Fall 2011 Syllabus

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Sustainability Justice City

Class Meetings Undergraduate HOD 2690-02, Tuesday, Thursday 11:00a-12:15p Graduate HOD 3960-03, Thursday 11:a-2:00p

Lead Faculty Dr. James Curtis Fraser (Urban Geographer), Vanderbilt University, HOD & the Institute for Energy & the Environment

Make Contact! 102B Mayborn Phone: (615) 343-7638 Email: pavement@vanderbilt.edu Professor Jason Adkins (Theology), Trevecca Nazarene University, Center for Social Justice (MLitt Religious Studies)

Co-Instructors Dr. Chris Vanags, Ph.D. (Soil Scientist/Hydrologist), School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt Ms. Michelle Barbero, M.S. (Environmental Management), Water Quality Specialist Josh Bazuin, Ph.D. candidate (Community Research and Action, Vanderbilt) Austin Sauerbrei, B.A. (Filmmaker; Associate Director, Nashville Center for Student Missions)

Course Description

The production of urban space has been a longtime focus of geographers, planners, sociologists, and scholars in the humanities. A central theme in this literature suggests that cities are geographies marked by uneven development producing a variety of human-environmental relationships - at different scales – and with differential distributions of effects. Many initiatives designed to “green” cities and promote sustainable environments are implemented by coalitions of public, private, non-profit, and grassroots groups that explicitly speak of the linkages between environment and social justice (equity). The purpose of this course is to examine multiple aspects of these social-ecological projects including: how they emerge; the social, ethical, and spatial logics that inform them; their implementation and governance; the roles of citizens and communities; the effects they produce; and, how they are differentially experienced. This course will focus actual projects in Nashville, Tennessee, that aim to redevelop the city, and its neighborhoods, to promote healthy physical (soil, water, air) and social (access to food, housing, transportation, work) environments (See list of course goals and intellectual objectives below).

Nuria & Ima, Jaume Plensa (Yorkshire Sculpture Garden, May 17, 2011: Photo taken by Jim Fraser)

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“The long-standing hostility of what now passes in the public eye for the environmental movement to the very existence of cities has created a blindspot of startling proportions. Usually depicted as the high-point of pollution and plundering of the planet earth, cities are either ignored or denigrated in the deep ecology literature as well as in that wing of environmentalism that focuses primarily on “nature” as wilderness, species, and habitat preservation. Theoretically, ecologists may claim that everything is related to everything else, but they then marginalize or ignore a large segment of the practical ecosystem. If biocentric thinking is correct and the boundary between human activity and ecosystemic activities must be collapsed, then this means not only that ecological processes have to be incorporated into our understanding of social life: it also means that flows of money and of commodities and of the transformative actions of human beings (in the building of urban systems, for example) have to be understood as fundamentally ecological processes”1

The Environment of Justice, David Harvey

Course Goals

This course will introduce students to human dimensions of environmental change in such a way as to collapse the nature-human divide, and in doing so open up a range of topics that have been under-appreciated (the production of urban systems through political-economic and cultural processes, for example). This course falls under the umbrella of “active learning,” as we will be conducting “theoretically-informed” projects that will assist the residents of a Nashville neighborhood (as well as community groups, nonprofit service providers, government agencies), in addressing actual land use decision-making (for example, determining the soil and water quality of potential parcels of land for urban gardening/farming; building an oral history project that aims to document people’s experiences, over time and space, of the neighborhood environment in which they live and work [e.g., issues of flooding, air quality, and/or other topics]; addressing mobility issues for youth and adults *e.g., developing ‘walkable’ neighborhoods and other modes of mobility; understanding and supporting housing equity and the development of ‘green’ homes+). While these topics will be used to examine what sustainability might look like in material form, the underlying course theme centers on political-economy and how ‘just’ sustainability might require the radical transformation of economic and social relations. Throughout the course these goal sets will guide all assignments and activities (refer to them when writing:

1. Develop an understanding of the complexity of urban sustainability, the range of theoretical perspectives that speak to relationship between society and environment, as well as the ways that ideas of social justice are connected to these issues.

2. Identify how these social environmental perspectives frame different initiatives to promote just, sustainable cities, how these frameworks are operationalized during the implementation of actual projects in Nashville, and be able to compare Nashville case studies to the programs in other cities across the United States (and in other countries). This goal set will include a survey of public policies, how these policies emerged, and the various stakeholders who informed them.

3. Examine the benefits and limitations of sustainability initiatives that are led by government, philanthropic,

nonprofit, and ‘grassroots’ organizations, and map out the ways in which various projects are governed. We will be working with neighborhood organizations and residents. You will be able to choose the your group project team and focus.

4. Learn how physical environmental conditions are collected, analyzed, and interpreted (i.e., soil and water quality).

1 Harvey, David. 1996. Justice, Nature, & the Geography of Difference. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford.

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5. Learn from how to collect, analyze, and interpret environmental conditions of neighborhoods, including the

quality of housing and land parcels, street infrastructure, transportation options, access to food, as well as work (labor and economic conditions).

