting UVa the week of April 8th, and will visit our class on Thursday, April
11th. Your work will be displayed as part of an exhibit honoring her work, and will be
discussed during her visit with our class. You will not be required to prepare your
project fully ready for the exhibit (e.g., enlarge and mount your outputs), however, when
choosing your topic, you should keep in mind that the final product should be
"visual." You will have some flexibility in defining your specific topics and
"outputs," although please follow the general guidelines given below. Be
creative, and don't hesitate to discuss your ideas with Prof. Pamuk or Kristan if you have
any questions or just want some feedback.
A sign-up sheet will be posted on Prof. Pamuk's door, Room 109. Please sign up for one of
the four options by Tuesday, March 5.
In addition to meeting the March 28th due date, you will be required to prepare a Progress
Report due on Tuesday, March 19. By this time you should have clearly defined/outlined
your topic, have started your research, and have started to think about your presentation.
A sign up sheet for the Progress Reports will be posted on Prof. Pamuk's door after Spring
Break.
Option 1: Economically Healthy Cities
Work on this topic will draw primarily from Jane Jacobs' book Cities and the Wealth of Nations, and will focus defining and describing the economic concepts she uses to discuss one of the following concepts/questions:
Why do cities prosper, decline, or fail to "develop"? How does Jacobs define "development"? Describe the "metamorphosis of cities." Include the "five great forces" of growth (p. 42-43) and the roles of import replacement and innovation. Also see pg. 189. What is the role of the city in the national economy? or in the international economy? What is the role of the government in a market-driven economy? What is the relationship between cities? Choose one of the following: between cities and rural areas? between small towns and cities? between two backward cities? Include, as necessary, the concepts of volatile trade and dead-end trade. What is the "city region"? Describe the relationship between the elements that comprise a "city region."
It is expected that the output for this topic will be a causal model/diagram, or a series of diagrams, visually representing the economic concepts and relationships she discusses.
Option 2: Designing Healthy Cities
Work on this topic will examine more closely the urban design concepts that Jane Jacobs suggests are key components of healthy, livable cities, such as:
building to human-scale uses of sidewalks mixed-use development street design/highway redesign high density development uses of parks need for "aged buildings"
Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities is the main source of these concepts.
The output for this topic will include the following three components:
an illustration of one or two of the urban design concepts she has promoted; an explanation of why this concept is important; and, an example of this concept in practice, or, if it has not been commonly used, a description of the obstacles to its implementation.
For Options 1 and 2: If you would like to suggest a concept other than the ones listed, please have it outlined for your Progress Report meeting.
Option 3: Organizing Healthy Cities
Jane Jacobs began her involvement in urban planning as a community activist and organizer. Today, public participation remains a critical element of the planning process. Work on this topic will highlight Jane Jacobs' work as a community activist and her ideas on the importance of "urban governance" to neighborhood revitalization through research of newspaper articles published about her activism in Greenwich Village, New York in the early 1960s, particularly with regard to her protest against the West Village public housing project.
The output for this topic will be a collection of newspaper articles (5 - 10) that chronicle her role as a community activist, along with a written (3 - 5 page) summary of her ideas, strategies and achievements (both short-term and long-term).
Option 4: Informing Others About Healthy Cities
The World Wide Web is increasingly becoming a critical tool for delivering information to the public. This group will create a "Jane Jacobs" homepage on the World Wide Web to educate our school, the university, and the general public about Jacobs' work.
The output for this option is the creation of a web site containing the following:
a brief biography (1 to 2 pages) of Jane Jacobs, highlighting her major ideas and contributions to urban planning; a summary of the work completed by the other groups; and, links to other WWW sites that are concerned with building healthy communities.
Grading
This assignment is worth 100 points, as follows:
65 Thoroughness and accuracy of research, quality of discussion and presentation
25 Creativity in project interpretation
10 Completing Progress Report on time
Extra Credit
10 Helping with the exhibit