Richard Harris Comments

In this second-year undergraduate course I try to give students an appreciation for the importance of viewing cities historically. The first section of the course examines the nature, origins, and significance of the city. The second traces the emergence of the industrial city, while the third treats the industrial city thematically, sketching the main changes to the geography of North American cities over the part 150 years.

I have used many different required books for this course, including Lewis Mumford's The City in History, Paul Bairoch's Cities and Economic Development, and James Vance's The Continuing City. None have been ideally suited as textbooks for this course, and I am continuing to experiment. This keeps me (and my students) on our toes!

Introduction
This course offers students an historical-geographical view of the city as we know it today. The first section examines the nature, origins and significance of the city. The second traces the emergence of the modern industrial city up to the mid-nineteenth century. The third examines in detail the changing nature and geography of the modern North American city.

Lectures
The course will consist of two one-hour lectures a week, plus a one-hour tutorial. The following lecture topics are grouped approximately by the week in which they will be presented.

Required Readings
The required book is Richard Harris, Unplanned Suburbs Toronto's American Tragedy 1900-1950. You should purchase your own copy. A list of readings, keyed to the lectures, will be distributed separately.

Evaluation
Students will be evaluated through a combination of term work and examinations, as follows:

Tutorials

15%

The following are listed in the order that they will be relevant to lectures. The sections into which this reading list is divided correspond to the main sections of the course.

Introduction

William Cronon. 1991. Nature's Metropolis. "Prologue: Cloud over Chicago". New York: W.W.Norton.

Jonathan Raban. 1974. Soft City. Chapter 1: "The Soft City". London: Hamish Hamiton.

Two eloquent, personal views of what the city is -- and might be.

The Nature and Origin of cities

Paul Bairoch. 1988. Cities and Economic Development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapters 1 and 6. An overview of city origins.

James Borchert. 1967. "American Metropolitan Evolution" The Geographical Review 57: 301-322. A 'technological' interpretation of urban growth in the US.

David Gordon. 1984. "Capitalist Development and the History of American Cities" In William K.Tabb and Larry Sawers (eds) Marxism and the Metropolis New York: Oxford University Press. Gordon is a critic of the technological viewpoint.

Significance of Cities

Clive Ponting. 1993. A Green History of the World. New York: Penguin. Chapter 5: "Destruction and Survival." The environmental impact of early cities.

Louis Wirth. 1969. "Urbanism as a Way of Life" in Richard Sennett (ed) Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall. The classic essay on the culture of the city.

Paul Bairoch. 1988. Cities and Economic Development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 14. "Urban Demography in Developed Countries...". The impact of the city on mortality rates.

II. THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

Carl Friedrichs. 1975. "Capitalism, Mobility and Class Formation in the Early Modern German City" Past and Present 69: 24-49.

Michael Davey and Michael Doucet. 1975. "The social geography of a commercial city ca. 1853" In Michael Katz, The People of Hamilton, Canada West Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Richard Harris. 1996. Unplanned Suburbs. (text) Ch.1:"Introduction", pp.6-10 only. The city and capitalism.

See also the reading by David Gordon in section 1.

III. THE INDUSTRIAL CITY IN NORTH AMERICA

Penelope Corfield. 1990. "Defining Urban Work." Chapter 12 in Penelope Corfield and Derek Keane. eds. Work in Towns. 850-1850. Leicester: Leicester University Press. A long-run historical overview.

Ruth Cowan. 1983. More Work for Mother. The ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 4: "Twentieth Century Changes in Household Technology". A controversial view of work in the home.

Land Development, Transportation, and Local Government

Richard Harris. (Textbook)
Ch.3: "Did the Factory Lead the Way?" The impact of mass transit and industrial decentralization.
Ch.6: "Civic Efficiency and Suburban Freedom." The organazation and impact of local government.
Ch.7: "The Rhetoric and Reality of Community Building". How the process of land development worked.
Ch.8: "A Romance of Common Life." The informal economy of housebuilding.

Robert Cervero. 1995. "Sustainable New Towns. Stockholm's rail-served satellites." Cities 12,1: 41-51.

Ernest W.Burgess. 1925. "The Growth of the City" In Robert E.Park et al. (eds) The City Chicago: Chicago University Press. The classic essay on the social geography of the North American city in the twentieth century.

Chauncy Harris and E.L.Ullman. 1945. "The Nature of Cities". Annals, American Academy of Political and Social Science 242. Another classic, though recently neglected.

E.Relph. 1991. "Suburban Downtowns of the Greater Toronto Area" The Canadian Geographer 35,4: 421-425.

Richard Harris. (text)
Ch.1: "Introduction". A revisionist view of urban development in Toronto, 1900-1950".
Ch.2: "The Rise of Metropolitan Suburbs". The changing geography of metropolitan areas, 1900-1950.
Ch.3: "A City of Homes" The middle class ideal of the home.
Ch.4: "The End Justified the Means." Workers' attitutudes towards, and use of, the home.

Tamara Hareven. 1993. "The Home and the Family in Historical Perspective." in Arien Mack. ed. 1993. Home. A Place in the World. New York: New York University Press. An overview.

Dolores Hayden (1980) "What would a non-sexist city be like?" in C.Stimpson et al. (eds) Women and the American City Chicago: University of Chicago. A feminist interpretation of the structure of the North American city.

Assignment #1. The Geography of Rome

Due: Week 4 (October 1), in tutorial
Weight: 15% of final grade
Length: 1500 words

Describe the social geography of Rome in about 1950. You should make reference to the appearance of these areas, and employ each of the following sources:

Assignment #2. The Geography of Toronto

Due: Week 12 (November 26), in your usual tutorial
Weight: 15% of final grade
Length: 1500 words

In Unplanned Suburbs, Richard Harris argues that the development of Toronto's suburbs in the first half of this century was 'an American tragedy.' What does he mean by this, and do you agree?

Presentation

The final version of your review should be typewritten (dot matrix printout is acceptable if clearly legible) and double-spaced to leave room for comments. Messy, poorly-written or illegible work will be penalized. Late work will be penalized at 10% per day unless accompanies by a doctor's note.