6. Dialogue with residents to understand their historical-spatial understandings of how Nashville and their

neighborhood have come to be, as well as the ways that they experience community development initiatives. This will allow us to gain an appreciation of how urban conditions are produced by actors and organizations at multiple scales beyond the boundaries of a neighborhood (locality).

7. Develop the ability to synthesize physical and human environmental data to gain interpret the effectiveness of

sustainability initiatives that localize in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood.

8. Develop our skills at working with neighborhood residents and organizations to create useful research products (e.g., policy statements, project proposals, technical assistance guides, representations for public consumption, display) that will support a “people’s movement” toward just and sustainable cities. You and the organizations/people with whom you work will co-determine what these products will be. Faculty will provide technical assistance.

All Students Note 1: Chestnut Hill is our focal point, but these activities are applicable to multiple cities and neighborhoods. Note 2: While we will all participate in weekly discussion of the readings and class activities, students will be able to choose a ‘sustainability’ area and related project. We will form project groups based upon student interests, and then supervise and provide technical assistance to each group during each phase of their project. Note 3: While most of the classes will be conducted at Vanderbilt, we will be making occasional trips during class periods on Thursdays to the Chestnut Hill neighborhood. Dr. Fraser will provide transportation options so everyone is able to travel together and be back by the end of the class period. These trips will take place in order for everyone to learn research skill sets outlined in the course goals section. Note 4: The class will not require students to perform complex mathematical/statistical procedures, rather we will be introducing you to research skills and build your competencies to collect data and evaluate findings. Note 5: The group projects will entail some data collection and interpretation. While all students will be exposed to the methods listed below under “Description of Research Methods,” the actual methods your group might employ will be determined by the project you design with us and the organization with which you will work. Graduate Students Note 1: The course is intentionally designed for graduate students to enhance their skills at co-leading learning sessions. You will be expected to take responsibility for leading part of a class. This is a separate group assignment from the research project teams. We will set up the dates for these sessions during the second week of class, and you will be able to do this in small groups (2-3 students). Undergraduate Students Note 1: The syllabus outlines all of the readings for the course. The required reading for your section will be less than the graduate students.

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Course Expectations

Attendance Attendance at all class sessions is expected, and there will be a few out of class events/films/socials.

Participation and Assignments I was in a reading group that started off somewhat unevenly. Finally, we agreed that, “the price of admission is that you have actually done the reading.” Participation with intentionality is rewarding. We each bring unique capabilities and experiences that will be important to share. I, and the other faculty, will provide the “scaffolding” (infrastructure) for you to build the course experience that is most useful to grow and appreciate each other’s contributions. It is just as important that you take ownership of the course. This means that you have the authority to initiate discussions about what is working for you and what to modify to make this experience rewarding for you.

a) Preparation for Participation: We need to come to class prepared intellectually, emotionally, and with intentionality for discussions and activities. Plan ahead and be at in the classroom ready to begin slightly before the class is scheduled.

b) Assignments and Technology: A word about assignments. 75% of your grade is simply reading, writing, and

participating in discussions and activities during the scheduled class meetings. The other 25% of your final grade will be based upon the completion of the group project work. There are no formal examinations or “tests” because that is not part of the pedagogical approach we are taking toward learning.2

1. Everyone needs to write weekly essays in line with the course goals. These weekly essays need to be uploaded each

Wednesday by 5PM. These writings should be creative and not simply a review of the material. You should demonstrate that you have a grasp of the main ideas in the set of readings, but more importantly, share with us how you are thinking through the issues we are covering. While you need to write approximately 2 to 3 pages (1.5 line spacing, Calibri font 11 point), you may include anything else you wish (pictures, short stories, poetry). These writings should express your thoughts about the readings, and what they might suggest for action to address the socio-environmental issues we will be working on this semester. These may/will also be writings that serve as material for your group projects as we will be discovering projects in cities from around the country that are relevant.

2. Find examples of initiatives, citations to readings you like, and/or links to web sites that you think would be useful for

us to consider. There is no quantitative requirement, but these should be uploaded with your journal entries. If you have nothing one week, don’t worry, but it is an expectation that you will participate in this activity on a regular basis.

3. Find, create, or purchase a physical journal that you will bring to class to write down ideas, take notes, and even

create illustrations of your thoughts. These will be especially useful when we take class trip to Chestnut Hill. 4. Develop and conduct a group research project. This course is set up for students who want to engage in active

learning. The parameters of the group research projects must be in line with the course goals, and Dr. Fraser and Dr. Adkins - in collaboration with you and the organization/residents with which you will be working – will assist to provide structure and formalize the process, method, and course goals that the projects will demonstrate.

2 Students who require accommodations because of learning difference, disability or other reasons are encouraged to

speak with both the instructor and the Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Disability Services Department to make satisfactory arrangements.

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5. Create events with neighborhood organizations and residents. We will work with neighborhood organizations to set up a variety of evening and/or weekend events including meals, films, and readings. This will allow us to build community with people and have a meaningful and enjoyable experience.

