Governing the City

This interdisciplinary course examines the American city from a historical perspective, with a focus on governance: how we structure institutions that have authority to make policy and what these institutions deliver to the people in the process.

Urban governance involves at least four levels of decision-making: federal, state, local, and community. We consider all four. Policy concerns the exercise of public authority to determine the benefits (or penalties) appropriated to individuals, groups, communities, organizations and institutions connected to the city in one way or another. One question that shapes the dialogue in this course pertains to how the quality of civic life in the city has changed over time for those who live in it: whether it has gotten better or worse, whether people have more or less control over their own destinies. We consider how recent political activism and conflicts between progressives and conservatives influences the policy making process. We do not assume that all urban dwellers have similar control over their destinies or enjoy the same quality of life. That, in fact, is one of the problems we explore.

Readings are drawn from literature, history, law, sociology, political science, economics, policy and planning. We begin with literature composed by some of the best writers of the past century. If you read these pieces carefully, they will stay with you long after you take the course and forever affect the way you perceive the city.