11 December

we will be discussing the following chapters today: 09, 11 and 18

04 December...

The reading for the first part of the class is:  Mona Harb (2013) "Public Spaces and Spatial Practices: Claims from Beirut", Jadaliyya 

The pdf and other course material (vocabulary sets in excel or quizlet) can be downloaded from the "course material" button in the menu...

page update: "course material" button

the page to dowload the readings is updated... you can click "course material" in the menu to reach to the new page. the page involves, other than the pdf versions of the readings, the vocabulary sets in excel and quizlet format and other materials when relevant (like videos).

Assignments for 27 November

Assignments for 27 November is as follows:

In the first part, Harvey's lecture on the crisis of capitalism (the transcript of this lecture can be downloaded in this LINK, with unknown words highlighed). this pdf is the transcript of the video lecture below. For those who would like to study the unknown words on excel, click this link to DOWLOAD the vocabulary set. 

In the second part, three presentation from chapters of Porter and Shaw's book: chapter 6, 7 and 13.

no quizzes for this week... no quotation entries... but the participation to the class will be regarded as quotation entry.  more over, there might be pop (habersiz) quizzes in the following weeks during the class on vocabulary or/and the readings. 

new extra-responsibilities for the Erasmus students

After mid-term, we will be separating the course into two parts. This post is about the second part of the course... In the second part, we will be analyzing regeneration cases through out the world. This part will base on the presentations of Erasmus students and discussions we make about them.

The chart that shows the extra-responsibilities of Erasmus students for the forthcoming weeks is in the following link: LINK FOR THE CHART... 

The chart shows the weeks and chapter numbers you are responsible from. The chapters belong to the following edited book: Libby Porter and Kate Shaw (2009) Whose Urban Renaissance? An international comparison of urban regeneration strategies, Routledge.

We are waiting you to present us what these chapters are telling us... The chapters base on case studies on urban regeneration in different parts of the world. So it would be very nice if you use visual materials as much as possible in your presentation to let us grasp the context as much as possible. 

• start with a short summary/overview and then explain us what the chapter is about, 
• what has happened in these case study areas in terms of urban regeneration?
• what do we learn from the experiences in these case study areas?

You are also preparing a question about the chapter and writing the page number where the answer is located. 

There won't be any quizzes from these chapters during the course but in the final exam there will be questions from these 12 chapters basing on the discussions we make in the class. 

About the mid-term

The midterm will consist of two parts for Turkish students: a) questions from the text  b) vocabulary questions.  Erasmus students will not be responsible from vocabulary questions, instead they will answer more questions from the readings. 

At least one (perhaps two) question will come from the pool of questions we have published on blog before each week's text. There will be other questions as well. You are, however, responsible for all the material that are in the readings, whether we have discussed it in the class or not, and also the discussions and theoratical explanations we have made in the class (that are not in the text). 

Pay particular attention to the discussions we have made during the class, the examples we have discussed, the relationships we tried to establish with current process in Turkey or the world, the concepts we have raised etc. 

There were around 800 words in the vocabulary list. I eliminated half of it and prepared a new list of 400 words that you will be responsible for. The Turkish students are responsible for these 400 words. You can download the vocabulary set in excel format by clicking THIS LINK...   I have also put a vocabulary set in quizlet for those who would like to practice the words in ways other than excel (check the quizlet page).

