Rise of the American City

Catalog description

The destiny of the United States has been intimately connected to the growth and vitality of its cities. The American city has both shaped and mirrored the nation as a whole. As laboratories of modern life, American cities have faced the phenomena of industrialization, mass immigration, class struggle, progressive reform, racism, cultural dynamism, ecological degradation, physical decay and urban renaissance. Their responses to these ongoing challenges have varied widely, yet collectively they have impacted American society in a most profound way. The course is generally constructed chronologically, with a periodic focus on specific urban case studies. The semester begins with an examination of the earliest American cities in the colonial era, and proceeds to the rise of the metropolis in the nineteenth century. The metropolis created new opportunities as well as new problems, and the course will examine the challenges of urbanism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This course will integrate American political history, economic history, social history and technological change. By using in depth case studies, general trends and concepts will become specific and concrete for the learner.