Sociology 8361

Urban Sociology

Gladfelter 748

Wednesday 5:00-7:30

Anne B. Shlay, Professor

Office Hours: Wednesday 3:30-4:30 or by appointment

Course Description

Urban sociology is rooted in the dramatic restructuring of social life that came about with the industrial revolution. Economic restructuring was accompanied by rapid urbanization and foreign immigration. With the seeming total reorganization of political, economic and social structures, sociologists took notice of the influence of space on community. The role of space and location became the foundation of what is now known as the ChicagoSchool.

The creative machinations of the ChicagoSchool became the object of critique and debate as economic restructuring continued and theories about it exploded. Alleged mindless economistic thinking was criticized for failing to consider the economy, politics, culture, discrimination, institutions, the world system – in short, the fundamental theoretical features that are central to sociological explanations. And with critique came more ideas about how space was both shaped and transformed by a myriad of complex forces as well as a deeper understanding of the importance of space for family, work, and social reproduction. The physical feature of urban life – space, became imbued with all kinds of meaning as causes of, and outcomes for quality of life, life chances, and the transmission of wealth (or lack thereof) across generations. A seemingly simple concept --- space, quickly became an important foundation for understanding, and potentially solving, a wide range of human problems including inequality, environmental degradation, and war.

This course is about the space and urban sociology. The goal of this course is twofold: 1) to review, assess and analyze important theoretical perspectives on space in urban sociology, and 2) to determine the utility of applying these perspectives to contemporary urban issues.

As a course that focuses on urban life, it will feature discussions of urban problems. It is not, however, a course on urban problems per se. Urban problems will be examined largely from the perspective of the how space and location are linked to these problems and they will not be investigated in their own right. The underlying theme of this course relates to theoretical propositions around space.

This is also a course about research. It will focus on research from the vantage point of how theory can and should be used as a foundation for conceptualizing research problems. The problem from the perspective of research is like this: Theory is often viewed as an area of study separate and independent from empirical research. Oddly, sociology is riddled with divisions between those who “do” theory and those who “do” research. The separation of theory from research is ironic at best because ideally, theory is supposed to inform research and vice versa. Apparently, the post-modern fear of generalization (everything is unique), a rampant epidemic of jargon, and the long- standing division between qualitative and quantitative (which side are you on?) has sorted people into camps, empirical or otherwise. Although I may be overstating this a bit, the division between the theorists and the researchers does not seem to be a productive one. This course will attempt to meld the two to inform, hopefully, better research and better theory. At least, we will try.

An additional problem is one of research conceptualization. This is a key problem for graduate students as they begin to design their dissertation research. Although students may have a keen interest in some phenomena that they want to research, they are unable to situate their research question in a theoretical context. This course will attempt to use urban theory to conceptualize research questions around a series of important urban topics.

Books

I have ordered two books for this class.

Zukin, Sharon. 2009. Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wilson, William Julius. 2010. More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City. New York, NY: W.W. Norton

Required Reading

Most of the reading is not contained in the books that I ordered. All of the required reading is on Blackboard in PDF form. Be prepared to download and print each reading.

The schedule for proceeding through the readings is tentative and subject to modification. It is highly unlikely that I will assign all readings under the headings for each topic. So the specific assignment will be made prior to the class. I will make announcements either on Blackboard or in class.

Research Topics, Assignments and Exams

There are several types of assignments for this class: 1) weekly theory write-ups 2) group problem background write-up, 3) the applied theory write-upand, 4) take-home final exam.

Question/Statement/Quotation of the Day (5 points)

For each class, one student will be given the job of coming up with the question, statement, or quotation of the day. Upon reading the material for that class (typically for the week of classes), is there something you want to ask? Or is there something you want to say? This can be very brief. The assignment is not intended to show how much you know about a subject or how sophisticated you are about it. Rather, it is supposed to be an opportunity for you to express yourself in some vocal way about the material and get others to respond to you.

I will give each student a class date for which they are responsible to bring his or her question/statement to share with the class. We will have a brief (or potentially lengthy) discussion about it.

The Weekly Theory Write-Ups

Each other week or so, you will write a 3-4 page write-up about the issues addressed in the reading. I would like you to explain the theory under examination and what you like or do not like about the theory. You do not have to cite readings, just write about them. I would like you to cover 7 topics over the course of the semester. At least three have to be in during the first half of the semester.

Contemporary Spatial Topics in Philadelphia: The Group Problem Background Write-Up and the Applied Theory Write-Up

To develop and apply theoretical propositions to contemporary urban issues, I have selected four topics that will be investigated by the class. These topics are current development issues within Philadelphia. These topics are complex, important, difficult to resolve, and with competing interests and agendas. For our purposes, these topics all involve space and location but in very different ways. These topics are 1) Ogantz Ave, 2) Avenue of the Arts (North and South), 3) Northern Liberties (Bart Blatstein), and 4) New Urbanism.