Pool of potential quiz questions for the reading of Davis

These are the potential quiz questions for this week. 1 or 2 questions from this pool will be asked in the class, so it would be wise to get prepared to all the questions. Do not memorize the answers, use your own sentences in the quiz to answer the questions. You can use Turkish words as much as you want in your answers when you can not express your self in English (in other words Türkçe ve İngilizce ortaya karışık yazmanız is not a problem, begin with English and use Turkish terms when you can't remember/find its English karşılık)

1. What is a megaslum? (page 26)
2. What is the main difference between American and European cities in terms of the settlement patterns of the poor (immigrant and unemployed populations) (page 31)
3.  Explain Turner's celebrated model based on Peru in explaning the settlement patterns of rural migrants (page 29)
4. Explain the four basic shelter strategies for the poor that Ahmet Soliman discusses by looking at the case of Cairo. (page 29)
5. What do you understand by Turner's phrase "Housing is a verb" (page 27)

FLV Mike Davis political activist, urban and historical theorist, Marxist American writer

06 November week vocabulary sets

For those who want to study for the vocabulary quiz or/and gain an easier understanding of the text by learning the unknown words: to download the vocabulary set for this week's reading in xls format, click this LINK... 

the quizlet sets will be uploaded later and announced here.
for quizlet vocabulary sets (there are 2 sets: one with only turkish definitions and the other also with usage in the sentences) check the quizlet page in the links on the right side of the blog... or click HERE

this week's quiz

this week, there will be a vocabulary quiz consisting of 23 words from the vocabulary set of Engel's text. the format will be like last week. erasmus students: you are also taking this vocabulary quiz, which consists of fill in the blanks so be ready for the quiz.

about the quiz about the text: there will either be a question to ask you to summarize the text or there will be no quiz this week about the text.

Engels-The Great Towns: mind-map

michele-antonio

gözde-ipek

Engels- vocabulary set

To download the vocabulary set for this week's reading in xls format, click this LINK... 

Two vocabulary sets are ready in the quizlet page of class: (one vocabulary set with sentences, one without sentences). Click "quizlet page" in the menu to reach EMP2013's quizlet page. 

questions for 23 October quiz (Jane Jacobs)

Two of these questions will be asked in the quiz. You can work it out when you have got time. Please do not memorize these texts word by word. Just get the general idea and interpret it to us. You will probably be summarizing Jacobs' own thoughts, but you can interpret it with your own ideas. These quiz' aim to let you jump in and comprehend the text. Again, please do not memorize them word by word...

[just to remind you again: 1) in all the quizzes during the course, apart from these questions, always be ready for classical questions such as "what does this text tell us in terms of planning?" or "what was the main message behind this text" as well. 2) you will also have a vocabulary quiz (which would not be as easy as the previous week), so study the vocabulary sets in quizlet -if you have any problems using quizlet just let us know via facebook group or email T.İ.] 

Question 1: According to Jacobs, what is the bedrock attribute of a successful city district and what are the properties of a safe city?

Answer 1: The bedrock attribute of a successful city district is that a person must feel personally safe and secure on the street among all these strangers. First, there must be a clear demarcation between the public and private spaces. Second, there must be eyes upon the street; eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. Third, the sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers. 

Question 2: How do stores, restaurants and bars ensure the safety?

Answer 2: First, they give people concrete reasons for using the sidewalks on which these enterprises face. Second, they draw people along the sidewalks past places which have no attractions to public use in themselves but which become travelled and peopled as routes to somewhere else; this influence does not carry very far geographically, so enterprises must be frequent in a city district if they are to populate with walkers those other stretches of street that lack public places along the sidewalk. Third, storekeepers and other small businessmen are typically strong proponents of peace and order themselves; they hate broken windows and holdups; they hate having customers made nervous about safety, They are great street watchers and sidewalk guardians if present in sufficient numbers. Fourth, the activity generated by people on errands, or people aiming for food or drink, is itself an attraction to still other people.

Question 3: What is the role of watchers in safety of the public spaces?

Answer 3: Watchers are more important than police presence in street. Watchers are people that can control space, activities and people’s movement, they operate spontaneously for neighborhood’s good operation and generally they intervene in case of problems. Their action is not only direct but also indirect because their presence discourages people with hostile inclinations.

Question 4: What is the importance of the streets and the sidewalks for a city?

