FRCS 362 - Streets, Barricades & Graffiti: The History of the Modern European City

The modern city has often been seen as emblematic both of possibility and danger, a dichotomy that persists in our own cities. As the site of opportunity, creativity, and transformation as well as moral decay, pathology, and exploitation, the modern European city became an arena for the discussion of a variety of nineteenth- and twentieth century issues, problems, and debates. In fact, the city has often been understood and studied as the quintessential site of modernity itself. This course is designed to introduce students to European cities in the modern era: the way they were envisioned, the problems they were thought to cause, the virtues and behaviors they were thought to encourage, how they were built and rebuilt, how they were represented and described, and how people lived in them and moved through them. The course will ask students to consider a variety of questions: how does the urban landscape come to embody the two opposites of danger and possibility? How are these two opposites articulated over time, and do they remain steady over time and across national boundaries? How is the city represented in art? How are physical changes in the structure of cities presumed to alter the behavior of people using those cities? How do city residents use their cities? What groups are allowed to inhabit city spaces? What is the future of the city? Lib Ed: CUL5

Cross-listed with HIST 362
3 credits