6. Final Reflection Essay. We will hold class discussions throughout the semester to have students identify a course topic

on which each individual student will write an essay. This writing will serve to demonstrate each student’s perspective on an aspect of creating a sustainable and socially “just” city. These reflection essays will be 20 pages or less (1.5 spacing, 11 point Calibri font), but not less than 15 pages. In these reflection essays each student will follow the following outline: introduction of the topic; literature review highlighting case study examples on your topic that come from cities across the United States; how this topic is relevant to Nashville and Chestnut Hill; what next steps can occur on this topic to move forward a sustainable and just process and outcome; concluding remarks.

For example, if one chooses “Community Gardens as Public Spaces: Building Solidarity in Communities of Practice.” One would: provide an introduction on their thoughts; review the literature on community gardening in cities and how they create public spaces that achieve or do not achieve building political collectives; describe a case study of how this plays out in Nashville and Chestnut Hill; what your findings mean for the possibility of growing political collectives through community gardening, and what might be potential strategies to enhance this outcome; and concluding remarks. This final reflection essay should be a work in progress throughout the semester, and along the way we will have meetings to guide student essays.

The Heart Of Trees, Jaume Plensa (Yorkshire Sculpture Garden, May 17, 2011: Photo taken by Jim Fraser)

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Description of Research Methods Skills and the Practice of Creating Knowable Subjects

The following provides a narrative of the logics behind using certain research methods, and should be interpreted as skills with which you will be introduced. Each research group will be able to choose what research methods are appropriate for the project they will be conducting.

Soil and Water Analysis (Dr. Vanags and Michelle Barbero) Urban agriculture has a long history in the United States. A growing

number of government, nonprofit, and grassroots organizations are

building coalitions to support the development of ‘local’ and sustainable

food systems. A great deal of this ‘social movement’ has looked towards

urban gardening and farming initiatives to promote food access at the neighborhood level. While these efforts may promote the goals of ‘socially just’ sustainability for people living in areas that have been sites of disinvestment, urban agriculture decision-making needs to take into account that many areas of cities have potential soil and water contamination. The U.S. Environmental Agency suggests that, “When deciding to garden on a potentially contaminated site, communities are encouraged to test their soil for qualities such as pH and nutrient availability and also to determine the amount and types of contamination, as well as the risks associated with those contaminants.” 3

The city of Nashville has a number of land parcels that might be made available for urban agriculture projects, including land that is, or has been adjacent to industrial uses, as well as land located near polluted streams and rivers. Residents are also gardening in their own backyards, as well as on institutional properties including k-12 schools. Our class will learn some basic strategies to test water and soil quality and interpret results (actual analysis will be done by lab technicians). The utility of this skill building is only one component to consider for urban agriculture. Since urban gardening and farming projects have a multitude of potential goals, these physical environment data need to be

complemented with an understanding of what neighborhood residents envision for their community. This is an example of the ways in which the ‘physical’ and ‘social’ dimensions of neighborhood environment can be collapsed into each other allowing us to work with residents to develop land-use decisions in Chestnut Hill. This, of course, is complicated by the fact that the production of neighborhoods (the ‘local’ environment) involves a variety of organizations that operate in localities like Chestnut Hill, and these groups all have their own goal sets and ‘geographical imaginations’ of what they envision Chestnut Hill and other neighborhoods in Nashville to become.

Modes of Mapping Neighborhoods (Dr. Fraser) “Local knowledge is substantially about producing reliably local subjects

as well as about producing reliably local neighborhoods within which such subjects can be recognized and organized…. The production of neighborhood is inherently colonizing, in the sense that it involves the assertion of socially (often ritually) organized power over places and settings that are viewed as potentially chaotic or rebellious…. Insofar as neighborhoods are imagined, produced, and maintained against some sort of ground (social, material, environmental),

3 (Photo and quote were accessed on July 24, at http://www.clu-in.org/ecotools/urbangardens.cfm).

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they also require and produce contexts against which their own intelligibility takes shape (Appadurai, 1996:181-184).45 Long before geographic information systems (GIS) were developed (those which we employ and, at times, (mis) recognize as simple technology used to describe ‘objective’ characteristic of neighborhoods, as if there was a culture produced internally by peoples in places) cartography was deployed by nation-states as a strategy to colonize ‘Other’ places. Appadurai (ibid.) refers to this as “the production of locality,” and when we engage in these practices, he suggests, that neighborhoods can only become legible in relation to what they are not. For example, mapping how many groceries are located within a certain distance of a neighborhood has been crudely used to characterize neighborhood deficits (“food deserts” is one of these terms). What happens when we come to know a neighborhood as a ‘food desert’? What processes and imaginations make this term a category that people largely think is ‘common sense”? What are the effects of using this terminology, this mapping, this way of know a place and people? This class is not about learning GIS, although you will have an introduction to it, and have access to more skill training if you so desire. Likewise, we will learn about the secondary (already existing) data sets that are typically used to define a neighborhood’s environmental conditions. We will also engage in collecting different forms of primary data (e.g, oral histories, surveys of physical neighborhood attributes including soil and water quality). While gaining a basic, or more detailed, understanding of the methods used to create representations of neighborhoods, we will have discussions about how these representations lead to certain lines of action (i.e., a ‘food desert’ is given a negative tonality and animates a range of responses that range from charity work, volunteerism, the creation of agencies and initiatives, to collective action that intentionally operates to change the social and political-economic relations that make environmental degradation possible. These are very different projects, and neighborhoods might be usefully characterized as places of spatial co-presence. Doreen Massey (1994) suggests that, “…. localities are constructions out of the intersections and interactions of concrete social relations and social processes in a situation of co-presence” Massey, 1994:138).6

