Cities in Society (207-0-20)
Instructors
Rose Werth
Rose Werth is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at Northwestern. Her areas of interest include urban sociology, community safety and wellness, gun violence, affordable housing, racial and social inequality, and urban politics. Her research uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods.
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 222: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
The course is called Cities and Society but it's really about the whole metropolis. Urban areas are dense settlements of diverse groups of people. Racial, gender, sexual, ethnic, cultural, economic, and political heterogeneity all require negotiation and sometimes lead to conflicts that play out in the streets and neighborhoods of major metropolises. Also, elite political and financial actors in cities have a heavy hand in shaping the direction of urban development and the allocation of resources. We will look at the role of both institutional actors and average city residents in affecting the following urban issues: housing and residential stratification by race and class, city financing and economic development, poverty, zoning, crime and policing, health and wellness, education, culture, and immigration.
Learning Objectives
1. Recognize, define, and utilize urban sociology vocabulary (e.g., sprawl, growth machine, zoning).
2. Analyze underlying mechanisms of major issues in urban areas, such as gentrification or school funding.
3. Find data about metropolitan areas.
4. Generate questions about urban phenomena that many take for granted.
5. Evaluate the possible or likely effects of urban policies.
Class Materials (Required)
All materials for this course will be made available on Canvas - no purchase necessary.
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area