The Urban Network hosted four conferences this spring exploring. Learn more!
2013 Urban Forums
Rethinking urban research requires an innovative, cross-disciplinary approach. Learn more about the Urban Network
Pathbreaking, cross-disciplinary urban research
Urban Doctoral Fellow Kai Parker at City, Society and Space
Kai Parker, doctoral student in the department of history and an Urban Network fellow, will present Must Ethiopia Bear the Cross Alone?: Ethiopianism, Gospel Music and the Reorientation of Black Religious Culture in 1930s Chicago Tuesday, 21 May at the City, Society and Space workshop. The paper analyzes the ways in which black Chicago served as the principal site for a reorientation of black religious culture in the early 1930s.
City, Society and Space meets in Social Scienc Research, Room 302 from noon to 1:20pm.
Sue Dynarski to speak at the Workshop on Human Potential
The Urban Network is sponsoring a talk by Susan Dynarski, Associate Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, at the Workshop on Human Potential Tuesday, 14 May 2013. She will present her paper Stand and Deliver: Lottery-Based Estimates of the Effect of Charter Schools on College Preparation, Entry and Choice.
The workshop meets from noon to 1:20pm in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Room 140C.
Japonica Brown-Saracino to visit City, Society and Space Workshop
The Urban Network is sponsoring a talk by Dr. Japonica Brown-Saracino, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Boston University, at the Workshop on City, Society, and Space Tuesday, May 14, 12:00-1:20, Social Science Research Building, Room 302. Dr. Brown-Saracino will give a talk on "How place shapes identity: the origins of distinctive queer female identities in four small U.S. cities." Jeffrey Parker, doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and an Urban Doctoral Fellow, will serve as a discussant.
Grassroots public safety initiatives and the politics of crime and race in interracial neighborhoods
Jan Doering, doctoral dandidate in the Department of Sociology and an Urban Doctoral Fellow, will present at the Workshop on City, Society and Space tomorrow, April 30, 12:00-1:20, in Social Science Research Building, Room 302. He will give a talk on "Grassroots public safety initiatives and the politics of crime and race in interracial neighborhoods." Juan Martinez, doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will serve as a discussant. An abstract for the presentation is b
City States: Space, Housing and Politics in Luanda, Angola
Claudia Gastrow, doctoral candidate in the department of anthropology and an Urban Doctoral Fellow, will be presenting her paper, City States: Space, Housing and Politics in Luanda, Angola c. 1975 to the present, at the City, Society and Space Workshop Tuesday, 23 April. Josh Garoon from The Urban Network will be the discussant.
City, Society and Space meets from noon to 1:20pm in the Social Science Research Building, Room 302.
New & Noteworthy: Aspirational Cities: The Next Great American Cities Aren’t What You Think
The fastest-growing regions are not heavy hitters like Chicago or New York, but oft-maligned low-density, car-oriented, suburb-heavy places like Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Charlotte, and Oklahoma City. Like Chicago and New York in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Los Angeles in the postwar decades, these regions contain “aspirational cities,” rich with jobs and opportunities for large swaths of the population.
New & Noteworthy: Post-Public Housing Destruction: The Relationship Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Resident Satisfaction
A new article in Housing Studies, co-authored by Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid, examines the satisfaction of former public housing residents, post-relocation. The authors looked specifically at the relation between Atlanta residents’ changing satisfaction with their home and neighborhood and the socioeconomic, racial, and crime characteristics of their new neighborhoods, to understand the dimensions that drive (dis)satisfaction.
New & Noteworthy: Stunning Success in Chicago’s “Mega-Loop”
An article in Crain’s Chicago Business details the stunning success that the city of Chicago has had in revitalizing its “mega-Loop,” a 10 square-mile area that runs from Cermak Rd. to North Ave. and the lakefront to Ashland Ave. In the 20th century, Chicago saw its suburbs boom as jobs and population migrated out and the central city suffered. Nowadays, by any number of metrics—jobs, income, residential property values, retail sales—the Loop area is outshining its suburban neighbors.
New & Noteworthy: Zoning and Crime Reduction: Testing The Concept of “Eyes on the Street”
In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1951 Jane Jacobs introduced a number of concepts that have been influential for urban planning. Among them is the idea of “eyes on the street”—the thinking that, if well-designed spaces offered a mix of uses, they would encourage pedestrian circulation and ensure a type of natural surveillance wherein pedestrians and people in buildings keep tabs on street activity, thereby reducing crime.
Dr. Briggs Comes to Chicago
The Urban Network sponsored a talk with Xavier de Souza Briggs at SSA Thursday evening about the role of academia in shaping political change. It was put together by the excellent team running the Workshop on City, Society and Space, and fostered a conversation about how the federal government can work better for cities across the country.