Answer 4: "Streets and their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs. Think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets. If a city' s streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull. More than that and here we get down to the first problem. İf a city’ s city's streets are safe from barbarism and fear, the city is thereby tolerably safe from barbarism and fear. When people say that a city, or a part of it, is dangerous or is a jungle what they mean primarily is that they do not feel safe on the sidewalks." 

the vocabulary of the text of Jane Jacobs...

By clicking THIS LINK, you can download a pdf version of Jacobs' text where the unknown words are highlighted and also appear as text within the document when the cursor is over the unknown word or when you click the highlighted word. This feature might help you to read the text more rapidly and also increase your comprehension.

To study for the vocabulary exam take the following material into consideration (not the pdf above):

• The vocabulary set of Jacobs' reading is uploaded to QUIZLET. Use this link: http://quizlet.com/28634089/flashcards or the link in the upper menu to study the words in quizlet.
• For those who want to study the words in excel format, you can download the excel file by clicking THIS LINK:   

Your friends have spent several hours on this vocabulary set. I've also spent at least 7-8 hours to give it the final shape (making controls, correcting flaws, eliminating unneccessary words, upgrading the format etc.). So a lot of time and energy is spent on this vocabulary set. I hope you will appreciate that and give the importance it deserves. Just to remind you once again, this week's vocabulary quiz will be much more difficult than the previous week's, it would be really hard for those who come to class without studying the words to get passing grades. 

Jane Jacobs - The Little Woman That Could

Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses: Urban Fight of the Century

Robert Moses'dan bahsetmiştik. Sırada Jane Jacobs var.
Jane Jacobs Robert Moses'a karşı...

the forthcoming assignments...

1) (only for Turkish students) the extra-responsibles for the first 5 readings (harvey, berman, jacobs, engels, davis) are due to submit their vocabulary list in excel format until 16 October 2013 Wednesday at 23:59. there will be three coloumns in the excel (as in the example below): (send me via facebook message). 

column A: english word (that you do not know the definition of)
column B: turkish meaning in the text
column C: the usage in the text (the exact sentence in the text)

note 1: there should be NO MISTAKE in the spelling of the english words in the first column. the first mistake will lower the total point by 10 points and then each mistake will lower the points you will get from this task by 5 points. (burası önemli, her grup vocabulary listini kontrol etsin bir daha, bu liste üzerinden hepimiz çalışıyoruz ve hata olduğu zaman hepimizin o kelimeyi yanlış öğrenmesi anlamına geliyor, sıfır hata ile gelmelisiniz)

note 2: the vocabulary list should contain at least 150 words (daha fazla yapabilirsiniz ama yapmak zorunda değilsiniz) use the singular form of the word (yani çoğul halini değil tekil halini kullanın kelimelerin) 

note 3: you should also send the pdf of the text with the unknown words highlighted on it (take a look at the following example in this link) (sorumlu olduğunuz pdf'i bilinmeyen kelimeler highlight edilmiş olarak gönderiyorsunuz) 

2) the extra-responsible students for the Jane Jacobs reading are due to send 5 quiz questions from the text until 19 October 2013 Saturday at 23:59. (send me via facebook message in .doc or .docx format). They will be evaluated according to the quality of their questions (in other words a high quality question will get full points, the lower the quality the lower the points you will get from each question)

3) (from now on) the extra-responsible students should also prepare two discussion questions and send them to me via facebook message until 19 October 2013 Saturday at 23:59.  discussion questions are questions that will help us talk about the text (i.e. you can ask questions regarding relationships between contemporary process or use any technic which you believe would foster a discussion)

4) all the students (except for the extra-responsibles for Jacobs' reading) are due to enter one quiz question for the next weeks text (Jane Jacobs) by using the "quotation entry" button in the menu until 19 October 2013 Saturday at 23:59 (remember that you might get extra or lesser points according to the quality of your questions) note: each student can also prepare some discussion questions to talk in the class. 

