GEOGRAPHY 407
UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
SECOND TERM 2014/2015
DR. SIMON SPRINGER
COURSE OUTLINE
ACTIVISM & COMMUNITY BASED PLANNING
Thurs
2:30 p.m. - 5:20 p.m.
MAC D281
ANOTHER CITY IS POSSIBLE! DESIGNING EMANCIPATION THROUGH PLANNING FROM BELOW
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course focuses on activism and community based planning from a radical perspective. It investigates how
the planning of urban space has been critiqued in the literature and the everyday approaches to planning
that have been employed by individuals and communities. In challenging rigid and modernist approaches to
planning theory we will examine key themes, concepts, and theories which define the study of planning theory
from what can be considered an anarchistic, or anti-authoritarian perspective. You can expect to gain a
critical understanding of and appreciation for emancipatory approaches to planning theory, which will allow
students to consider alternative configurations of space and power in keeping with the course’s radical
approach.
As a fourth-year course, our approach within the classroom will be largely theoretical, where you are required
to think critically about the concepts we explore though your engagement with the readings and during our
meetings. At the same time, the course involves a hands-on component that requires you to directly engage
with the community on a topic or issue of your choosing. This two-sided approach is considered an important
pedagogical exercise in that it breaks down the proverbial “Ivory Tower” in bringing theory outside of the
academy and into our shared streets and neighborhoods. The course itself is run as a seminar, which means
that it requires your active participation.
KEY THEMES: anarchism; direct action; community gardening; homelessness; occupy; public space; right to
the city; radical democracy; urban planning
REQUIRED TEXTS
Ferrell, J. 2001. Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy. New York: Palgrave.
Hern, M. 2010. Common Ground In a Liquid City: In Defense of an Urban Future. Oakland: AK Press.
RECOMMENDED TEXT
The Trapese Collective (Bryan, K., Chatterton, P., and Cutler, A.). 2007. Do It Yourself: A Handbook for Changing
Our World. London: Pluto Press.
EVALUATION
Class Participation & Pop Quizzes
Book Review
Activist Field Journal
Group Presentation
15%
15%
40%
30%
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PREREQUISITE: One of GEOG 340, 343, or 355.
OFFICE HOURS
& LOCATION
Tuesday 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. or by appointment
SS&M B310
Telephone: 250-721-7340
Email: springer@uvic.ca
GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT INFO
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Geography Department website: http://geography.uvic.ca
GEOGPLAN degree planning guide: http://www.geog.uvic.ca/moodle [Log in as a guest]
Undergraduate Advisor: Dr. Phil Wakefield - pwakef@geog.uvic.ca
Graduate Advisor: Dennis Jelinski - jelinski@office.geog.uvic.ca
COURSESPACES
I will post the course syllabus, outlines of slide presentations, and any additional relevant materials on the
course’s CourseSpaces website.
POLICY ON LATE ASSIGNMENTS
•
Assignments submitted ON TIME will receive my full attention & useful feedback.
•
Please speak with me well in advance if you anticipate a delay in submitting your work, particularly
when dealing with illness or family conflicts.
•
5% per day penalty for late assignments including weekend days. For example, 5% will be deducted
from the assignment (due in class) if the assignment is submitted later in the day. If the assignment is
submitted the next day, 10% will be deducted from the assigned grade, and so forth.
•
Assignments submitted more than one week late will NOT be graded.
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You may submit assignments electronically to meet a deadline but a hard copy MUST be submitted as
soon as possible afterwards for marking. If a hard copy is not submitted, your assignment will NOT be
marked.
** All assignments must be done exclusively for this course.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism in writing term papers will not be tolerated. Plagiarism detection software will be used in case of
doubt. Plagiarism means representing someone else’s work as your own. It is a serious offence, punishable by
academic sanctions. When you incorporate the words, ideas, graphics, or other products from someone else’s
work into your projects, you must give credit by providing a citation and reference to the source work.