Oral History Project (Dr. Joe Bandy, Guest Lecturer) Oral history involves interviewing a person or group to get an inside perspective into what it was like to live in a particular time or is like to live as the member of a particular group within a society. Interviewing a group of people can create a picture of that experience, and a large project of this kind (such as UNC's Southern Oral History Project) can be a way of preserving a piece of history. When we interview one person, we gain knowledge of an individual's experiences, which may or may not be typical of his or her time and culture. We can also learn more about the experiences of groups from all sections of society, including the ones whose experience is not always thoroughly known or well documented, such as the working class, ethnic or religious minorities, or women.”78

4 Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity At Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press: London. 5 Photo: Critical Spatial Practice, accessed July 23, 2011 at :http://criticalspatialpractice.blogspot.com/2007/05/elin-

ohara-slavick.html. 6 Massey, Doreen. 1994. Space, Place and Gender. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis. 7 (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed July 23, 2011: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/oral_history.html. 8 Ansel Adams “Farmworkers and Mt. Williamson”

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We will be using the oral history method in order to understand the perspectives of residents about their experiences being in Chestnut Hill, and the contextual ‘material’ they choose to speak about to make sense of our inquiries. In an article, “Modes of engagement for urban research: enacting a politics of possibility,” Fraser and Weninger (2008) suggest that,9 “Cities are increasingly cast as being shaped by globalization and related neoliberal policies. While these diverse literatures have provided needed theoretical advancement to rethink the city in relation to political – economic change, they also run the risk of conceptualizing, studying, and representing cities without sufficient attention to the spatial co-presence of multiple actors. The result is that some treatments of the city reproduce a unified story line that conceals human agency, reads as if there is only one trajectory on which all cities are moving, and does not engage in imagining alternative urban futures…. *W+e suggest that there is a continued need to critically examine the spatial narratives mobilized both by researchers as well as by the other actors they encounter. Drawing on the widespread idea that the stories which researchers tell are intimately linked with the conduct of research itself, we advocate a researcher mode of engagement that permits collaborative critique of projects that aim to transform urban space” (p1435). Engaging in dialogue with people requires an ability to understand how we hear, what filters we might use to make sense of the narratives we are part of creating, and a willingness to be with people. Is the act of conducting research ontologically different than going to have a meal with someone? Class discussions around these issues will provide the

necessary scaffolding to develop an appreciation of our role in creating conversations, and hopefully move us toward being/becoming skilled at recording people’s narratives with some sense of intentional care.

Filmmaking (Austin Saeurbrei) Filmmaking and visual storytelling have become increasingly useful vehicles for disseminating knowledge and engaging broad audiences in relevant community issues. As a part of a larger visual storytelling project, videographer Austin Sauerbrei will be documenting the progress of this course at regular intervals in an attempt to capture both the intellectual and experiential development of those involved. The premise of this film project begins not with a particular narrative end in sight, but rather with a

set of questions: What is the relationship between social capital and public space? What are the effects of volunteerism on long-term social change? What does it mean to “participate” in a community? While these questions provide a framework for the project, our overarching question is one of process. Just as this course provides opportunities for persons to discover "just" ways of learning and participating with a community, this film project is an attempt to discover "just" ways of telling stories. Documentation of sections of this course along with documentation of several neighborhood projects will form a larger narrative that will address the broad scope of issues surrounding these proposed questions. Students will have the opportunity to learn basic filmmaking skills and have access to equipment if needed. 10

9 Fraser, James, and Csilla Weninger. Modes of engagement for urban research: enacting a politics of possibility. Environment and Planning A, 40(6):1435-1453. 10

The Beauty of a Red Bedroom, Jim Fraser (House, July 2011: Photo taken by Jim Fraser)

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How to Make Ice Cream: food, films, and…. This experience will only be as meaningful as the creation of intentional efforts to meet people in the Chestnut Hill Neighborhood. That will require us being creative about planning some social events in the neighborhood. Everyone is not expected to attend all of these affairs, but it will be important to go think through what types of events we can create to commune with people. Think ice cream socials, film nights in public spaces, and your own ideas. We will provide the ice if you provide the cream!11

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Selling Ice Cream, With Sprinkles of Anarchism, The New York Times, accessed July 23, 2011: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/ice-cream-is-sold-with-sprinkles-of-anarchism/.

