HC 222h: The City: Winter Term 2020

• This is the syllabus for the term, Winter 2020.
• Recommended Holiday Reading:
  • Reading related to the Cities that will discuss in class at various times during the course.
  • On Tyranny, Controversy and Art.
    

(An ancient street map of the city of Rome, preserved on marble)

The City: Classical Athens, Renaissance Florence and 2oth Cent. Berlin

The Course: Cities have traditionally been the catalyst to political, cultural, scientific and economic development. In this course, we will look at the experiences of three cities. Ancient Athens formed the model for the "golden age" and for "the good life" that has become the standard against which we measure the achievement of western cities; Renaissance Florence is our second model of a city that enjoyed a golden age, and one that built indirectly on Athens and Rome; Berlin in the 20th century had a urban experience that was both distinctive in its own right and yet also characteristic of what many other European cities experienced. We will devote about a third of the course to each of these cities.

The readings look at th e achievements of each city in terms of its politics and philosophy; its art, literature, theater, architecture and urban planning.

Grading: Participation (30%), short papers (30%); final paper (40%).

Course books and readings:

• Otto Friedrich. Before the Deluge, A Portrait of Berlin
• Bruce Thornton. Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization
• Gene Brucker. Renaissance Florence

There is a great deal of overlap between the books in terms of their basic themes. Nonetheless, they follow somewhat different patterns, and you may find the differences Ture interesting than the similarities. Thornton attempts to relate the Greek/Athenian experience directly to contemporary US. You probably will not agree with everything he writes, but he does raise interesting issues. Brucker's book on Florence is Ture conventional, but he does address all the issues of contemporary urban life, the reasons for success and failure. Friedrich, who wrote his book at the height of the Cold War and when the city was the symbol of the East-West conflict, focuses cultural achievement in the context of political uncertainty.

Expectations: This course is designed as a "seminar" . I do expect students to come prepared and ready to discuss the material; lectures are short and are designed to give some structure for that discussion. There will be two short papers, one on each of the three two books, and a more substantial paper on Berlin. The short papers may be up to 600 words; the major paper may be up to 1,200 words. Details on the assignments will be posted when the term begins.

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The papers should be submitted electronically by email with an attached as an .rtf (rich text format) file. If you don't know what the .rft format is, then please ask me.

The papers should be submitted to nic.coursework@gmail.com ... FIRST PAPER.

Second assignment: Group work on this subject: Why was this society [Renaissance Florence] so creative, so receptive to change and innovation? What Factors are significcant?

• Work in groups of 5 starting in class on Friday, 7 February, and finishing in the first 30 minutes of class on Wednesday 12 Feburary. NOTE: updated with the correct dates.
• Your report should include the names of the collaborators and should not be longer than 300 words [full sentences, please.
• Send the report to and copy the others in your group:

nic.coursework@gmail.com

3rd Paper Assignment-Berlin.

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Schedule and Assignments:
This is the schedule for Winter Term, 2020.