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URW 2004-2005: Mexico City and New York
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The theme of the 2004-05 workshop was "Sustainability in an International
Urban Context." The workshop had two components: individual, intensive,
yearlong, comparative research projects and an event series. Participants in
the workshop conducted intensive field work in New York City in the fall
semester. Over the winter break, participants travel to one pre-selected
city to conduct comparative fieldwork. Students spent their spring semester
writing a research paper based upon their fieldwork in New York and Mexico
City. In addition to the research projects, students organized and attended
a public bi-weekly speaker series in which experts were invited to discuss
their perspectives and their own research on the workshop theme (see Speaker
Series for more info). The fall semester was dedicated to examining the
theoretical dimensions of the workshop theme. Over Winter break, students
traveled to Mexico City (see photos below)where they met with a range of key
figures who taught them about sustainable development in the local context,
and engaged in specific research pertaining to their individual topics. The
spring semester focused on the practical dimensions of the theme. The
workshop culminated in an individual final research paper.
Speaker Series
Issues of global urbanization, environmental and economic sustainability,
smart growth, infrastructural demands, and urban poverty have thrust the
field to the forefront of modern discourse around the globe. The problems
and promise of the world's cities demand the attention of the greatest
minds. The Urban Research Workshop, in conjunction with the Center for Urban
Research and Policy, thus developed the speaker series, "Sustainability in
an International Urban Context." Dedicated to pursuing an understanding of
how cities around the world grapple with various issues of sustainability
the Center hosted an exciting line-up of speakers who are experts in the
fields of sustainability, globalization, and urban. In the fall, the
theoretical issues of sustainability were explored; in the spring semesters,
the focus of the series was on the practical dimensions of sustainability.
In 2004-2005 guest speakers included: David Harvey, Professor of
Anthropology at CUNY; Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology at Chicago
University; Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, Professor of
Sustainable Development Professor of Health Policy and Management at
Columbia University; Peter Marcuse, Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia
University; Daniel Somers Smith, Assistant Professor at Ramapao College,
Nazli Choucri, Professor of Political Science at MIT and director of the
Global System for Sustainable Development; Hashim Sarksis, Professor of
Architecture and Urbanism in Muslim societies at the Harvard Planning
School."
Download Brochure
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