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Biographical Sketches of Faculty

Dr. James Fraser is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Development in Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, a member of the graduate faculty at Duke University, and a steering committee member of the Vanderbilt Institute on Energy and the Environment. He was previously a Senior Associate Research at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Fraser has conducted studies examining community development as it relates to urban public policy as well as human dimensions of environmental change including nationwide projects on flooding and hazard mitigation for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Science foundation sponsored examinations of the social drivers of environmental behavior related to yard care practices and environmental outcomes, as well as a host of state and foundation sponsored projects on urban revitalization initiatives and their consequences for people in poverty. He testified to the United States Congressional Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Currently, he is working on issues of food justice, sustainable urban development, and the production of urban agriculture. Fraser has published over thirty articles on the topics of social inequality with his current work focusing on neighborhood and urban revitalization initiatives. His work can be found in Disasters: The Journal of Disaster Studies, Management and Policy Studies; Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union; Environment and Planning A; Urban Studies; Urban Affairs Review; City and Community; the Community Development Journal; The Journal of World Systems theory Research, and a host of other science journals. He serves as a reviewer for academic journals, the National Science Foundation, and a range of philanthropic foundations. Dr. Fraser has fifteen years of experience conducting evaluations of initiatives and programs aimed at ameliorating poverty and providing social services to low-income families and disadvantaged youth, including work for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Housing and Urban Development, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Lyndhurst Foundation, as well as municipal and state agencies. In addition, he has testified before the Unites States Congress on matters of community development and urban revitalization. Dr. Fraser teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on urban studies, community development, environmental sustainability, and research methods.

Dr. Jason Adkins has worked on a farm for men in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction for three years before working for Sonfarm, an educational farm for at-risk youth that teaches food self-sufficiency skills. Presently, Jason works for the J. V. Morsch Center for Social Justice at Trevecca Nazarene University where he teaches Environmental Justice and serves as the Environmental Projects Coordinator for the campus. Through gardening and education, he works with students and neighbors to build food sources on Trevecca’s campus and in the food desert outside the campus where he lives. Jason is a fairly polite Christian anarchist with five beautiful children and a beautiful wife named Stephani--journeying together with some radical friends in an abandoned suburb of empire who get excited about discovering skills and tactics to live outside the death-dealing powers of this broken world and who, on some days, believe that a new world on the way. He holds a BA in Religion and in English, Trevecca Nazarene University; MLitt in Religion from University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom; is the Vice-president of Tennessee Organic Growers Association; and, most importantly, is a member of the Chestnut Hill Cornhole championship team.

Michelle Barbero has over six years of experience working as an Environmentalist for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville in watershed management, primarily conducting water quality analysis of impaired streams. Ms. Barbero earned her M.E. in Geology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 2002, and a M.E. in Environmental Engineering/Management from Vanderbilt University in 2011. She serves on numerous committees working on projects throughout the Nashville area that target watersheds in need of remediation. One such watershed is Mill Creek, which is home to the endangered Nashville Crayfish and is undergoing rapid development. With her aide, the Mill Creek Watershed Alliance collaborated among governments, nonprofits, residents, businesses, and schools in the area and created a forum for community involvement and education to improve and protect the total watershed. Ms. Barbero

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has presented to various school groups and events such as Tennessee Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research (TWISTER), and the Tennessee Chapter of American Water Resources Association (AWRA). During her graduate studies, Ms. Barbero assisted Dr. Jim Fraser in developing a course on Sustainability, Justice, and the City for undergraduate and graduate students at Vanderbilt University and continues to participate in course development and execution. She was the co-president of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies (VCEMS) Student Association, leading the group to adopt a mile segment of impaired stream in an urban setting and collaborating with established coalition groups and residents to educate the region on better environmental practices. For nearly ten years, Ms. Barbero has been passionate about improving environmental quality and educating the public to live sustainably while continuing to maintain one’s desired quality of life.

Austin Sauerbrei is a graduate of Belmont University’s Social Entrepreneurship program and currently works as Associate Director for the Nashville Center for Student Missions. Austin is interested in examining the intersections between social theory, urban development, and faith tradition and how these subjects can inform a relearning and/or reimagining of life together. As an amateur filmmaker, Austin is interested in exploring the ways in which visual storytelling can be used as a means of empowering neighborhoods and engaging the larger community in constructive, reconciling dialogue. Austin a member of an intentional living community in the Edgehill Neighborhood and is actively involved in a number of neighborhood partnerships including Edgehill United Methodist church. In addition to filmmaking, Austin loves coffee, reading, cooking and, most recently, cheese-making. If you are interested in sampling Austin’s cooking or sharing your own, his community hosts an open-invitation pot-luck lunch every Sunday afternoon… so feel free to join!