It is your responsibility to:
•
understand what plagiarism is,
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be familiar with and understand the information on plagiarism outlined in UVic Libraries’ plagiarism
policy at http://library.uvic.ca/instruction/cite/plagiarism.html
•
be familiar with UVic’s policies on student responsibilities, conduct, discipline, and academic offences,
as described in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Students are reminded that submitting for credit any academic work which has been submitted (or where
credit has already been obtained) in another course is listed among academic offences.
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE
Please notify me immediately once you know that any date proposed for assignments or papers conflict with
dates of special significance in your religion. We will arrange alternative dates to accommodate individual
needs.
ACCESSIBILITY
Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. In particular, if you have a
disability/health consideration that may require accommodations, please feel free to approach me and/or the
Resource Centre for Students with a Disability (RCSD) as soon as possible. The RCSD staff are available by
appointment to assess specific needs, provide referrals and arrange appropriate accommodations
http://rcsd.uvic.ca/. The sooner you let us know your needs the quicker we can assist you in achieving your
learning goals in this course.
POSITIVITY AND SAFETY
The University of Victoria is committed to promoting, providing and protecting a positive and safe learning and
working environment for all its members.
Discriminatory language is not welcome or tolerated in lectures, seminars, tutorials, or written work. This includes
but is not limited to sexist, racist, ethnocentric, or homophobic language.
GRADING SYSTEM
As per the 2014-2015 Academic Calendar:
Grade
Grade point
value
Grade scale
Description
A+
A
A-
9
8
7
90-100%
85-89%
80-84%
Exceptional, outstanding and excellent performance.
Normally achieved by a minority of students. These
grades indicate a student who is self-initiating, exceeds
expectation and has an insightful grasp of the subject
matter.
B+
B
B-
6
5
4
77-79%
73-76%
70-72%
Very good, good and solid performance. Normally
achieved by the largest number of students. These
grades indicate a good grasp of the subject matter or
excellent grasp in one area balanced with satisfactory
grasp in the other area.
C+
C
3
2
65-69%
60-64%
Satisfactory, or minimally satisfactory. These grades
indicate a satisfactory performance and knowledge of
the subject matter.
D
1
50-59%
Marginal Performance. A student receiving this grade
demonstrated a superficial grasp of the subject matter.
F
0
0-49%
Unsatisfactory performance. Wrote final examination
and completed course requirements; no supplemental.
Course Experience Survey (CES)
I value your feedback on this course. Towards the end of term, as in all other courses at UVic, you will have the
opportunity to complete an anonymous survey regarding your learning experience (CES). The survey is vital to
providing feedback to me regarding the course and my teaching, as well as to help the department improve
the overall program for students in the future. The survey is accessed via MyPage and can be done on your
laptop, tablet, or mobile device. I will remind you and provide you with more detailed information nearer the
time but please be thinking about this important activity during the course.
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ASSESSMENT & ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
CLASS PARTICIPATION & POP QUIZZES - (15%)
DUE DATE: ONGOING THROUGHOUT TERM
•
This includes engaging in discussion, asking questions, offering answers, and active listening, where
none is prioritized over the others. You are expected to regularly attend classes, show up to class
prepared, and remain committed to and engaged with the course materials throughout the term. Pop
quizzes will keep you on your toes and, I hope, ensure you remain committed all semester.
CRITICAL THINKING BOOK REVIEW - (15%)
DUE DATES: February 26th
LENGTH:
2-3 PAGES (approximately 500-750 words)
•
Each student is asked to read, reflect upon and review ONE of the following two texts: Jeff Ferrell’s
Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy and Matt Hern’s Common Ground In a Liquid
City: In Defense of an Urban Future. Both of these books bring a new and radical perspective on the
urban experience and have considerable implications for how urban planning is conceptualized and
importantly how it might be re-imagined.
•
Your task is to review the thesis or main argument of the book you choose and critically evaluate it
from a planning perspective by assessing its major strengths and weaknesses. Your review should go
beyond simply reiterating what the book is about, and ideally will include your own critical reflections
on the issues covered in each book, which might include a commentary on how the text challenges
conventional thinking about planning.
