Course Description
A history of the planning, development, and growth of American
cities. In addition to studying the built environment, this
course will examine American attitudes and perceptions of urban
spaces from the colonial period to the present. The impact of
transportation, technology, and immigration on American cities
will also be considered.
Athena Title
History of American Cities
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of American cities by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of American cities has shaped social and cultural identities, particularly surrounding race and immigration, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
Topical Outline
- Introduction to American Cities
- The Organic Plan: Boston and New York
- The Ordered City: New Haven, Philadelphia, and Savannah
- Townhouses and Urban Slave Quarters
- Water, Disease, and Sanitation in the Early American
- Churchyards and Rural Cemeteries
- Public Parks in America
- World’s Fairs and Amusement Parks
- Urban Transportation and Streetcar Suburbs
- Immigration, Tenements, and Settlement Houses
- New York, Chicago, and San Francisco at the Turn of the Century
- The Skyscraper in American Culture
- The Automobile and the City
- Modernism and Urban Life
- Post-war Cities and Urban Blight
- Post-modernism and After
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