Dr. Chris Vanags is the Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach and an Instructor at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney in Hydrology and Catchment Management. He also holds a M.S. in Soil Science from the University of Georgia and a B.S in Geology from the University of Georgia as well. His research background is in hydrogeology with an emphasis on geophysical investigation. While in Australia, Dr. Vanags used these tools to study the impacts of palaeochannels on groundwater dynamics in rural New South Wales, Australia under the guidance of Dr. Willem Vervoort. Vanags has authored or coauthored publications on a wide variety of subjects ranging from micronutrient uptake in Bermuda grass to the collapse of the Ankorian Civilization 600 years ago. Currently, Dr. Vanags is involved in several research projects through his work at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt and through collaborations with the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and the Environment and the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt. His current research questions primarily look at the effects of soil water and surface water quality and contamination at the watershed scale and the effects that this has on humans living in this environment. Vanags serves as the Associate Editor of the academic journal Young Scientist and is a staunch supporter of public education.

Josh Bazuin is a PhD candidate in Community Research and Action. His research interests include post-conflict transitions, community development (broadly defined, but particularly including housing and the environment), and the role of religion in both those areas. At Vanderbilt, he has been a research coordinator for the Nashville Yard Project, a data analyst for a residential yard study component of the Baltimore Ecosystems Project, and an assistant on an evaluation of HOPE VI public housing redevelopment in Nashville, all projects led by Dr. Fraser. In addition, he has assisted in a photovoice project with children living in Napier and Sudekam public housing and is currently assisting in a study of Chestnut Hill. Most recently, Josh traveled to Sri Lanka as part of a team from the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and the Environment in an on-going collaboration with a government agency to understand and mitigate the impact of water variability (principally for rice irrigation) in that country due to climate change. Finally, Josh's own research focuses on religion and post-conflict transitions in Rwanda, where he lived for four years as a capacity building consultant for the Mennonite Central Committee. When not working, Josh enjoys baroque and renaissance music, jazz, blues, bluegrass, Indian food, hiking, and camp fires.

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Accumulation by dispossession: How they bought the farm, Emme Fraser (Illustration created on July 18, 2011).

Syllabus Notes

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Class Schedule: Fall 2011

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 1 25 August

Linking urban sustainability, justice, and the city In-Class: Film Shorts: TBA

Global Change and the Ecology of Cities; DOI: 10.1126/science.1150195, Science 319, 756 (2008); Nancy B. Grimm, et al.

Hillman, Mick. 2002. Environmental justice: a crucial link between environmentalism and community development? Community Development Journal Vol 37 NO 4 October 2002 pp.349-360.

The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy, “Introduction”, Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein, eds., Tuscon: U of Arizona P, 2002.

Additional Graduate Student Reading: Harvey, David. 1996. The Environment of Justice, p.367-402, in D. Harvey’s Justice, Nature & the Geography of Difference. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford. (Optional: Class Relations, Social Justice, and the Political Geography of Difference, p.335-371, in the same book)

Essay #1 Topic: What makes cities potentially crucial sites to target sustainability initiatives, and what constitutes an environment of justice?

This first essay may be 1-2 pages in length

Week 2 30 August 1 September

What is an environmentally sustainable city? In Class: Film shorts: TBA

Been, Vicki et al. 2010. Building Environmentally Sustainable Communities: A Framework for Inclusivity. Urban Institute: Washington, D.C. (http://www.urban.org/expert.cfm?ID=VickiBeen). Whitney, Sheryl. 2010. Seeking Sustainable and Inclusive Communities: A King County Case Study. What Works Collaborative: Washington, D.C.

Kellogg, Scott, and Stacy Pettigrew. 2008 Introduction, pp. XI-XVIII, in Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. South End Press: Cambridge.

Additional Graduate Student Reading:

*Skinner, Lara. 2010. Is it Just Sustainability? The Political-Economy of Urban Sustainability, Economic Development, and Social Justice. A dissertation presented to the Department of Sociology at the Graduate School of the University of Oregon.

Essay #2 Topic: What would an environmentally sustainable city look like, and what processes would move us in that direction?

*We will assign chapters for different groups of students to read and present.

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Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 3 6 September 8 September

Exploring the Environment of Chestnut Hill

How do we see cities? Summerville, James. 1981. The City and the Slum: ‘Black Bottom’ in the Development of South Nashville. Nashville American. Tennessee Historical Society. Trip to Chestnut Hill (Thursday, transportation provided): 1. Chestnut Hill Scavenger Hunt 2. Resident-Student Roundtable Sessions

Essay Topic #3: Describe the neighborhood from which you came to Vanderbilt. What would be important to know about it, and how would a newcomer find these things out?

Week 4 13 September 15 September

Reviewing plans for redeveloping a ‘sustainable’ Nashville and it’s neighborhoods In class: We will provide an overview of the substantive course modules: Activity to think through what films and community events would be useful to engage the Chestnut Hill residents and other stakeholders.

