CONTEMPORARY URBAN ISSUES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORKS

Catalog description

The discipline of Human Development and Family Studies has a tradition of culturally sensitive engagement within communities, helping to improve quality of life by applying and disseminating knowledge about development across the lifespan, all in their larger social contexts. Issues of social justice and equity play an integral role in defining the questions that Human Development and Family Studies students ask and the solutions that they pursue, as students must account for diverse needs and values based on age, gender, ethnicity and cultural background. Students preparing to work in the field of Human Development and Family Studies must possess the content, pedagogical and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to work in diverse communities. HDFS 345 is an opportunity for students to explore the relationship between contemporary urban issues and family development. Participants will evaluate urban development from a Human Development perspective and with a critical eye to how urban development has accounted for the distinctive needs of different segments of the public. Therefore, HDFS 345 incorporates the knowledge of different Human Development and Family Studies theories and social justice paradigms to help students examine urban themes and build their understanding of social justice and family development as related to these themes. Students will learn how urban planning accounts for differences in society, identify different segments of the urban population differentiated by a few diversity constructs (culture, race, SES, gender, etc) and gain awareness of the varying and distinctive needs and concerns of these groups with respect to living in the urban environment. Students will also explore contemporary issues, like modern policing practices, and find resources to develop solutions to social issues or problems. Discussions of policy and moral philosophy will contribute to students' aptitude to plan an appropriate solution with tangible results. Ultimately, students are expected to leave the course with geographically-informed conceptualizations of social justice and insight into how individuals, families and organizations can work within urban communities as collaborators and partners.