ACTIVIST FIELD JOURNAL - (40%)
DUE DATE: MARCH 19th
LENGTH:
•
VARIABLE
You are asked to form into small groups of approximately 3 or 4 individuals and choose a Direct
Action/Volunteer project of your choice. The project you choose to engage can be related to any
issue facing Greater Victoria that touches upon or relates to urban planning and design. You are free
to build your own project from the ground up, or you may join an existing organization and become
involved in their activities. The overarching purpose is for you to get involved with your community at a
grassroots level and try to implement of be part of some element of change for the greater good of
the city in which you currently live. Your approach will necessarily involve a “do-it-yourself” ethic, and
the Trapese Collective handbook is there to help guide you in your endeavor. Although you are by no
means limited, the following list is some potential Direct Action Projects and/or Volunteer Opportunities
that you might like to become involved with:
1. Food Not Bombs
2. Critical Mass
3. Action Committee of People with Disabilities
4. Spring Ridge Commons
5. Radical Cheerleading
6. Resistance is Fertile / Food Not Lawns
7. Victoria Coalition Against Poverty
8. Mural Programs or Reverse Graffiti
9. Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness
10. PARK(ing) Day
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19. Co-Ops (Food, Housing, Child Care)
20. Community Gardens
21. Victoria Permaculture
22. Car Free Day
23. Harm Reduction Victoria
24. Take Back the Night
25. Camas Books, Infoshop & Freeskool
26. People’s Assembly of Victoria
27. Victoria Native Friendship Centre
28. Big Sleepout / Vigil for the Homeless
11. Victoria Pride Society
12. World Naked Bike Ride
13. Allies of Drug War Survivors
14. Freecycling & Free Store
15. Transition Victoria
16. Taking Back the Space Festival
17. Bike-sharing Program
18. Recyclistas Used Bike Collective
29. Passed Up (UVSS)
30. Safer for All – Stop the Policing of Poverty
31. Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users
32. Flash Mobs & Street Theatre
33. Freeganism & Dumpster Diving Meetups
34. Victoria Anarchist Bookfair
35. Pedal to Petal
36. Really Really Free Market
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Throughout the duration of the course you and your group members will be required to actively
engage with your project through volunteer work or by designing and implementing your project. This
will necessarily involve a great deal of organization, planning, and dedication on your part in realizing
the full potential of your project’s goals. During our weekly meetings we will set aside to for groups to
meet, share ideas, and reflect upon the process of volunteering and organizing for direct action.
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Your assignment itself will be to keep a field journal of your experience. I would encourage you to think
of this as an ‘ideas book’, rather than a traditional journal or diary. In provides you with an opportunity
to engage in critical and reflexive thinking about your project, and more broadly, the design and
planning of cities. There is no set structure for the Field Journal and I simply encourage you to write up
your experiences, reflecting in any way you want on what you have participated in, your reactions to
it, and how it has affected you. You might consider including some of the following: self-learning
objectives, lecture/discussion notes that you have kept; commentary on brainstorming and designing
the project; general reflections on urban planning and design that you have observed in Victoria, in
your own home city, or on your travels; self-expression of ideas stemming from reading articles and
books; copies of official urban plans and maps and/or sketches of those that you have made yourself;
and photographs linked to urban planning and design issues.
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Ultimately, I view this as an opportunity for you to get creative and have fun! Accordingly, in addition
to your written reflections and the ideas I have already suggested, I encourage you to also include,
poems, songs, anecdotes, drawings, paintings, links to videos you have made, crafts, sculptures,
newspaper clippings, cartoons, sketches, collages, or any other creative outlet you can imagine that
will help you represent your experience. You have complete freedom here to express yourself and
demonstrate your own creativity so long as it relates in some way to interpreting the ‘urban scene’… so
just run with it!