Green Ribbon Committee. 2009. Together Making Nashville Green; and, Green Ribbon Committee: Update 2010. http://www.nashville.gov/sustainability/grc/index.asp Nashville Civic Design Center. 2008. The Plan Of Nashville: Avenues to a Great City, Ten Principles with related goals. Nashville Civic Design Center: Neighborhood Redevelopment Plans http://www.civicdesigncenter.org/projects/neighborhoods Nashville Civic Design Center. 2005. Chestnut Hill Neighborhood: Findings & Recommendations http://www.civicdesigncenter.org/projects/neighborhoods/2009/03/27/chestnut-hill-neighborhood-2005.9405 ULI Panel. 2010. Nashville Tennessee: Place Making through Infill and Corridor Redevelopment. Urban Land Institute: Washington, D.C. Nashville Naturally. 2011. Nashville Open Space Plan http://www.conservationfund.org/green-infrastructure-nashville Guest Speaker: Dr. Joe Bandy, Center For Teaching: How to be effective at conducting oral histories.

Essay Topic #4 Describe the connections and the gaps between what you saw in the neighborhood and what you read in the neighborhood plans.

Fall 2011 Syllabus

Sustainability, Justice, and the City

15

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 5 & 6 20 September 22 September 27 September 29 September

Perspectives on sustainability, food access, and the environment The first week will focus on an introduction to issues around food security, access, and ‘local food movements. The second week begins with the Kurtz reading and will focus on the possibilities and limitations of urban agriculture for creating a just, sustainable food system. Speaker: TBA Film Event: TBA

Seven Myths of Industrial Agriculture. The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of the Industrial Agriculture, Andrew Kimbrell, ed., pp. 3-38, Washington: Island Press: 2002. Howard-Yana Shapiro & John Harrison. 2000. Design: Working with Nature & Soil: The Most Important, in Gardening for the Future of the Earth. New York: Batam. DeLind, L. 2010. Are local food and the local food movement taking us where we want to go? Or are we hitching our wagons to the wrong stars. Agriculture and Human Values 28(2): 273-283. Allen, P. 2010. Realizing justice in local food systems. Cambridge Journal of Regional, Economy, and Society 3: 295-308. Kurtz, H. 2001. Differentiating Multiple Meanings Of community Gardens. Urban Geography 22(7): 656-670. Brown, Sally. 2009. Vacant Lots Spring Urban Farms. BioCycle. Corrigan, M. 2011. Growing what you eat: Developing community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland. Applied Geography, dio:1016/j.apgeog.2011.017. Macias, T. 2008. Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food System: The Social Impact of community-Based Agriculture. Social Science Quarterly 89(5): 1087-1101. ICMA Report. 2006. Community Health and Food Access: The Local Government Role. ICMA Press: Washington, D.C. Additional Graduate student Reading: Slocum, R. 2006. Whiteness, space and alternative food practice. Geofurum 38(3): 520-533. Moore, S. 2006. Forgotten Roots Of The Green City: Subsistence Gardening In Columbus, Ohio, 1900-1940. Urban Geography 27(2): 174-192. Levkoe, C. 2005. Learning democracy through food justice movements. Agriculture and Human Values 23: 89-98. Pudup, M. 2007. It Takes a garden: Cultivating citizen-subjects in organized garden projects. Geoforum 39(3): 1228-1240.

Essay Topic #5 What are the interrelated issues connected to food security and food justice? Think about Chestnut Hill, as well as other areas of Nashville (and cities in which you have lived). Essay Topic #6 How would you define the issues of food, poverty, and the environment? What is your critical assessment of the initiative’s being conducted in Nashville to create a sustainable food system? Think about the narratives of Chestnut Hill residents, as well as the other information we have learned about Chestnut Hill.

Fall 2011 Syllabus

Sustainability, Justice, and the City

16

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 7 & 8 4 October Fall Break on the 6th of October 11 October 13 October

Soil and Water: Socio-environmental feedback loops & urban sustainability Trip to Chestnut Hill (Thursday, October 13, transportation provided) Seminar on soil and water analysis by Dr. Vanags and Michelle Barbero these weeks, as well as group project discussion. Film Event: TBA

Iverson, Melissa. 2010. Assessing Urban Brownfields for Community Gardens in Vancouver, British Columbia. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate studies in the Department of Soil Science. Witzling, L., Wander, M., & Phillips, E. (2011, January). Testing and educating on urban soil lead: A case of Chicago community gardens. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.5304/jafscd.2010.012.015. Briscoe, M. 2002. Water: The Overtapped Resource, (pps. 181-190) in A. Kibrell, The Fatal Harvest Reader: the Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture. Island Press: Washington, D.C. Goddard et al. 2010. Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 25(2): 90-98 Additional Graduate Student Reading: Rodriguez, A. et al. 2009. Cheap Food: Worker Pay the Price, (pps. 123-148) in K. Weber, Food, Inc.: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer – And What You Can Do Abut It. Perseus Books: New York. Whitney, K. 2010. Living Lawns, Dying Waters: the suburban Boom, Nitrogenous Fertilizers, and the Nonpoint Source Pollution Dilemma. Technology and Culture 51(3): 652-674. Robbins, P., and J. sharp. 2006. Turfgrass subjects: the political economy of urban monoculture, in Heynen, N, Kaiki, M., and E. Swyngedouw, (pps. 110-128) In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology And The Politics of Urban Metabolism. Routledge Press: London. Mustafa, D. et al. 2010. Xeriscape people and the cultural politics of turfgrass transformation. Environment and Planning D Society and Space 28: 600-617.