New York devam: Popüler eserlerdeki mekanların tarihsel takibi

Bir arkadaşımız yememiş, içmemiş ve "Great Gatsby" romanında adı geçen yerlerin karşılıklarını ve hangi zamanda tasvir edildiklerini araştırıp bulmuş. Bu tip eserleri inceleyerek tarihsel analizler de yapabiliyoruz yani. Örneğin kitapta bahsedilen "Valley of Ashes"(Kül Vadisi) bölgesini -hani üzerinde gözlüklü bir çift göz görünen dişçi reklamı olan bölge- 1924 hava haritası üzerinde bulmuş.

Marshall Berman kitabının bizim okuduğumuz nispeten kısa bölümünde bu gözlerden ve Valley of Ashes'ın sembolik manasından (bizdeki "halkalı çöplüğü"ne benzer bir manası var aslında) bahsediyor hatırlarsanız.

Makale ve kullanılan görseller burada. 

Tarihsel değişimi belgelemek için kullanılan kombinasyonlardan sadece biri.

E.P.:

The link above, leads you to a research about the real place of the fictious "Valley of Ashes" described in the novel Great Gatsby. By locating the possible place of the Valley, researcher is actually documenting the transformation. This leaves us some questions; the fictiousness and realness of a popular novel, and whether if we can use this method or not in order to analyze the urban fabric.

after Berman and Moses - are we clear?

Arkadaşlar selam

Bu tip okumaların soğumaması, deteklenmesi için sinema, roman sizin de aklınıza gelirse eklemeyi unutmayın. Ne de olsa gelecek hafta (bayram ertesinde) Jane Jacobs okuyacağız. Hala New York'dayız yani.

Temel okumalarımızın bu gibi popüler kurgularla pekiştirilmesinin yararlı olduğunu zannediyorum. Metinden de anlamış olduğumuz gibi konu 1929 sonrası New York, veya A.B.D. de diyebiliriz aslında. Bağlama dair fikir verici bir çok popüler eser arasından benim aklıma gelenleri ekliyorum,

Bir kere "The Great Gatsby". Dönemin New York'u, özellikle Moses'ın ikinci dönemindeki çalışma alanı olan Long Island'da geçmesi vs... dolayısıyla -özellikle de Marshall Berman tarafından da vurgulandığı ve kaynak olarak gösterildiği gibi- oldukça önemli. Wiki linki burada.

"Zamanımız değerli" dediğinizi duyar gibiyim. Sparknotes sitesi ilginç bir site. Şöyle bir göz atmanızı tavsiye ederim. Bu tip kolaylaştırıcılar olayla yüzeysel bir münasebet sağlıyor ama sonuçta bunlar ana okumalarımızın yan destekleri sadece. İşte altta kısa bir video. Ayrıca biliyorsunuzdur romanın film uyarlaması bu sene gösterime girdi.

Destekleyici filmlere ek
olarak:

"Once upon a time in America" (aynı zamanlar, üstelik yanlış bilmiyorsam ana karakterimiz bir Yahudi, aynı Marshall Berman, Robert Moses veya dönemin büyük mafya babası -ilk babalardan- Las Vegas'ın kurucusu Bugsy Siegel gibi) ve 19.yy. New York'unu anlatan
"Gangs of New York".

New York meselesinin bu kadar vurgulanmasının sebebi an itibariyle konumuz olması. İstanbul'un veya Yozgat'ın bizim için daha önemli olduğunu söylemeye gerek yok herhalde. En azından bana göre öyle.

Şehirci arkadaşlarım, sizler için aşağıya New York haritası linki verdim, lütfen bol zoom in/out yaparak nereden bahsettiğimizi kavrayalım.

Erasmus people:
To reinforce our primary reading materials it could be usefull to have a look at the relevant popular movies or novels -or any fictive materials that may reflect the historical facts and different point of views for that context.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby" novel and two movies you can see from above links. The first video above is a summary of "the Great Gatsby" from Sparknotes.com, a site that I also suggest you to take a look insight.

