About the Final Exam

In the final exam, regular students will answer a vocabulary quiz worth of 25 points + 3 questions each 25 points... Erasmus students will answer 3 questions, each 33 points. All the questions will be coming from these question pools. 

There is also an optional question that you can answer before class. Those who give answer to this question will answer two questions, instead of three, in the exam. (again this is optional, you may choose to answer three questions)

Optional Question of 25 points: write a short essay with any topic you choose, not longer than one page A4, using and giving reference to at least three of the readings or/and the examples given in these readings... try to create relationships among these papers and write a coherent paper... 

QUESTION POOL I: AFTER MID-TERM: (at least one question will be asked from this pool)

1. Chapter 02: What is the central role MHA (TOKI) played  in the urban renewal processes of Istanbul? (page 21)
2. Chapter 06: Describe the unique form of gentrification in Florence. Why is it so different? (page 51)                    
3. Chapter 07: Who are winners and who are losers from urban growth in South East England?(page 69)
4. Chapter 11: Explain the tensions and contradictions between the two groups that form the coalition of “On Broadway Inc” in Green Bay, Wisconsin, focusing of the different motivations/aims/needs each group has. (page 111-112)
5. Chapter 12: what are the conclusions we can derive from the urban transformation of Can Ricart, Barcelona? (page 128)
6. Chapter 13: What is the most difficult task in mobilization of local residents regarding the Casa della Citta experience and why is it important/necessary? (page 138)
7. Chapter 16: What is LDT? (explain its function, structure, funding mechanism etc…)  (page 163)
8. Claims from Beirut: What is difference between procedural public space and topographical public space? (pdf page 3)

QUESTION POOL II: BEFORE MID-TERM: (at least one question will be asked from this pool)

1.   “A city street equipped to handle strangers, and to make a safety asset, in itself, out of the presence of strangers, as the streets of successful city neighborhoods always do, must have three main qualities”:  According to Jacobs, what are the three main qualities of the streets of successful neighborhoods? Give an example of a street in Istanbul that carries these traits by giving a description about the street life?
2. According to Harvey, what is the relationship between the crisis of capitalism and urbanization? Elaborate this relation by giving examples from/reference to recent urban developments in Turkey or elsewhere.
3. Ahmed Soliman mentions four basic shelter strategies for the poor in Cairo in the post-war era. What are they and how are they different or similar with the shelter strategies of the rural migrants in Turkey in the same period?
4. Draw the scheme of Manchester in 1844 considering the descriptions of Engels and discuss briefly the distinctive social, functional and physical features of the early industrial city. Evaluate this situation by using concepts we use in urban sociology.
5. By using the perspective of (and giving reference to) Jacobs, raise at least two critics on Robert Moses’ implementations in New York city.
6. In what ways the interventions of Moses to the public space resembles to that of Haussmann’s? In what ways do they differ?

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