Monday, May 7, 2012

Hi

It's been very busy in the last few weeks.
I think from urban geography point of view what is happening on the other side of the Channel is quite interesting to have a look. London Olympics! Perhaps a theme for the next term's 300 level political and economic geography class.

But first things first. End of the term is approaching and we're all getting ready to complete the SSC 244 Urban Geography course at RA. It's been a very fruitful course as my students have been extremely productive, creative and motivated to conduct their field work in 6 different themes in Rotterdam and Antwerp. They have conducted qualitative research in these cities in similar neighborhoods and made comparative analysis. They have written group research reports, published their results in their blogs (as indicated below) and also presented the results to the other students. My approach was to teach main concepts/theories of urban geography in the background and give them the chance to 'specialize' in certain topics that they prefer and enjoy. This way while learning general knowledge they could go deeper into selected topics and really learn them. They have read many articles, books and other sources that they voluntarily find. The 'language' that is spoken in the classroom
has changed dramatically as the term has advanced. Every lecture I could hear the academic terminology being used and also academic literature being referred. To me, this is an achievement because even those who did not follow the introductory course last term (SSC 141 Introduction to Human Geography) could within a few months come to the level of understanding of the academic field just like any other geography/urbanism/planning student. These are 2nd and 3rd grade students who mainly study social sciences. Their interest and understanding of urban geography has improved this term dramatically. Of course, within the ocean of geography, this is a little drop yet I am extremely pleased (and also proud to be honest) with their achievements and motivation. They will be missed!

Hereby some information and visuals on the research presented so far. We still have one more group to go and when they present their results on Thursday I will update the blog.

Ethnic segregation team presenting their research results on the Polish immigrants' perception of segregation
Like the other groups they have only selected an umbrella topic (in this case it was 'ethnic segregation') and on the basis of their interest they have selected a speciality topic, developed research questions and arguments and did conduct a mini research in Rotterdam and Antwerp. Ethnic segregation team was interested in the perception of Polish immigrants as the new wave of immigrants brought by the EU enlargement. They did not chose the easiest topic to be honest as the literature and research in this specific field is developing recently. Yet, by talking to the Pols as well as to the people living and working around them they tried to understand how they are perceived in the Dutch and Belgian urban societies. They have also tried to understand how they think they are perceived also. Quite interesting discussion. Very creative and original methodology presented in a very systematic way. Well done guys!

Urban green team at today's presentation.

Here you have a really devoted bunch of students who cannot be stopped by pouring rain or walking long distances in unknown territories or people who do not give appointments for interviews. Our urban green team was interested in 'urban agriculture' and they did try to understand to what extend urban agriculture is performed differently due to different governance cultures. They have found out how fragmented the attempts of urban agriculture in Antwerp are compared to the systematic urban agriculture agenda of the city of Rotterdam which allow bottom up initiatives. I love the energy and motivation in this team and their enthusiasm on the subject! Keep on going!

Lachen is gratis-laughing is free! says the urban revitalization team. This team has been interested in how, especially around the railway stations urban neighborhoods are changing and to what extend the large-scale revitalization projects play role in triggering different aspects of urban change. They did not only look at the spatial transformations but went into the social aspects and gentrification dimension to understand the complex and differentiated impacts of property-led inner city revitalization projects. Like the urban agriculture team they have also underlined the role of good governance and long-term planning in effective implementation of these projects. I have indeed always had a lot of fun talking to this team as they always come up with some controversial or contradicting ideas and they are not easily convinced. After long discussions I have always had the small fear that they may be missing the bigger picture but both their professionally produced report and very enthusiastically and informatively presented research results made me extremely happy last week. Good students (and yes I want my book back ;))!

Wealth creation team creating knowledge !
This is one of the largest teams in the class but you can see everybody takes part equally and enthusiastically. Their topic, though it was not their top choice in the beginning, was wealth creation in the city. By looking at two large-scale property development projects in Rotterdam and Antwerp namely Kop van Zuid and Het Eilandje they tried to understand the social aspects of property-led development. They were looking at how these projects have changed the neighborhoods around them and to what extend the way they are planned/developed has an influence on a better social cohesion. They, like the other teams who are interested in the governance issues, found out that the top-down and long term planned Kop van Zuid project has been more successful in reaching their goals an creating better social harmony in the area compared to piecemeal development of Het Eilandje. This was the first team to present and of course it is always a bit of a disadvantage to be the first but they did an excellent job. Thanks for all of you for your motivation and involvement!

Thats all for today. I look forward to Thursday's final presentation of the team on participation of immigrants. Then we have the final exam to end the term. It's about time I guess we all worked hard and deserved a good break with a lot of sun shine.

Cheers

Dr. Tuna Tasan-Kok