Below I give a brief description of each issue. But I am not writing much to avoid influencing your thoughts about these topics. I want you to learn about the competing definitions and analyses of these issues/problems and come up with analyses that may be unique to you.

Contacts

I am providing a list of contacts that may be helpful. Others will be added along the way.

Roy S. Diamond,

Diamond & Associates
1528 Walnut Street
Suite 815
Philadelphia, PA 19102

215-732-3600

Roy Diamond

Roy has over 25 years of experience as a developer and consultant in residential and commercial projects, with a focus on the conception, financing, construction, implementation, management, and policy of affordable housing. He has served as legal counsel and advisor to developers, community based nonprofits, local governments and their agencies, and financing sources including private foundations.

Before starting D&A in 1990, Roy was principal of Rouse Urban Housing, an affiliate of Rouse & Associates. He grew this affordable and market housing development business to include 35 employees in development, management and construction divisions. Rouse Urban Housing was responsible for the development of approximately $80 million in primarily affordable housing. While there he advised, planned or built suburban and urban housing developments, ranging from permanent housing for homeless families, to large, complex, historic renovations for market-rate occupancy, to newly constructed modular homes for first time buyers. Roy has been personally involved in approximately $600 million of market-rate and subsidized residential and commercial developments.

His career commitment to community revitalization began when he served as a Staff Attorney for Regional Housing Legal Services in Glenside, PA. During this time, he provided legal and development advisory services to community based nonprofit organizations, focusing on North Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

Born and raised in Ardmore, PA, Roy graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA with a BA in Philosophy, and was recipient of a Dana Scholarship and Phi Beta Kappa member. He went on to earn a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania School Of Law, as well as a Masters in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School Of Fine Arts in 1979.

Roy serves on the Boards of Regional Housing Legal Services and Autism Living and Working. Roy’s interests include philosophy, Philadelphia sports teams, fine arts, his two dogs, and days on the beach reading a good book. Roy’s son, Jacob, has autism, so he commits his spare time to improving the lives of adults with autism in Pennsylvania.

Sam Sherman

2002 Brandywine Street

Philadelphia, PA19130-3205

215-640-0745

Sam Sherman [

Sam Sherman has worked in the residential construction industry for 18 years and has supervised and managed the construction of more than 1100 homes in the suburban counties of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. He has worked for medium size regional home builders as well as larger national home builders such as Ryland Homes. In January 2003, Sam left the suburban housing industry and started his own firm, Sam Sherman Associates LLC, to explore development opportunities in the City of Philadelphia. He is also a partner in the firm New Urban Ventures. Sam is a proponent of New Urbanist planning and development techniques and aims to develop projects that aid in rebuilding neighborhoods that have suffered from fifty years of disinvestment and population loss. New Urban Ventures is currently working on an urban infill neighborhood master plan that incorporates New Urbanist design principles. Construction of Phase I, consisting of 53 townhomes, 15 condominiums and 6000 sq. ft. of retail space; is scheduled to start in spring of 2005. He has been a resident of Philadelphia for 14 years and is an active member of his community. Sam is a Democratic Committeeman in the 15th Ward and works closely with city government to address the concerns of his community. He is a board member and former president of the Building Industry Association (BIA) of Philadelphia, chairs the membership committee, co-chairs the Housing Conference Committee and is a member of the BIA Sales and Marketing Committee. Sam is also a member of the Urban Land Institute, an organization promoting sound land use policies and reinvestment in our urban centers.

Projects

  1. Ogantz Avenue

Ogantz Avenue is a street that runs through much of the far north part of Philadelphia. It is bordered by Cheltenham Ave and run East of Broad. It is part of the West Oak Lane neighborhood. It is a busy commercial area, largely African American with lots of business and restaurants, including relatively new Asian establishments.

In the 1970s, Ogantz Ave (like much of North Philadelphia which is a broad sweep running from Spring Garden to Cheltenham Ave.) was noticeable in decline. In 1983, the Ogantz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC) was formed. Unlike other newly developed community development corporations, this one was found under the leadership of an up and coming and soon to be prominent democratic leader, Dwight Evans. Many view the improvements occurring in Ogantz to be attributable both directly and indirectly to Dwight Evens who is a State of Pennsylvania representative.

Since then million of dollars has flowed to this neighborhood for all sorts of improvement including new housing development, business development, greening and parks, and education (particularly the development of new charter schools).

