Below you will find a list of class activities and readings for each day. You can access these readings through the UBC Library Catalog. The Library provides access to many online resources. You can find these articles looking through E-Journals. You will need to be using a UBC computer or one connected to the UBC network through the VPN to access E-Journals.
Course Schedule
Week 1
Jan 2 Introduction
Jan 4 Do we have a community problem?
Week 2
Community Lost
Jan 7 Activity 1
Jan 9 Wirth, L. 1938. “Urbanism as a way of life.” American Journal of Sociology. 44: 1-24.
Jan 11 Klinenberg, E. 2001. “Dying alone: The social production of urban isolation.” Ethnography 2: 501-531.
Week 3 Community Found
Jan 14 Activity 2
Jan 16 Duneier, M. 1992. Slim’s Table. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (pp.3-22).
Jan 18 Fischer, C.S. 1975. “Toward a subcultural theory of urbanism.” American Journal of Sociology 80: 1319-1341.
Week 4 Community and Identity
Jan 21 Activity 3
Jan 23 Portes, A. and Sensenbrenner, J. 1993. “Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the Social Determinants of Economic Action.” American Journal of Sociology. 98: 1320-1338.
Jan 25 Brown-Saracino, J. 2011. “From the lesbian ghetto to ambient community: The perceived costs and benefits of integrating for community.” Social Problems, 58, 361-388.
Week 5 Community Social Infrastructure
Jan 28 Activity 4
Jan 30 Klinenberg, E. 2018. “The social infrastructure” p.1-24 in Palaces for the People. Crown: New York.
Feb 1 Small, M. L. 2004. “Social capital and the spatialization of resources.” Pp. 123-144 in Villa Victoria, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Week 6 Community in Public Spaces
Feb 4 Activity 5 (That’s Interesting!)
Feb 6 Jerolmack, C. 2009. Primary groups and cosmopolitan ties. Ethnography, 10,4: 435-457.
Feb 8 Hampton, K., Goulet, L.S., and Albanesius, G. 2015. Change in the social life of urban public spaces: The rise of mobile phones and women, and the decline of aloneness over 30 years. Urban Studies, 52, 8, 1489-1504.
Week 7 Community Organizations
Feb 11 Activity 6
Feb 13 Putnam, R. and Feldstein, L.M. 2003. Branch libraries: The heartbeat of the community. Pp. 34-54 in Better Together, New York, New York: Simon and Schuster.
Feb 15 (Optional Day) Assignment 1 due in Canvas
Week 8 Networked Communities
Feb 25 Flex-Activity
Feb 27 Wellman, B. 1979. “The community question: The intimate networks of east Yorkers.” American Journal of Sociology. 84: 1201-31.
Mar 1 Wang, H., Zhang, R., and Wellman, B. 2018. Are older adults networked individuals?: East Yorkers’ network structure, relational autonomy, and digital media use. Information, Communication, & Society, 21,5, 681-696.
Week 9 ICTs and Community
Mar 4 Activity 7
Mar 6 Hampton, K. 2003. Neighbouring in Netville. City & Community, 2, 277-311.
Mar 8 Breek, P, et al. 2018. The role of social media in collective processes of place making. City & Community, 17,3: 906-924.
Week 10 Virtual Communities
Mar 11 Activity 8
Mar 13 Brignall, T and T. Van Valey. 2008. “Online Gaming Communities and the Neo-tribal Movement” Theory and Science, 10 (1).
Mar 15 Gruzd, A., Wellman, B., and Takhteyev. 2011. Imagining Twitter as an imagined community. American Behavioral Scientist, 55,10: 1294-1318.
Week 11 Political Economy of Place
Mar 18 Moloch, H. 1976. “The city as a growth machine: Toward a political economy of place.” American Journal of Sociology 82: 309-332.
Mar 20 Gill, A. 2000. From growth machine to growth management: The dynamics of resort development in Whistler, British Columbia. Environment and Planning A 32: 1083-1103.
Mar 22 Halebsky, S. 2004. “Superstores and the Politics of Retail Development.” City and Community 3:115-134.
Week 12 Gentrification
Mar 25 Activity 9
Mar 27 Brown-Saracino, J. 2004. Social preservationists and the quest for authentic community. City & Community, 3,2,135-156.
Mar 29 Hyde, Z. 2014. Omnivorous gentrifrication: Restaurant reviews and neighbourhood change in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. City & Community, 13,4,341-359.
Week 13
Apr 1 Activity 10
Apr 3 Wrap up. Final papers due