Please make your own suggestions for these kind of examples which can help us to grasp the context more truly.

And lastly, the map of New York is important for at least to understand the place of which we talk about roughly.

View New York - Moses in a larger map

Robert Moses - Cross Bronx Expressway

video on the construction of Robert Moses'Cross Bronx Expressway... with comments by Caro and Marshall Berman...

questions for 09 October quiz

In the quiz of 09 October, at least one of the following questions will be asked... the answers are following the questions... and (always) be ready for classical questions such as "what does this (Berman's) text tell us in terms of planning?" or "what was the main message behind this text". 

+ you will also have a vocabulary quiz from the words of Harvey and Berman's texts... you can study the words of the two texts by clicking the quizlet page link in the menu

1) (Gizem &Songül) According to Berman, (by giving reference to Harvey) what is the ideal type of relationship between Modernism and urban planning? 

Although Harvey states that the residents of a city has the right to shape the environment they live in, Robert designed the city with symbolization and huge roads by ignoring the residents in the name of social order and expropriation. Modernism destroyed social institutions, environment and moral values until today and created again the cities. If Modernism and urban planning works together, this system serves only to economic and politic efforts.

2) (Gizem & Songül) According to the reading, how did construction projects of Moses affect residents?

These projects effected negatively residents,especially low-income groups and labours. Residents did not need roads also they have not a themselves cars but Mosess built expressways and parkway. The conclusion of these projects the most people migrated another cities and were disspossed.

Booklet for the first five readings...

I have prepared a booklet that covers the first 5 readings of the course. If you want to read or print the readings using this single pdf you can download the booklet (115 pages) from this link or clicking the cover below:  readingsEMP2013_01.pdf (you can still download the readings as single files using the "reading list" button in the menu)

vocabulary sets are in quizlet

the vocabulary sets you are responsible for the next week (that of harvey and berman) are put in the quizlet. visit quizlet.com and search for "emp2013" or "tolgaislam", you will see two vocabulary sets under the class emp2013. [or click the "quizlet page of class emp2013" link on the right]

this week (09 October), there will be two vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of the course (one for Harvey's text, one for Berman's text). Each quiz will be prepared by the quizlet.com's test module. So the best way for you to study is using the tools on quizlet.com and become familiar with the words.

the format of the vocabulary quiz will exactly look like this, only questions will be different: http://quizlet.com/27694210/test?matching=on&mult_choice=on&tf=on&prompt-with=1&limit=20

Crises of Capitalism

the legendary animation of RSA about David Harvey's explanation on crisis of capitalism:

Who is David Harvey by the way? 
(or an unacademic summary from Wiki)

for Erasmus students:

for Erasmus students: the explanation of the course in the USIS system is as follows.

reading for 09 October and quizlet

Use the reading list button in the menu to open the folder for the forthcoming readings... Currently the first three weeks' readings are put in the folder (harvey, berman, jacobs)... It will be updated in a few days... (you can choose the week you want to be "extra responsible" by contacting me -first come first serve rule applies)

the reading for next week is from Marshall Berman: all that solid melts into the air; page 287-312

• all the students are responsible for adding a quatation, a question and a comment using the "quotation entry" form in the menu until Saturday (05 October 2013) 23:59. All the students are also supposed to take notes/prepare questions during their readings in order to open discussion in the class.  

