City, Environment, and Nature
Geography 905
Fall 2011
Instructor: Ryan Holifield
Brief course description:
The purpose of this seminar is to introduce graduate students to different ways of conceptualizing, theorizing, and researching urban environments and urban natures. Through close, intensive readings of a series of books and articles, we will examine several different approaches to urban ecology, including approaches grounded in systems theory, environmental history, radical urban political ecology, and actor-network theory. In the process, we'll consider a wide range of substantive themes: urban ecosystems, natural resources, environmental justice, sustainable cities, health risks and hazards, and urban infrastructures, just to name a few. This seminar will be of potential interest to students in geography, urban studies, urban planning, architecture, anthropology, history, sociology, urban education, biological sciences, and others interested in the relationships between cities and nature or the environment.
Most of our readings will be available via D2L, but we will also read all or most of three required books, all available as inexpensive paperbacks at the UWM Bookstore or through online vendors:
Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West.
Gandy, Matthew. Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City.
Robbins, Paul. Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.
The syllabus and full reading list for this new seminar is under construction. For more information, please contact the instructor at the following email address: holifiel@uwm.edu.