For a brief review of his main ideas, check out the review included in the Urban Network's new series Urbanites.
A New Research Community for Urban Data
The Urban Network was a sponsor of last week's kick-off meeting for the Urban Sciences Research Coordination Network. Read about the event and the group's plans for the future at the Urban Center for Computation and Data.
Alice Goffman at Social Theory and Evidence Workshop
Alice Goffman, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, will present her paper "The Moral Life of a Fugitive Community" at the Social Theory and Evidence workshop next Monday, 25 February.
The workshop meets in Social Science Room 401 from noon to 1:10pm.
New & Noteworthy: Commuter Patterns in Bike-Friendly Cities
A designer created maps for the country’s top ten bike-friendly cities that show where commuters—walkers, cyclists, and everyone else—are concentrated. In Chicago, it’s no surprise that many walkers, represented by green dots, can be found in the Loop. Bike commuters, represented by blue dots, are primarily to the north and northwest of the city center. In other cities, Manhattan is dominated by walkers, whereas Portland (the #2 bike friendly city), has a surfeit of cyclists.
Director Scott Allard on Where We Find Poverty
The Urban Network's Faculty Director, Scott Allard, was featured in Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity today. He argues that we need to rethink our response to poverty -- both geographically and systematically; poverty doesn't happen only in America's inner cities, and government assistance is not the dominant way we provide aid.
New & Noteworthy: Envisioning Starry Skies Sans Light Pollution
Light pollution is a scourge, blocking out the splendor of the night sky from urbanites’ view. The French photographer Thierry Cohen envisions what those night skies would look like, rich with stars, in the absence of light pollution. Cohen shot photographs of the skies above much less-populated cities at the same latitude as the world’s teeming places and put them together with images of the latter. The result is a series of photographs showing the brilliant array of stars above New York, Tokyo, Paris, and more, which residents are prevented from seeing.
New & Noteworthy: Class Divisions in the Chicago Metro Area
Using data from the American Community Survey, the Atlantic Cities takes a look at where creative class, service class, and working class live in Chicago proper and in the Chicago metro area at large.
Special Session of City, Society, and Space
In addition to Tuesday's workshop with James DeFilippis (see the calendar), City, Society, and Space will be hosting a joint discussion Wednesday with DeFilippis and Phil Ashton. Now Where I'll Find Comfort, God Knows, 'Cause You Left Me Just When I Needed You Most will discuss the relationship between non-profits and business cycles, and the impact both have on the American welfare state.
Creating A Healthier Woodlawn Recap
Community health depends on much more than doctors, nurses and hospitals.
Computational Social Sciences Workshop
Friday, 1 February, Tom Schenk, Jr., Director of Analytics for the City of Chicago, will present at the Computational Social Sciences Workshop. The workshop takes place in Harper 140 from 2:00 - 3:00pm.
Interested in healthcare, but not medical school?
The Urban Health Initiative, University of Chicago Careers in Health Professions, the Urban Network, and the University Community Service Center hosted a panel discussion about alternative approaches to community health in Woodlawn and on the South Side, and how careers outside of medicine support the work of doctors, nurses and hospitals.
Announcing the 2013 Urban Forums
The Urban Network is excited to announce four conferences for spring 2013.
Between 26 April and 11 May 2013, the Network will host four gatherings on campus in Hyde Park. Planned in conjunction with partners from across the university, the topics include:
SHINE: Social and Structural Determinants of HIV Infections Among Minority Populations
The Urban Network is a sponsor of the STI/HIV Intervention Network's second annual conference happening Friday, 16 November from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM at the School of Social Service Administration.
In addition, Sheryl Lee Ralph will present her one-worman show, Sometimes I Cry, Saturday, 17 November at 7:00 PM at International House.
To learn more and register, visit the SHINE website.
Architecture and the Humanities in Conversation
Join architect Brittany Williams, AIA LEED AP, and Adrienne Brown, Assistant Professor of English, for a lunchtime conversation about the relationship between humanities fields and architecture. How might an architect approach a room, a building or a city differently from a literature scholar? What space exists for collaboration between the two fields, both in the academy and in practice in the field? What can the humanities contribute to conversations about the build environment and, conversely, what can architecture teach the humanities about practices of seeing and reading?
Big Problems, Big Ideas
The Polsky Center, in partnership with the Social Enterprise Initiative and with support from The Urban Network, is hosting a cross-campus event to harnesses the brain power at the University of Chicago to discuss and identify solutions to some of the biggest problems we’re facing at local and global levels. Four renowned speakers representing education, energy and the environment, healthcare,and global development will give 10 minute overviews of important trends and issues in th
Now accepting applications for the 2012-2013 Urban Forums Series
Note: Applications are now closed. Look for an announcement of the 2013 Urban Forums in November!
