Open to all HKBU, UIC, & Exchange Students

Course code and title:

GEOG4095 Transnational Urban Futures

Target students:

Open to all HKBU, UIC, & Exchange Students

No. of units:

3 units

Semester/Year:

Summer 2016

Summary Why is the United Nations demanding a new Urban Rights Agenda? Why is housing at the heart of this agenda? Are housing issues local to particular cities, or do they have common causes? What challenges and opportunities do the transnational flows that shape the twenty-first century city have for housing? In this course, we will explore these questions using scholarly works from geography, urban studies, sociology, political science, and planning to investigate housing security among newcomer groups in metropolitan Atlanta and in Hong Kong. Students will work in teams to compare one aspect of housing security between Hong Kong and Atlanta. Aims and Objectives The aim of the course is to empower HKBU students to collaborate with students from Georgia State University to conduct comparative independent research on housing security. Working intensively both in Atlanta, USA, and Hong Kong, and closely supported by academic faculty colleagues from HKBU and Georgia State University, students will conduct qualitative field research and mixed methods analyses to complete a research symposium, a final report, and a personal reflective portfolio. The course will: 1) enable students to develop an ability to work effectively as a member of a crosscultural research team; 2) encourage students to apply concepts and methods related to urban studies to familiar and unfamiliar field environments; 3) challenge students to develop strategies to communicate and disseminate their research effectively. CILOs: By the end of the course, students should be able to: CILO 1 Apply relevant concepts to compare and explain one aspect of housing security. CILO 2 Conduct independent research in familiar and unfamiliar circumstances as a member of a culturally diverse small team. CILO 3 Disseminate research findings to academic and non-academic audiences. CILO 4 Construct a personal reflective portfolio. Course content: This course places students with diverse learning styles in unfamiliar field contexts. As such, the successful accomplishment of learning objectives will require active learning, flexibility, and motivation on the part of all participants. In the course the following activities are promoted: • Structured lectures and discussion-oriented dialogues; • Critical reviews of academic and policy literature to consolidate a research question and select appropriate mixed methods for their fieldwork; • Collaborative fieldwork, which may include interviewing people, working with vulnerable groups, and operating in high poverty neighborhoods; 1

• •

Analysis of data and design of methods to share findings with appropriate stakeholders; Presentation of research in an open symposium, and the submission of a report and a reflective portfolio.

Assessment: Total points possible: 1000 1 Research Design Outline (200 points) Single group-level five page document describing RQ and design. It is due at the end of the fieldwork in Atlanta. 2 Research Symposium (200 points) Single group-level presentation of 20 minutes plus 20 minutes Q & A with maximum one page (ie single or double-sided) hand-out. It is held at the end of the Hong Kong fieldwork. It will present and answer your research question, so groups should include data from both Atlanta and Hong Kong. 3 Individual Field Report (400 points) The field report compares the group findings from Atlanta with its findings in Hong Kong in an appropriate conceptual framework to address your research question. It is an individual piece of work. Of course, we encourage you to collaborate with your team to share your data, quotes, methods etc! There is no set format. However, one “model” format is the structure used in an article in the journal Urban Studies, which often has the following sub-headings: • Introduction (where you identify the big issue you are addressing) • Literature review (where you develop your conceptual frame and research question) • Methods • Results • Conclusions (where you briefly summarise the main contribution to knowledge and/or practice, your assessment of any limits of your research, and follow up research that should be done). It is typed with a maximum of 1000 words not including bibliography or appendices and submitted via Blackboard before Jul 27th 5pm. 4 Individual Reflective Portfolio (200 points) This is each students’ personal reflections on their insights and experiences in the course. It measures your involvement and engagement with the aims of the course (see page 1) and your ability to move between practical knowledge (for example, team dynamics, field observation) and theoretical concepts (for example, from the readings). It is different from the Field Report (above) because it highlights how you have learned. You should present your personal feelings, opinions, frustrations, victories and so on. A successful reflective portfolio can indicate to the teacher how much a student has engaged with the aims and spirit of the course, and can help the student to better appreciate their own strengths and weaknesses as a learner. As reflective portfolios are quite personal there is no set format. However, you could incorporate one or two of the following: • Notes/images/recordings from your field work, meetings, interviews, travels etc • Copies of field diaries; • Critical incident reports, such as specific cases where you encountered a problem, what happened, how did it get worse or better etc; • Examples of learning/accomplishment/growth beyond the formal course assessments (for example, in appreciating an aspect of culture that had previously been hard to understand – a new insight etc); • Examples of value or ethics changes you have felt during the course. 2

Excellent portfolios are critical (of yourself), balanced (that is, include a range of examples showing breadth of feelings and experiences), and can connect your practical experience to some concept(s) found in a relevant reading (meaning that reflective portfolios are more than just navel-gazing). For example, if you choose to focus your reflection on how you worked as a team member (first aim), then there are useful concepts in the video by Skilman and the reading below: Skilman, P. nd Marshmallow Challenge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p5sBzMtB3Q Mauthner, NS and Doucet, A 2008 Knowledge once divided can be hard to put together again: an epistemological critique of collaborative and team-based research practices. Sociology 42,5: 971985. If your reflection focused on how well you were able to work with community groups, then the following reading may be useful: Pain, R 2004 Social geography: participatory research. Progress in Human Geography 28: 652663(online via Proquest) Your portfolio should be uploaded to Blackboard before Jul 27th and be approximately 600 words. The points for the four assessment items will be added together (max 1000) and final course letter grades will be assigned based on the following: 930 – 1000: A 770 – 799: C+ 900 – 929: A730 – 769: C 870 – 899: B+ 700 – 730: C830 – 869: B 600 – 699: D 800 – 830: BBelow 600: F Active Participation All students are expected to contribute to class discussions. You are expected to participate in discussion by coming prepared (having done the reading and thought about it) and attending all research meetings. You have a duty to inform the teachers of any absence from any meeting due to sickness or other emergency and to present appropriate evidence eg doctor’s note. Tentative itinerary and readings: Date

