GEOG 181 HANDBOOK

The term project is an original group investigation that demonstrates a degree of sophistication and analysis obtained from our semester-long field course.

• Each group (max: 3 people per group) should schedule an initial meeting to discuss interests, ingredients, skills, and to distribute the work load. We will organize the groups in class. Set-up a calendar of periodic work meetings and consult with Javier about your topic and progress.

• Each investigation, no matter the topic or the scope, should have a spatial and an urban aspect of some sort (dissecting such concepts through your experiences in this and other courses). Whatever you are uncovering should be perceivable or graspable from an urban walk.

• For practical purposes, your investigation could look at (but need not be restricted to) Berkeley or the East Bay.

• You’re encouraged to explore an issue that we have not been able to cover in class.

• Ideally, you will post your investigation online. More discussion in class on this.

Topics can include all sorts of issues, such as: food production and distribution, property speculation and development, sidewalk or informal uses, urban policing, social activism and protests, transportation, university science experiments, architectural design, climate effects, landscape ecology, and many more.

The project or paper might look at present day conditions, but be sure to think of the history of what you are studying.

Each project should have a central and cohesive argument. It should have an answer to  "why?“ and also to "why here?” The goal is to explain what makes a place distinctive and worthy of study. Use the class materials (walks, blog, reserve readings, map resources, and course bibliography) to make some sense to what you think you are observing.

Group projects will generally have a series of parts or subtopics that each person could handle more effectively. However, the scope of each person’s work is up to the group.

Suggestions:

1. Begin with scheduling a group meeting and discuss your interests. Go for a short walk and take notes of what you observe together. Chat more about what you think is going on just beyond initial appearances. What makes a neighborhood? Why are certain kinds of land uses clustered somewhere? …Where are, let’s say, most of the dog parks located? Why there? What spatial phenomena could be operating? What happened in the past to make it so?

2. Distribute tasks in your group. Call city officials that might help you. Talk to a business owner. Interview students, neighbors, commuters, etc…

3. Begin to develop a realistic reading list. What articles or books most relate to your topic? What theories explain a bit more what might be going on?

4. Meet back together and discuss what you have found. What patterns emerge.

5. Collect some resources, like photos, maps, historical images, current plans, etc. (Check the class website for map collections, use the library’s search engines, and check Calisphere).

6. Meet with Javier to discuss progress (some time in the next couple of weeks). Schedule meetings for Tuesdays, Wednesdays in Berkeley, or on a Friday after our class.

7. Continue to work on specific directions, and planning your walk, editing drafts, formatting images, etc. We’ll meet periodically to follow-up. Possibly use Oct. 4th (no class meeting) to meet as a group, divide work, and

8. Still uncertain about where to start or what to present? Think of the threads that go through many of our walks: monumentality (historical markers, monuments, memorials, bombastic architectural styles, accidental markers of an event…), value (land, buildings, abandoned industrial sites…), property creation and exchange (Anglo squatters, conquest, bank seizures), production of goods (DIY, large manufacturing, factories, imports), workers, gender, ethnic and racial identity, urban associations and societies, migrants, movement and transport, topography, waterways, ports, design, public and open space, and any other activities that humans decide to partake in as part of their entertainment, leisure, enjoyment or culture. …And think of how these have a geographical, cultural, and spatial dimension. Then, begin to devise how you might explain these to someone if you had to take them on a walk.

9. Also, think about the many historical episodes in the Bay Area that have also left defining features somehow. These might give you some guideposts about why some landscape features appear. For instance: the pre-conquest history of Native Americans, the Spanish colonization, the secularization of the Missions, the mining boom, the transcontinental railroad, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the Great Depression, Worlds Fairs, the New Deal, World War II, Civil Rights, Vietnam, Free Speech, Third World Liberation, Redevelopment, and more recently, the Great Recession & Occupy.

Online submission due date TBD.

Your submission can take the form of a multimedia presentation of your case and a suggested itinerary of points or routed for others to be able to explore a geography without your physical presence.* A section or page somewhere on your site should introduce the theme you explored and the explanations you devised. Different portions or sites may be divided among team-members as seen fit. Use your wits to assemble some easily and freely available online tools to present your project. You may choose however you would like to display your information.

Note: Do not commit plagiarism in any way, shape, or form. All of your quotes, sources, and images must be cited and accurate. If you are confused or have further questions about how, where or when to cite, consult with your instructor immediately.

* You can use a blog layout, a slide presentation, or even a pdf document posted to the web. It’s not obligatory to make it fancy or have all the bells and whistles.