Talk:Cities

From Students

Okay - so looking back on Kevin's email, it started off about "place" but became "Cities". (Tori)

From Kevin:

I got to thinking what a cool and potentially interdisciplinary idea it could be to take a place as a topic for this year's coming symposium. It could be Durham or Fez or the entire country of Kyrgyzstan, but different groups could look at the place from a specific perspective (actually, the different perspective part is what we do every year, so I guess it goes without saying). For example, if doing Fez, a science group could look at the role of increasing overpopulation on the pollution, or at the chemical process used for tanning leather there and why the Fez weather is best for it, while a political science group could look at the administration of a three pronged city with such a complex historical pattern, and an anthropological group could discuss the continuing cultural no-man's-land of Berbers, or something. All the same place—all different approaches. And wouldn't it be cool if Durham was the place? That way science groups could even take their own primary data (on pollution or greenspacing or species disappearance or whatever). Come to think of it, all the groups could do that, like a history group going out to do oral histories with townsfolk. Then Dicky B would herald us as a beacon of community cooperation and folks like Mayor Bill Bell (or whoever it is now) could come by and give stump speeches.

I like the idea of thinking about Durham from a bunch of different perspectives, and of gathering data/oral histories. It could be interesting to incorporate the Tomorrow thread - what did Durham look like 50 years ago? How did 1950's Durhamites think Durham would look today? (potential for interviews) What would Durham be like without Duke? or if Duke were less of an ivory tower in the middle of a depressed town? What might Durham be like if 147 hadn't been built through the Haiti neighbourhood, that used to be a center of African American business and culture? How have various planning initiatives shaped the way Durham has grown - what might Durham be like if the city had built the new mall in old tobacco warehouses downtown, instead of building a replica of these buildings far outside of town? How did building the downtown loop, one-way streets, etc. change the feel of downtown? Can the doughnut town of Durham (empty middle, sprawling suburbs) revitalize its downtown? - Kim

[edit] Recap from previous Cities proposals

Here's a list of ideas generated around the theme of Cities from past proposals. As we've discussed, Cities is always a contender!

• Cities and City-states
  • what does it mean to be a "citizen"?
• Cities and Ideology
  • Rome, Athens, Jerusalem, NYC, Paris
• Cities as real and imagined communities
• Fictional cities and historical cities (a "Tale of Two Cities")
• Mythical and Literary Cities - Laputa, Atlantis, Trantor
• Mythologized Cities
• St. Augustine's "The City of God"
• Puritan attempts at "A City on a Hill"
• Sci Fi Visions of Cities of the Future
  • Blade Runner's L.A.
  • Robocop's Detroit
  • Logan's Run
  • Terminator's dystopia
  • Minority Report
  • I, Robot
• Cyber-Cities and online gaming
  • "City of Heroes"
  • the city of "The Matrix Online"
  • Entropia - virtual economy linked to real-world economy
• Non-human cities (ants, termites, coral)
• Comparative cities vs. homogenization of cities
• The importance of cities in a globalized world and the connection to global power and the decentralization of power
• Migration
  • regional, national, international
  • cities as migration magnets
• "International" Cities
  • Large = International / Small = Stereotypically domestic?
• City skylines
  • how architecture and geography shape and affect imagination
  • small towns vs. big cities
• Underground cities
• How cities impact our lives
  • threats posed by cities
    • violence is more potent in highly concentrated populations than in rural areas
  • the promises posed by cities
• The life cycles of cities and neighborhoods within cities
  • urban renewal
  • environmental sustainability
  • how cities interface w/ nature
• (Re)Building cities - civil engineering
  • New Orleans
• Stereotypes and segregation
  • do cities promote or negate stereotypes of different groups of people?
• Urban health problems
• Urban planning/Urban planners
• Universities' relationship to the communities around them
  • Duke and Durham as a case study - we could bring in the Uni tutors and kids in the Crest Street program and the CEO of Durham's Chamber of Commerce, a Duke grad
• The Naming and Re-naming of Cities
  • Truth or Consequences, NM (re-naming for TV game show in the 70's or 80's)
  • Dish, TX (recent re-naming for corporate sponsorship)