Time Schedule:
Michael Kucher
T HIST 488
Tacoma Campus
Addresses the environmental impact of ancient, medieval, and modern cities. Includes the evolution of urban infrastructure and relations between city and countryside.
Class description
Course will span ancient Mediterranean Cities to Modern North American Cities with a long pause in nineteenth-century Chicago. It will examine the ways in which cities and the environment re-shape each other. Of particular note this year will be the integration of David Owen's work _Green Metropolis_ as a coda to the long held view of cities as destructive forces.
Student learning goals
Identify a research topic in cities and the environment.
Compose an analytic annotated bibliography.
Describe the way in which the literature on the topic has evolved over time.
Use bibliographic software such as Zotero, RefWorks, or EndNote to take charge of their data.
Integrate data and methods across disciplines to achieve a broadly based understanding of urbanization and its consequences.
Answer the question: how have environmental impacts of cities (and our perception of them) changed over time?
General method of instruction
Extensive reading and class discussion augmented by rigorous writing assignments.
Recommended preparation
Advanced research and writing skills are assumed. Set aside FIFTEEN HOURS A WEEK in addition to time in class for preparation. Have basic understanding of Near Eastern, European, and North American geography and history.
Class assignments and grading
lots of reading, precise disciplined writing. see goals above.
quality of submissions, following directions to the letter, creativity, contribution to larger understanding of the field
