Rethinking Suburban History Architecture 179/279XProfessor Margaret Crawford ([email protected])Tuesday, (9:30-12:30) Room 104 Wurster HallOffice Hours: Wednesday 9:30-12:30 362 Wurster Hall Course Web Site: TBARecent historical research about American suburbs demonstrates that they are much morevaried and complicated than previously imagined. Descriptions of “the suburbs,” as a generic environment are no longer convincing. We are now aware of African-American, working class, industrial and agricultural suburbs. Continuing exurban development is currently producing phenomena as different as gated communities, ethnoburbs, lifestyle centers, and restructured rural towns. With more than half of the U.S. population now residing outside of central cities, even the name “suburb,” implying dependence on a central city, must be questioned. This seminar will examine, using both scholarly and popular explanations, the economic, social, and cultural debates that have shaped our interpretation of this form of urban development. Topics will include the following: defining the suburb (metropolitan region vs. “shrinking city;” the historiography of the suburb; cultural representations of suburbia (films, novels, comics, popular music and video); comparative exurban development (zwischenstadt, citta diffusa, etc.); race and thesuburbs; gender and the suburbs; suburban building and planning typologies; designed vs.vernacular suburbs; and exporting suburbs. Students will be expected to conduct original research on a suburban topic of their choice. Format: Although the seminar is organized around reading and discussion, there may alsobe several short lectures or slide shows. Each week, several students will be assigned to pose questions based on that week’s readings and select images to illustrate them. There will also be short typology and representation assignments. Books: Nicolaides and Wiese, The Suburb Reader and D.J. Waldie, Holy Land are required texts. They are available at Ned’s Bookstore. A selection of basic literature on suburbs is on reserve in the library. A list of titles is included. Other readings will be available on the class web site (TBA) or in the CED library to copy. (Note: Make sure you return the library copy after copying it.) Requirements: Students are expected to attend all classes, read all assigned materials, present questions and images for one session, complete short assignments, and (except for those enrolled as a reading class) submit a research paper by the end of the term. No incompletes will be given. Information about the class will be posted on the website. Students are responsible for keeping up with any changes.CLASS SCHEDULEJanuary 22 IntroductionJanuary 29 Rethinking the Suburbs:“Introduction” The Suburb Reader (pp. 1-10)Wunsch, “The Suburban Cliché”Hanlon, Vicino, Short, “The New Metropolitan Reality: Rethinkingthe Traditional Model”February 5 Elite and Working Class Suburbs Suburb Reader, Chapter 6, pp. 182-19Case Studies: Llewellyn Park; Riverside; Chagrin Falls Park; Southgate; Goodyear Heights Suburb Reader, Chapter 7, pp. 193-207Planning Community: Entrepreneurs and IdealistsBirch, “Radburn and the American City Planning Movement”Suburb Reader, Chapter 8, pp. 225-247Loeb, Chpt. 3, “Westwood Highlands: The Rise of the Realtor”Teaford, “The Visionary and the Realtor” from Entrepreneurial VernacularCase Studies: Radburn; Greenbelt; Country Club District; Westwood HighlandsFebruary 12 Debates about Postwar SuburbiaSuburb Reader, Chapters 9 and10 (pp. 257-320)Waldie, Holy LandWiese, Chpt. 6, “The House I Live In” from A Place of their OwnCase Studies: Levitttown; Lakewood; WestlakeFebruary 19 Critiques of Contemporary SuburbsSuburb Reader, Chapter 16 (pp. 469-495)Hayden, A Field Guide To SprawlCase Studies: New Urbanism; Smart Growth; Film and TV: American Beauty February 26 Race and the SuburbsGuest: Diane HarrisSuburb Reader, pp. 341-3Harris, “Race, Class and Privacy in the Ordinary Postwar House, 1945-60,” from Landscape and Race in the United States, (2006)Harris, “Clean and Bright and Everyone White: Seeing the PostwarDomestic Environment in the United State,” from Site Unseen: Landscape and Vision (2007)March 4 Representing the SuburbsNicolaides, “How Hell moved from the City to the Suburbs” from The New Suburban HistoryArcher, “Analyzing the Dream” “Conclusion: Reframing Suburbia” from Architecture and Suburbia Video: P. Diddy “ Bad Boys Forever;” TV: The O.C; Weed; Exhibition and blogs: Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)March 11 Suburban Sprawl or Regional City?Fishman, “America’s New City: Megalopolis Unbound” Woodrow Wilson Quarterly Sieverts, Cities Without Cities: ZwischenstadtCase Studies: SoCal, Bay Area; South Florida, Northeast CorridorMarch 18 Pieces of a New City: Suburban TypologiesFindley; Magic LandsGarreau, Edge City; Lang, Edgeless CitiesCase Studies: Stanford Industrial Park; Sun City; Silicon Valley; Tyson’s Corners; the Mall: the Strip: the Highway: the strip Mall; the Subdivision; the House; Multi-family units; garden apartments;townhousesMarch 25 No Class: Spring BreakApril 1 Boundaries, Restrictions and GatesFogelson, Bourgeois NightmaresMcKenzie, Privatopia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994)Low, Behind the Gates: Life, Security and the Pursuit of Happinessin Fortress America (New York: Routledge, 2004)April 8 Gender and SuburbiaAnne Marie AdamsReading TBA April 15 Globalized Suburbs: the Ethnoburb, European and Asian suburbs Fong “ From Ramona Acres to the Chinese Beverly HillsLi, “Anatomy of a New Suburban Settlement: the Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angleles;”EEA Report, “Urban Sprawl in Europe” April 22 ReReading the Suburb: New Histories, Analysis, Representations, DesignApril 29 Student presentationsMay 6 Student presentationsMay 20 FINAL PAPERS DUE, 5pm, Instructor’s Box, Architecture