NEWS (Jan, 2010): We have a new Post-Doc !!

Alison Kohn, now finishing up her dissertation in Anthropology at the University of Chicago, will join the project as a Postdoctoral scholar in fall, 2010. She has experience with both excavations at ancient urban sites (Roman sites in France), and ethnography/ethnoarchaeology of a modern shantytown settlement in Bolivia. Questions of urban spatial and social processes inform her research.

NEWS (Jan, 2010): We are working on a new website.

We have a great new domain name (it is secret until we are ready), and we will soon have a MUCH BETTER website for the project.

NEWS (Spring, 2010): Cinthia Carvajal won an Undergraduate Research Assistantship

Project member Cinthia Carvajal was awarded a prestigious Undergraduate Research Assistantship from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change for her work on the project. She is investigating squatters settlements around the world, looking at how social and spatial processes are linked together. How do neighborhoods form in squatters settlements? What are social networks like, and how do local community organizations form?

NEWS (Spring, 2010): We have a bunch of new volunteers

Stay tuned here (or on our upcoming new website) for information about our new group of student volunteers. They are busy gathering data on topics of neighborhoods and open spaces, from Pompeii to Havana, from Addis Ababa to Tikal.

 NEWS (Feb, 2010): Paper on ancient neighborhoods is online (prepublication)

Project member Michael Smith's paper, "The ARchaeological Study of Neighborhoods and Districtds in Ancient Citeis," has been posted online, in pre-publication proof format, for the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. If your have a subscription to the journal (e.g., through the ASU Library) you can find the paper here: www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/science/journal/02784165. Otherwise, you can email Smith a copy.

Rationale for the Project

            From the earliest cities to the present, two universals of urban form are the organization of residential areas into neighborhoods and the presence of open spaces within cities. Neighborhoods can differ greatly in their ethnic, political, religious, and economic dynamics; open spaces include a broad range of uses, from gardens to civic plazas to empty lots. These two features are important influences on urban life and social activities in any city. For this project, we use neighborhoods and open spaces as points of entry into the complexities of urban organization in the broad spectrum of world cities from the earliest states to the present.

            Because urbanism is too big a phenomenon to be understood from the perspectives of any single discipline, we have designed a project that is transdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical in design. We draw from the data and methods of archaeology, history, sociology, geography, and political science to analyze key urban issues. This research will lead to enhanced understanding of both modern and ancient cities, and of urbanization processes that unfolded over several millennia of human history.

            Our project is organized around four major research themes, each with a series of research questions. These questions will be applied to a large sample of cities, including archaeological data on the earliest urban centers, historical documents on preindustrial cities around the world, and modern cities as studied by many disciplines and approaches.

1.                  Neighborhoods. Are urban neighborhoods universal? What are the different patterns of neighborhood governance? How are social parameters like class, wealth, ethnicity, race and religion patterned by neighborhood, and how do these affect urban life? What is the relationship between migration and neighborhood dynamics and how does it contribute to ethnic solidarity and conflict within cities?

2.                  Open Spaces. What kinds of open spaces—both civic spaces and green spaces—are found in cities? Where are open spaces located and what are are their uses and social contexts? Is struggle over open space a universal process? What are the antecedents and ramifications of the modern privatization of urban open spaces? Who provides urban open space, and who benefits from it?

3.                  Dynamics of Change. How are neighborhoods founded, how are open spaces established, and how do they change and develop historically? In what ways do bottom-up processes (the actions of local residents) and top-down processes (laws and actions by civic authorities) interact to generate change in urban life? Do varying patterns of local urban governance stimulate change or stability? What roles do neighborhoods and open spaces play in processes of urban sprawl and expansion? How do they contribute to urban sustainability?

4.                  Context. What effects do urban population, area, and density have on the spatial and social dynamics of neighborhoods and open spaces? What role does connectivity—within and beyond cities—play in structuring urban lilfe? How are neighborhoods and open spaces affected by wider changes (social, political, economic, and environmental), and in what ways do they play creative or generative roles? How do these features vary regionally and culturally? Are there limits to growth and organizational capacity (for both neighborhoods and cities)?

2008-2009 Annual Report

Related Projects:

This section will describe related research projects by project members (faculty and students).

 Consultants:

We have brought in several outside consultants to interact with project members, discuss issues, and give public presentations. So far our consultants have been:

Spring 2009:    Richard Blanton

Fall 2008:         Bessim Hakim

Spring 2008:    Roland Fletcher

 More information on our consultants.

Schedule:

This project began in September, 2008, and is funded through 2012. Year 1 is dedicated to literature review and the refinement of our goals and methods. Intensive data gathering will begin in fall 2009 with our first postdoctoral researcher.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

NOTE

This web page is very provisional. As the project gets going (and as we figure out Drupal) we will expand the site with bibliographies, documents, links, and a variety of research materials.

Preliminary bibliography: Urban neighborhoods

Preliminary bibliography: Urban open spaces

UPDATED:           September 11, 2009