New BLC Course

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.

CFP VAF 2012 IN MADISON

Call for Papers for VAF 2012 Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin

The Vernacular Architecture Forum invites paper proposals for its Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, June 6-10, 2012. Papers may address vernacular and everyday buildings, sites, or cultural landscapes worldwide. Submissions on all vernacular topics are welcome, but we encourage papers that explore topics related to the following conference themes: the relationship between rural landscapes and regional urban centers; placemaking as it pertains to the relationship between work and home; regional trends in modernism (particularly in the Upper Midwest); ethnicity and heritage preservation; and evolution of Midwestern rural buildings and landscapes. We particularly welcome papers that explore the relationship of environmental history and cultural landscapes around these themes. Papers should be twenty minutes in length, although proposals for complete sessions, roundtable discussions, or other innovative means that facilitate scholarly discourse are also welcome.

Proposals must be one page, fewer than 400 words, and include paper title, author's name, and email address. You may include up to two images with your submission. Please state clearly the argument of the paper and explain the methodology and content. Attach a one-page CV to your proposal submission. The deadline for proposals is September 12, 2011.

Presenters must deliver their papers in person and be VAF members at the time of the conference. Speakers who do not register for the conference by April 1, 2012 will be withdrawn. Please do not submit an abstract if you are not committed to attending the papers session on Saturday June 9. There may be limited financial assistance, in the form of Presenter’s Fellowships, to offset registration costs to students and recent graduates.

Electronic submissions of proposals and CVs in Word format are preferred. Please send email proposals to Andrew Dolkart at asd3@columbia.edu or hard copies to:

Andrew Dolkart:
Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
413 Avery Hall
New York, NY 10027

For general information about the Madison conference, please contact:

Anna Vemer Andrzejewski
Department of Art History & the Buildings-Landscapes Cultures Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison
avandrzejews@wisc.edu

Harry Van Oudenallen, 1944- 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

On Saturday morning June 18, 2011-Harry, aged 67, slipped peacefully away at home, after a short battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. Harry was a senior professor and scholar associated with the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures area. The faculty and students at BLC remember him for his steadfast support and leadership. He led the urban rebuilding and New Orleans effort as part of the BLC curriculum.

Born in Den Hague, Netherlands in 1944, he moved two years later to Singapore, spent the next four years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and finally moved to Long Island, New York where he graduated from Bethpage HS in 1962. Harry received his BA from Harvard College in 1966, and a Masters Equivalent in Architecture from the University of Oregon in 1971. Unique, absolutely-while at Harvard he played football, and was the first left footed soccer style punter.

His career, service and projects would keep Harry smiling and traveling for the rest of his life. He joined the faculty at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UWM in 1979, and from the very start excelled as a teacher. There are hundreds of students who were profoundly influenced and mentored by Harry. Among the awards he won in his career, perhaps the ones he was most proud of were, the UWM Undergraduate Teaching Award and the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award. He was, this year, elected by his peers at the ACSA to serve as the Vice Chancellor of this distinguished group of scholars and teachers.

Harry was a contagiously likable person and will be remembered for his enormous smile, and rich laughter. He was, though, a talented and skilled professional with a substantial career. He was a founding member, with Nick Cascarano, in 1996 of Architectura, Inc., an award winning firm that produced outstanding architectural designs. He won many awards-winning or placing in design competitions which included the: Milwaukee Lakefront National Competition, Milwaukee Performing Arts Center Master Plan Competition, Merit Hall Competition, Timber Holdings Competition, Pier Wisconsin Competition, Newark Visitor Center Competition, Denver Public Market Competition, and the Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial.

We will remember you Harry and we will strive at BLC to reach the standards that you expected of us.