GROUP PRESENTATION - (30%)
DUE DATE: MARCH 26th & APRIL 2nd
LENGTH:
20 to 25 MINUTES
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Students are asked to collaborate in preparing a presentation on the Direct Action/Volunteer initiative
they have engaged in. Your collective role is to reflect thoroughly on your shared experiences, offering
some indication of both the difficulties you have encountered and the successes that you have
achieved. I encourage you to relate your activist engagements to the theoretical concerns covered
in the course by addressing the intersections with some of the assigned readings. You should also seek
to engage the class with reflections and/or lessons on the importance of ‘planning from below’ that
can been drawn out of your chosen form of community engagement. Reflect on how the experience
has contributed to your own personal development as well as what it has meant to the community
with which you have engaged. In other words, I’d like you to show us how another city really is
possible!
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You have complete artistic freedom with your presentations and accordingly how you choose to
present to the class is entirely up to you. You might have us watch a film, or even create your own film,
and then ask us questions that help us to think about the issue with which your group has engaged.
You might want to write and then read poetry that addresses your project, or do a short play that helps
us think about the ideas you have been engaging with all semester. You can make a poster
presentation, or present a piece of art or music you have created in response to the experiences you
have had, or even use music that someone else has created if it helps you (and hopefully us) to think
about and understand the issues that your group has addressed. You can include personal
photographs, home videos, scrapbooks etc. and use them to explain and demonstrate your project.
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Maybe you want to create a website to share your experiences, or perhaps you have done some
paintings or sketches that you want us to consider. If you opt for the conventional approach, and
simply want to give us a Power Point presentation, that’s fine too. Your options are limited only by your
own imagination, and I encourage as much creativity as possible! Wherever your interest and talent
lies, I’m all for it! The only fixed criterion is that you have approximately 20 to 25 minutes to share your
creativity, reflections, and ideas about your experiences with us.
IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT NOTES:
Assignment: For all assignments use 12 pt. Font, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, number pages, and a list of
references. DO NOT include a title page (save paper!), but DO include your title, your name, my name, the
course number, and the date at the top of the first page. Staple your paper in the top left corner (NO FANCY
BINDERS!!!). Please follow the word length requirement.
Referencing: Students are required to follow a standard referencing style, using in text citations and
bibliography (usually AUTHOR-DATE in human geography). Exact formatting can be of your own choice, but
please examine and follow a geography journal such as Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, or Progress in Human Geography for examples of proper
citation styles.
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WEEKLY CALENDAR
(Subject to revision as the course proceeds)
WEEK
DATE
SEMINAR TOPICS
1
JANUARY 8
Approaches to Urban Planning & Design
2
JANUARY 15
Radical Planning
3
JANUARY 22
Anarchism and Geography
4
JANUARY 29
Anarchist Perspectives on Urban Planning
5
FEBRUARY 5
Direct Action & Civil Disobedience
6
FEBRUARY 12
READING BREAK NO CLASSES
7
FEBRUARY 19
Radical Democracy & Urban (Dis)order
8
FEBRUARY 26
Reclaiming the Commons
9
MARCH 5
Autonomous Zones
10
MARCH 12
Housing & Squatting
11
MARCH 19
Homelessness & Hunger
12
MARCH 26
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
13
APRIL 2
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
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REQUIRED WEEKLY READINGS
(Subject to revision as the course proceeds)
JANUARY 8
Approaches to Urban Planning & Design
Allmendinger, P. 2002. Towards a post-positivist typology of planning theory. Planning Theory, 1: 7799.
Ward, C. 2011. “The future of the design professions”, in Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The
Colin Ward Reader, Wilbert C. and White D. F. (eds). Oakland: AK Press, pp. 129-132.
JANUARY 15
Radical Planning
Friedmann, J. 1987. “The mediations of radical planning”, in Planning in the Public Domain: From
Knowledge to Action. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 389-412.
Grabow, S. and Heskin, A. 1973. Foundations for a radical concept of planning. Journal of the
American Institute of Planners 39: 106-114.
