什么是城市?是什么塑造了它?其历史是如何影响未来发展的？物质形态及习俗是如何使一个城市区别于另一城市的，这些区别有何意义？城市如何变化，它们的未来会如何？本课程将探索这些以及其它问题，重点为20世纪的美国城市。主要着重于城市的物质形态——从闹市区和城区到郊区和边缘城市——及其塑造过程。
城市不断地建设又重建；从原始部落直到现在，接续的阶层留下遗迹。还有城中之城；每个城市都有许多区——闹市区、社区、郊区，每个地区都有自己的历史，风俗习惯，延继的人口，和城市形态。结果是造就了非常复杂的艺术品：从房屋到学校、银行，从操场到公园、广场，从小巷到大道，从下水管道到高速公路。这些为其自身所处的建筑、社会、政治背景和建筑者，以及他们的需求和期望透出了一些信息。在理解过去的建筑的基础上，我们将转而解读当代城市居地。建于今天的城市展露了哪些社会和个人接纳或摒弃的价值？
我们会通过课堂讲授，阅读材料，及特定场所的分析来探索这些问题。重点是研究波士顿。一项包含短期实地考察作业的专题将为使用、发展、提炼新技巧来“解读” 城市提供更多机会。本课程将大量利用网络提供的机会。教学大纲，图片库以及其他链接将在网上公布。通过与课程网站的链接，学生将在线展示他们的专题。这些学生网站与每周阅读材料一起，将为课堂讨论提供素材。
课程中的成绩通过两种方式评定：一个包含5部分的专题（75%），以及课堂参与（25%）。
这是一个人文艺术社会科学的集中交流（HASS-CI）课程，通过课堂讨论、书面作业和网站设计为学生提供口头和书面表达的机会。该课程要求至少有20页写作，分为3到5 份作业；最少其中一份要修订重交。
本课程限25名学生。
What is a city? What shapes it? How does its history influence future development? How do physical form and institutions vary from city to city and how are these differences significant? How are cities changing and what is their future? This course will explore these and other questions, with emphasis upon twentieth-century American cities. A major focus will be on the physical form of cities -- from downtown and inner-city to suburb and edge city -- and the processes that shape them.
Cities are constantly built and rebuilt; from the initial settlement to the present, successive layers leave traces. There are also cities within cities; every city has many districts -- downtown, neighborhoods, suburbs, each evolving with its own history, institutions, successive populations, and urban form. The result is a richly complex text of artifacts: from houses to schools and banks, playgrounds to parks and plazas, alleys to boulevards, sewers to freeways. These provide clues to the environmental, social, and political context in which they were built and to the people who built them, their needs and desires. Armed with an understanding of places built in the past, we will turn to a reading of contemporary urban settlements. What do the cities being built today reveal about the values societies and individuals hold or reject?
We will explore these issues through lectures, readings, and analysis of particular places. Boston will provide a primary text. A project involving short field assignments will provide further opportunity to use, develop, and refine new skills in "reading" the city. The course will take advantage of opportunities afforded by the Internet. The syllabus, a gallery, and other links will be posted on the World-Wide Web. Students will present their projects online with links to the course website. These student websites, along with weekly readings, will provide material for class discussion.
Work for the course will be evaluated in two ways: a project consisting of five parts (75%) and class participation (25%).
This is a HASS-CI class, which offers students opportunity for verbal and graphic expression through class discussion, written texts, and website design. Communication-intensive subjects in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences require at least twenty pages of writing divided among three to five assignments; at least one must be revised and resubmitted.
The class is limited to twenty-five students.