• "extra responsible" students (Gizem & Songül) are due to finish and submit their assignments by this date as well. Their assignments involve:
• creating a new vocabulary set for the text
• preparing 5 questions for the the mid-term (we will give marks to these questions by evaluating their quality)
• getting "extra" ready for the class (reading the text more than other students, preparing "more" discussion questions for the class
• (they are also responsible for organizing the space for discussion before the class)

I will put these entries into quizlet  for those who would like to review the text more before the class. As I have explained today, in order to use quizlet for this lesson all you have to do is to enter the website of quizlet (www.quizlet.com) and search for "emp2013". Currently you will have access to the vocabulary of Harvey's text. (this vocabulary set will be updated on Saturday, new words from Harvey's text will be added, so check it again after Friday).

small tip for smart phone and tablet users: 

• for Ios users, there is an application called CHEGG where you can search in QUIZLET database and download the data and play with the flash cards (the positive side of the application is that you can mark incorrect words and then study them again)
• for both Ios and Android users: you can use QUIZLET application. the application allows you to study the cards via flash cards (unfortunately you can not mark the incorrect words currently) + other very useful tools. I will be using both applications to memorize the words till the next course. Feel free to share with us any tools/applications that you think might be useful for the course. 

Room Change...

tomorrow (02 October 2013) and from now on, our course will be taking place on room D-409... (up floor, next to BOAT). please be at the class at 17:00 sharp... (note: remember there will be a quiz on Harvey's text at the beginning of the lesson)

assignment for 02 October 2013 course

As I have explained today in the class, all the students of EMP are required to write an essay regarding the relation of Harvey's text on "right to the city" and the works in the İstanbul Bienalle. You should submit your work until 29 September 2013 Sunday at 23:59. I will announce the email addresss you will submit your work here in a few days...use facebook group page to upload your pdfs until Sunday 23:59...: (so that the time/date you submit your papers could be seen by everyone)

use ytutolga@gmail.com if you have any problems with using the facebook group... if you have no problems with using facebook group, then submit your assignments via facebook group on Sunday. 

the assignment:

1. read the text on right to the city (the assignment for 02 October Course)
2. using this text as a lense and visit the biennale and observe the works there (using this lense)
3. choose one or more works there that you beleive is related with Harvey's text and gather data: take pictures of the works and the texts
4. then write a short essay that is no longer than one A4 by elaborating on both Harvey's text on right to the city and the chosen works in the Bienalle.  Try to highlight the parallels and relations between the two. Feel free to add your own comments, which are most valuable. 
5. apart from the text you will write, photos taken by you in the bienalle should be added to the document
6. you can use any software to create this document (word, powerpoint, photoshop) but you are required to send the document as a pdf file. 

notes:

• since there wont be any class next week as I will be abroad, you can visit the biannale during the course hours.
• I might add new information on this post, check it for updates.
• Feel free to ask any questions about this assignment or the course in general on our facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/emp2013/

facebook group address

the address of the facebook group of the course EMP is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/emp2013/

it is a secret group where only members can see the posts. Other people can see the group and who is in it but can not see the posts. so feel free to post anything on the facebook group. any new and innovative ideas might bring you extra points

contact details form

please fill the following form about your contact details until the next course (it will take less than 1 minute)... click here to open the form...
I will announce my contact details in the class for those who do not have it yet...

tolga

next course: 02 October 2013

Since I will be abroad next week (25 September 2013), there will be no course. Our next course is on 02 October 2013. You can download the reading from the following link... 

The reading is from David Harvey's book: "Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution". You are responsible from the first chapter: right to the city - pages 3-27. Click here to download the book as pdf

there will be a quiz at the beginning of the lesson about the chapter, at 17:00 sharp, afterwards we will discuss about the reading...

every student should bring their printed copies of the chapter to the class (those who do not have their printed copies will lose points)

further details about the 02 October week will be given in the blog. Please check the blog frequently or follow the blog by email to be updated. as I have written in the previous post, you are responsible for the assignments that are announced from this blog.

tolga

first post: about the course and blog

I will use this blog to inform the students of Economic Geography and Planning (Ekonomik Mekan ve Planlama) about the course. All the students that are taking this course are responsible to follow this blog. Thus you can use the "follow by email" gadget on the right handside to follow the new posts. Blog will be open to public for a while, than I can restrict its access to those who are taking the course.

have a nice semestre

tolga islam