Urban Culture and Public Life

Catalog description

This first-year seminar relies on the interdisciplinary tools of cultural sociology and urban studies to examine everyday life in the contemporary American city. Our case studies will include storied U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and our own city of Philadelphia. We will draw on thought-provoking readings, in-class fieldtrips, and local observational exercises to explore both (1) entertainment and pop cultural attractions in the city (including its artistic and creative scenes, retail and dining corridors, and tourism districts); and (2) the culture of urban living more generally. The latter includes the daily neighborhood rounds of urban dwellers and visitors, the everyday uses of the city’s architecture and built environment, the symbolic meanings of urban landscapes, and how face-to-face social encounters unfold among strangers interacting on downtown sidewalks and in urban parks and plazas, coffeehouses, outdoor markets, dog runs, libraries, and other public spaces.