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I just posted four articles on the schedule for this module and want to clarify that you don’t have to read all of them, just one of them. I might post more in the next few hours, especially if students in my Urban Field Methods class tell me which ones they think might be useful for this discussion. Come to class ready to talk about one article and how it helps you understand how Geographers think about public spaces and landscapes.
Landscape analysis often looks at how the contemporary world remembers the past in particular ways. What kinds of statues and plaques signal what history matters, which buildings are preserved and what stories are told around them. Or how do different people use the same landscapes for different ends (see this story map on the NYTimes site that shows the landscape of Harriet Tubman.) Studies of public space tend to focus on the present. How are public spaces designed in ways that promote use by one group or another or that promote racial mixing? How do public spaces become associated with one group? How are public parks distributed across neighborhoods, cities, the country as a whole in ways that shape access in unequal ways.
Think about an example of a landscape that is racialized in some way and/or an example of a public space that helps you understand and explain how space and race intersect and reinforce each other. Write about one or both in the comments section.
If you are writing this paper you can focus on reading a landscape or observing public space. Think about some possible topics before class tomorrow.