University Major Proposal

Title of Major: Experiences of Contemporary Urbanity

Courses: In chronological order, list the courses that will constitute the major.

European Architecture Before 1750
Architecture of the 20th Century
Anthropology of Cities
Architecture I
Urban Societies
Architecture II
Urban Politics & Development
Culture and Society of World Cities
Contemporary Urban Issues: Problems and Solutions
Anthropology and the Experience of Limits
Topics in Cultural Landscapes: The Art of Frederick Law Olmsted
Sociology and Social Theory
Studies in Contemporary Urbanism (Studio)
Architecture: Historiography, Theory, Criticism; Traditional and Contemporary Approaches

Members of Faculty:
1. Architecture History: Joseph Siry
2. Anthropology: Daniella Gandolfo
3. Architecture Studio: Elijah Huge
4. Sociology: Robyn Autry

Proposal Essay:

I will begin with an anecdote. My first visit to Grand Central Station in New York left a lasting impression. The station felt like a nexus—a point of convergence through which people were compelled forward into the city with purpose. A later visit to Penn Station left an equally powerful but negative impression. Penn Station evoked a labyrinth in which people walked with blinders in a state of hurried stress and confusion. These two gateways provided contrasting frameworks through which to see the city: Grand Central’s convergent coherence or Penn Station’s divergent distress. Feelings experienced upon encountering a new space shape collective and individual behavior. Furthermore, global urbanization is making shared urban experience increasingly important—as of 2008, for the first time, over 50% of the world’s population is living in urban areas. My thesis work will address the cultivation of this shared experience. Through an interdisciplinary study of urbanism, I will examine urban spaces as cultural and social devices employed to shape behavior. Innovative solutions are needed to bring coherence and commonality to urban societies. This major will provide the analytical and aesthetic rigor as well as theoretical and experiential fluency needed to arrive at effective solutions.

Intellectual Objective & Subject Matter

The intellectual objective of this program of study is to establish and explore the link between spatial design and human behavior within the urban context. The major connects four areas of study: Sociology, Anthropology, Art History and Art Studio. Sociology and Anthropology provide theoretical and methodological tools to examine the built environment as a social and cultural artifact as well as how we experience, process, and interpret that environment. Art History contextualizes spaces within the appropriate cultural and artistic traditions. Art Studio provides the opportunity to translate theory into practice. These four threads are tied together by a carefully selected study abroad program, the International Honors Program (IHP)’s “Cities in the Twenty-First Century.” IHP will allow me to study and experience different urban environments directly: Detroit, USA; São Paulo and Curitiba, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; and Hanoi, Vietnam. Through the courses listed at the start of my proposal, IHP will enable me to explore the role of global forces, local history, politics and culture in the design and experience of spaces. The program emphasizes training in urban field research and offers a series of case studies. This fieldwork will challenge and complicate the accepted theoretical understandings presented in an academic setting.

Why a New Major is Needed

No single department or program at Wesleyan supports the interdisciplinary breadth and depth that defines an Urban Studies program. Art History, Sociology or Anthropology would each allow me to examine urbanism from their particular theoretical and methodological vantage point, but at the expense of interdisciplinary breadth. The number of course requirements would prevent me from completing the range of coursework needed to develop a nuanced understanding of the social, political and aesthetic forces at work in the urban environment. Art Studio would allow me the freedom to pursue coursework outside my major but would not permit a written synthesis of the substantial theoretical work on this topic. In crafting an Urban Studies curriculum at Wesleyan, I have emulated the well-regarded Urban Studies program at Vassar College. Vassar’s program strikes a balance between its demands for quality written and creative work, depth and breadth, and theory and practice.

Structure and Content of Thesis Work

The interdisciplinary nature and scope of the outlined program of study demands a meticulous, thorough, and complex integration of different intellectual frameworks. My thesis will perform this integration through the coupling of an analytical synthesis in written form and a creative synthesis presented in Zilkha gallery. The research will employ methodologies drawn from the four fields outlined above—participant observation, demographic data analysis, visual and textual research and analysis, and creation of drawings and models to investigate and illustrate spatial ideas. My thesis will address the role of regulation in urban development across cultures: the interplay between regulation, cultural identity, and behavior. I will investigate how cultural boundaries such as race and class are manifested in physical space as with the divide between Cape Town’s wealthy, white business center and it’s radiating townships populated predominantly by poor blacks. I will research the cultural, social, and aesthetic origins of this territorialization of space in each of the five cities I will visit with IHP.

My achievements at Wesleyan and abroad will be evaluated on the conventional grade scale and according to the judgment of my four advisors with whom I will meet regularly.