Urban Geography is a dynamic and fascinating field not only to geographers, but to a range of other disciplines including social scientists, political scientists, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and psychologists. Urbanization is a complex and continuous process. It involves the movement of people from rural to urban areas, the creation of new patterns of living, and the communication of these new patterns to both urban and rural populations. Historically, cities came into existence as centers of economic and cultural exchange. Before 1800, only about 3 percent of the world’s population lived in towns of more than 5, 000 inhabitants. According to the World Resources Institute (1996), more than half of the world’s population (about 3.3 billion) will be living in urban areas within the next decade.

Our study of urban geography will involve both theory and fieldwork. The theory part of the course is outlined in the text. The book makes historical and international comparisons of responses to homelessness. This is the first comprehensive international study of homelessness. Daly argues that the category of the homeless must be broadened to encompass those chronically without shelter and to those in immediate risk of dispossession. Our discussion of the homeless and urban poor will include squatter communities throughout the globe and case studies drawn from ongoing research work in Durban, South Africa will be used as examples.

The fieldwork component will be completed with the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce in Nashville and will involve first hand data collection, mapwork and analysis of downtown Nashville. Data collection, mapping efforts, and research documentation will be a continuation and extension of work begun by the Urban Geography class of Spring 1996.

Resource management and conservation are important issues in planet earth when one realizes that the world population is approaching 6 billion and growing by about 100 million people a year. Recently, problems such as groundwater pollution, ozone depletion, acid deposition, global warming, and growing mountains of urban trash top the list the list. Resource management and conservation planners are moving towards a solution that is known as sustainable development - a way of doing business and living on the planet that does not bankrupt the Earth.

Goldfarb has tackled the major natural issues facing the world today by integrating technological, economic, social, and political aspects. These aspects are interrelated and should be examined holistically in seeking environmental solutions. In our class discussions we shall examine clashing views on controversial environmental issues affecting resource management and conservation including: philosophical, political, environment and technology, waste disposal and the future.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this course include:

• assuring that students comprehend material provided and integrate it with the basic tenets of geography

• encouraging students to use comprehension of that material as a vehicle for critical thinking, reasoning, and effective argument

• understanding one’s interaction with the physical environment to better adjust to and improve that environment

• developing a better understanding of the value of natural resources and of the need for a more intelligent use of our natural resources

• developing an appreciation of the variety of human labor situations in major human-use patterns of natural resources

• developing an appreciation of the work done by the Tennessee Department of Conservation, other states of the US, and also international organizations globally in promoting a sustainable balance with the environment.