One of the professed gems of the OARC has been its annual festival, The West Oak Lane Jazz and Art Festival -- a three day street fair designed to get people into the neighborhood. The Ogantz festival received $1 million dollars in state support for this fair. This year attendance was reported (by the Inquirer) to be low although the organizers deny this.

A distinguishing feature of this community development corporation is that it is a political driven entity – by one power politician Dwight Evans. Much of its money and power comes from the leverage brought by State Representative Evans. Its size, stature and influence is derived from this power. This is part of the analysis of this project.

The main focus of the OARC is Ogantz Avenue itself, a large commercial strip. It is designed to physically and economically strengthen this commercial district. So its major focus is physical development. This physical development emphasis has spinoffs as well. It has others areas that it concentrates on including housing, greening, arts and education.

The Ogantz is one of many community development corporations that dot the City of Philadelphia landscape. Some are very small. Others, like the one in Ogantz appear to have a broader political agenda in part, largely, because it is politically led. How do power, politics, race, class and ethnicity play out in the mix? What have been the accomplishments of the OARC to date and how does it compare to other community in terms of costs and benefits? Does have a major political leader behind this effort make a difference? How do politics influence the control of space?

  1. Avenue of the Arts (North and South)

Avenue of the Arts is a broadly defined entertainment and cultural district that runs along Broad Street. Avenue of the Arts South is south of City Hall. Avenue of the Arts North is north of City Hall (although it appears that the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is claimed by both). Officially it goes from Broad and Locast to Broad and Lombard. This spatial definition, however, appears to grow larger every day.

Where is the Avenue of the Arts. Some web sites have Avenue of the Arts North events goes as far as Ogantz Ave (to the north edge of the city) and as far south as Washington Lane. Some go to the Uptown Theater (an old historic and run down theater north of Temple on Broad Street). Avenue of the Arts South appears more fixed. Avenue of the Arts North appears to be a moving target.

The official Avenue of the Arts development strategy began with May Edward Rendall who put a lot of public money into its development. Its genesis rests with the already existing theaters like the Merriam and the Academy of Music and has grown quickly with new large venues most noticeably the Kimmel Center. Also new are the Willma, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, and the Buildings for the University of the Arts. There are also many rehabbed homes, new homes and large condominium developments. Lots of private investment has gone into the development along the Avenue of the Arts South and its surrounding neighborhood.

Avenue of the Arts South has been developed with a huge infusion of both public and private money.There is the soon to be opened Convention Expansion Center. The Suzanne Roberts Theatre and the building in which it resides was built with private money, developed by board member Carl Dranoff.

Avenue of the Arts North has not received the same kind of attention. But Avenue of the Arts North is not forgotten. A look at the current board includes North Philadelphia’s most prominent city councilman Darrel Carke, President of Temple Ann Weaver Hart and Temple Senior Vice President (in charge of lobbying) Kenneth Lawerence.

The Avenue of the Arts North has progressed at a much slower pace. Why is this. Is this the reflection of race, class, power, politics or any combination.

The Avenue of the Arts is, it would seem to be, a downtown development strategy. How is it supposed to work? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays and who plays? What are the neighborhood effects and where? What are the overall effects on the entire city of Philadelphia? What kind of “public” policy is the Avenue of the Arts, both North and South?

  1. Northern Liberties/Bart Blatstein

Northern Liberties is a neighborhood mapped by some as being east of Broad Street, and south of Girard, north of Spring Garden, between approximately 6th Street and Delaware Ave. But like all neighborhoods undergoing economic, racial and ethnic change, the boundaries keep shifting. What is Northern Liberties and how is its boundaries changing is itself an interesting question.

Northern Liberties began as a working class suburb and began to attract artists in the 1970s. This began the Soho or Manayunk like transition to a hipper form of gentrification. Close enough to Center City with interesting loft like architecture, North Liberties has become a hot neighborhood—a destination point for urban chic and the young not-so-chic.

Enter Bart Blatstein. Bart Blatstein (a Temple grad.) is a developer who made his money doing strip mall suburban development working with large scale commercial properties. Inspired, he says, by new urbanism, Blatstein has turned to Northern Liberties as his new frontier. To date he has developed a monumental residential and commercial development known as the Piazza at Schmidts. Modeled after the Piazza in Rome and built on land that previously housed a beer factory, the Piazza is has 500 apartments as well as artist studios, restaurants and office space. The buildings are located around a huge plaza that is anchored by a huge 26 foot LED screen that broadcasts shows and sports, sometimes 24/7. This Piazza is adjacent to Blatstein’s Liberty Walk, a four block “village” of restaurants and shops.