JANUARY 22
Anarchism and Geography
Springer, S. 2012. Anarchism! What geography still ought to be. Antipode.
Springer, S. 2013. Anarchism and geography: a brief genealogy of anarchist geographies.
Geography Compass.
JANUARY 29
Anarchist Perspectives on Urban Planning
Hall, P. 2002. “The Anarchist Roots of the Planning Movement”, In Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual
History of Urban Planning and Design in the Twentieth Century, 3rd Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell,
pp. 3.
Ward, C. 2001. “Who is to plan?”, in Anarchy in Action. London: Freedom Press, pp. 59-66.
Ward, C. 2011. “An anarchist approach to urban planning”, in Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility:
The Colin Ward Reader, Wilbert C. and White D. F. (eds). Oakland: AK Press, pp. 303-310.
FEBRUARY 5
Direct Action & Civil Disobedience
Brannigan, J. 2005. “Direct action gets the goods.” Working Class Resistance, 10.
http://libcom.org/library/direct-action-gets-goods
Graeber, D. 2009. “Direct action, anarchism, direct democracy”, in Direct Action: An Ethnography.
Oakland: AK Press, pp. 201-237
Sans-Titres
Bulletin
1.
1999.
“What
http://www.ainfos.ca/99/nov/ainfos00282.html
FEBRUARY 12
READING BREAK NO CLASSES
FEBRUARY 19
Radical Democracy & Urban (Dis)order
is
direct
action?”
A-Infos
News.
Graeber, D. 2011. Occupy Wall Street's anarchist roots. Aljazeera.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011112872835904508.html
Pinder, D. 2005. Modernist calls to order, in Visions of the City: Utopianism, Power, and Politics in
Twentieth Century Urbanism. New York: Taylor and Francis, pp. 57-88.
Springer, S. 2011. Public space as emancipation: meditations on anarchism, radical democracy,
neoliberalism and violence. Antipode, 43: 525-562.
Page 8 of 9
FEBRUARY 26
Reclaiming the Commons
Harvey, D. “The creation of the urban commons”, in Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the
Urban Revolution. New York: Verso, pp. 67-88.
McKay, I. 2012. “What about the "Tragedy of the Commons"?, in An Anarchist FAQ, Volume 2.
Oakland: AK Press. http://anarchism.pageabode.com/afaq/secI6.html
Ward, C. 2011. “The land is whose?” in Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader,
Wilbert C. and White D. F. (eds). Oakland: AK Press, pp. 175-183.
MARCH 5
Autonomous Zones
Newman, S. 2011. Postanarchism and space: revolutionary fantasies and autonomous zones.
Planning Theory, 10, 344-365.
Pickerill, J. and Chatterton, P. 2006. Notes towards autonomous geographies: creation,
resistance and self-management as survival tactics. Progress in Human Geography, 30:730–746
MARCH 12
Housing & Squatting
Chatterton P (2002) “Squatting is still legal, necessary and free”. A brief intervention in the
corporate city. Antipode 34(1):1–7.
Ward, C. 2001. “We house, you are housed, they are homeless?”, in Anarchy in Action. London:
Freedom Press, pp. 67-73.
Ward, C. 2011. “The People Act: The Postwar Squatters' Movement”, “The Do-It-Yourself New
Town”, and “The Anarchist House”, in Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader,
Wilbert C. and White D. F. (eds). Oakland: AK Press, pp. 63-70, 71-84, 175-184.
MARCH 19
Homelessness & Hunger
Amster, R. “Facing the ‘homelessness problem’: subsistence, survival, and Skid Row”, in Lost in
Space: The Criminalization, Globalization, and Urban Ecology of Homelessness. El Paso, TX: LFB
Scholarly Publishing, pp. 1-42.
Heynen, N. 2010. Cooking up non-violent civil-disobedient direct action for the hungry: ‘Food Not
Bombs’ and the resurgence of radical democracy in the US. Urban Studies, 47: 1225-1240.
MARCH 26
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
APRIL 2
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
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