City as Text

Catalog description

This course focuses on the city as a "text," a living environment that reveals itself and its inhabitants through an exploration of its history, economics, politics, culture and art. The city serves as an experiential case study which affords students an opportunity to investigate, reflect, and critically analyze the city and its inhabitants (including themselves) as a living and evolving system/organism. Through a series of visits to various organizations, businesses, and institutions of art, culture, government and education, students explore the nature and meaning of community and civic and professional life. Avenues of discovery in this course include art and architecture, communication and literature, history, economics, sociology, psychology and political science.