TBA

Tue Jun 21 Wed Jun 22

Th

TNUF Class Day

HKBU Sumr School Class day

Location

Activity (italics indicates required student reading)

AAB1218

Lecture 1: Urban America into the 1990s. Chudacoff HP 1981 The Evolution of American Urban Society. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Chapters 7-9. Goldfield DR and Brownell BA 1990 Urban America: A History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Chapter 13. Students fly to USA and check in to dorm on Jun 21 by noon; meal service starts with lunch. A welcome cook-out at 466 Seminole Ave will officially launch the course with van transport provided from the dorm at 5pm. 1 330 Kell Scavenger Hunt TBA Official welcome lunch for Transnational Urban Futures exchange Library: Lecture 2: Contemporary Atlanta CURVE Keating, L. 2001 Race, class, and urban expansion. Philadelphia: Temple University Press: Chs 1, 2, 3, 6 2 330 Kell Dialogue 1: Joint Review of Urban America into the 1990s 3

Jun 23

Fri Jun 24 Sat Jun 25 Sun Jun 26 Mon Jun 27

Tue Jun 28 Wed Jun 29 Th Jun 30 Fri Jul 1

1000 330 Kell 1430

3

330 Kell 330 Kell 1000 330 Kell 1430

Dialogue 2: Transnational Urbanism Smith MP 2001 Transnational Urbanism. New York: Blackwell. Chapter 1, especially page 5. Lecture 3: Gentrification with Justice Dialogue 3: Precarity and Housing Dialogue 4: Formulating a Research Question free time: optional Stone Mountain excursion

free time: optional Outlet Mall excursion

4

5

6

7

330 Kell 1000

Dialogue 5: Selecting a case: Newcomers & institutions Hankins, K. and A. Walter 2012 Gentrification with justice: An urban ministry collective and the practice of place-making in Atlanta’s inner city neighborhoods Urban Studies 49: 15071526.(online through Sage at http://usj.sagepub.com.libezproxy.hkbu.edu.hk/content/49/7/1507.full.pdf+html) Sider RJ and Unruh HR 2004 Typology of religious characteristics of social service and educational organizations and programs. Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly 33: 109-134. Fung, K.K. and Hung, S.L. 2011 Community work in Hong Kong: changing agenda in the recent phase of economic globalization. Community Development Journal 46: 458-47 (available online through Oxford University Press). Depart for van field trip to selected Atlanta neighborhoods, including two guest presentations by FBOs, and a visit to Clarkston

GSU Dorm Lobby 1400 Field/Email Groups work on research 1 page research topic outline due at 1400 (no mark) Field/Kell

330 Kell 1400

Each group meets with Hankins/Bailey Groups work on research Research Design Sharing

Conclusion of Atlanta session 5pm HKBU students check out of dorm by 10am (last meal plan is breakfast) and either return to HK or enjoy further travel in USA before returning to HK by Jul 6 GSU Students arrive evening of Jul 6 and take van transfer to NTT Th 8 2 AAB 1217 Hong Kong Scavenger Hunt followed by debrief at 1600 Jul 7 1000 Fri 9 3 AAB 1312 Lecture 4: Urban Hong Kong Jul 8 1000 Tang, W-S 2014 Where Lefebvre meets the East: Urbanization in GSU Dorm

4

AAB 1217 1400 TBA Sat Jul 9 Sun Jul 10 Mon Jul 11 Tue Jul 12 Wed Jul 13 Th Jul 14 Fri Jul 15

Sat Jul 16 Wed Jul 27

Hong Kong. In Stanek et al Eds Urban Revolution Now. Ashgate, 71-91. Chiu WK and Lui TL 2004 Testing the global city social polarization thesis: Hong Kong since the 1990s. Urban Studies 41: 1863-1888 (online via Sage at http://usj.sagepub.com.libezproxy.hkbu.edu.hk/content/41/10/1863.full.pdf+html) Dialogue 6: Hong Kong housing issues Required meetings between Bailey/Hankins and each group to clarify research plan for Hong Kong free time: optional boat trip free time: optional Sham Shui Po excursion

10

4

Field/AAB 1325

Groups work on research Optional office hours with Bailey & Hankins

11

5

Field

Groups work on research Optional office hours with Bailey & Hankins No class

12

6

Field/AAB 1325

Groups work on research Optional office hours with Bailey & Hankins

13

7

AAB 1217 from 0900 AAB 1312 1430 AAB1312 1700 NTT Lobby 0830 Blackboard

Optional office hours with Bailey & Hankins

13

Colloquium Closing ceremony and end of course at 1800 Bus Departs to take GSU students to airport for 1155 flight (except those staying for HKBU summer school) Last day of HKBU summer school HKBU student final deadline for uploading of Field Report and Reflective Portfolio

Special notes: 1. The course starts in Atlanta on June 21st 2016. 2. Students taking this course will also be able to enroll on other summer 2016 courses at HKBU. Students are reminded to check the class meeting time listed in the outline during course enrollment. Students can make their own time arrangement to work in field for dates scheduled for field work in July. 3. The course fee is approximately HK$21,000. A number of scholarships will be available to students to cover the accommodation, transport, and living costs in Atlanta, Georgia 5