Essay Topic #7 How would you develop a neighborhood initiative to develop a sustainable and just food system? What team of partners would be necessary to make this vision materialize, and what policies would need to be put into place to give your project momentum? Essay Topic #8 Each group will write an essay on their research topic, outlining the literature pertaining to their topic. This should include case study material from how cities across the U.S. have been addressing your group’s topic. In class you will present a 10-minute overview of this essay and receive feedback.

Fall 2011 Syllabus

Sustainability, Justice, and the City

17

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 9 & 10 18 October 20 October 25 October 27 October

Neighborhood Sustainability and the Built Environment: Housing, Infrastructure, and Mobility Speaker: TBA Film Event: TBA

Margaret E. Byerly, A Report to the IPCC on Research Connecting Human Settlements, Infrastructure, and Climate Change, 28 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 936 (2011) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss3/8 Mitchell, W., and F. Casalego. 2008. Moving Around the City (pps.9-48) and Managing Homes (pps.52-68), in connected sustainable cities. MIT Mobile Experience Publishing Lab: Boston. Retzlaff, R. 2009. Green Buildings and Building Assessment Systems: A New Area of Interest for Planners. Journal of Planning Literature 24(3): 3-21. Moudon et al. 2006. Operational Definitions of Walkable Neighborhood: Theoretical and Empirical Insights. Journal of Physical Activity and Health 3(1): 99-117.

Sideris, A. 2006. Is it Safe to Walk? Neighborhood Safety and Security Considerations and

Their Effects on Walking. Journal of Planning 20(3): 219-232.

Stewart, O. 2011. Findings from Research on Active Transportation to School and Implications for Safe Routes to School Programs. Journal of Planning Literature 26(2): 1-24. Bourassa, S. 2006.The Community Land Trust Model As A Highway Environmental Impact Mitigation Tool. Journal of Urban Affairs 28(4): 399-418. Ganapati, S. 2010. Enabling Housing Cooperatives: Policy Lessons from Sweden, India and the United States. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34(2): 365-380.

Essay Topic #9 What are the connections that collapse the human-environment divide in urban planning? What would a sustainable neighborhood process and form look like in your mind? Essay Topic #10 By now your research groups are jamming. Write one paper together that provides an update on the work you have done on your project, and what products that might come out of your efforts. Your group will present a 10-15 minute overview of the progress you have made.

Fall 2011 Syllabus

Sustainability, Justice, and the City

18

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 11 & 12 1 November 3 November 8 November 10 November

Governance, sustainability and the public Speaker: TBA (Organizing)

Fischer, Frank. 2000. Citizens, Experts and the Environment: The Politics of Local Knowledge. Duke University Press: Durham. [Selected Chapters] Staeheli, L. 2008. Citizenship and the problem of community. Political Geography 27: 5-21. Manzo, L., and D. Perkins. 2006. Finding Common Ground: The Importance of Place Attachment to Community Participation and Planning. Journal of Planning Literature 20(4): 335-350. Ettlinger, N. 2011. Governmentality as Epistemology. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101(3): 537-560. Emejulu, A. 2010. The silencing of radical democracy in American community development: the struggle of identities, discourses and practices. Community Development Journal 46(2): 229-244. Berry, Wendell. 2002. Racism and the Economy and The Whole Horse, in The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Berkeley: Counterpoint Press.

Essay Topic #11 Throughout the course we have discussed issues around building and creating sustainable neighborhoods. How do citizens participate in this process, and what limits public participation, and how would you envision the ”system” (un)working)? Essay Topic #12 Free –Style : Write whatever you are thinking about.

Week 13 & 14 15 November 17 November 29 November 1 December

Presentations of group project readings. Speaker: TBA (Organizing) Film Event: TBA

Student groups will make reading available on each of their research topics and be prepared to lead discussion. We will schedule this activity for the class periods these weeks. McKnight, J. 1995. Regenerating Community, (pps161-175) in The Careless Society: Community and it's Counterfeits. Basic Books: New York. Berry, Wendell. 2003. In Distrust of Movements, in Citizenship Papers, Washington: Shoemaker & Hoard. Planning for the final event of the course with residents in Chestnut Hill.

Essay Topic #13 You essays, written by your group, will cover the readings you choose for the class.

Fall 2011 Syllabus

Sustainability, Justice, and the City

19

Date Topic Readings & Required Activities Deliverable

Week 15 6 December 8 December

What have we learned about sustainability, justice, and the city? Reflections: Nashville, Chestnut Hill, and further work… TBA: Final Event in Chestnut Hill

We will provide after-class reading for consideration including: The revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond The Non-Profit Industrial Complex, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (South End Press: Boston, 2007).

Presentation: research project products at a neighborhood event. Presentation: gratitude for being with each other and developing an ethic of care that connects us.