This paper examines local political activism in Columbus, Ohio, between 1900 and 1980. There are two major parts to the paper. First, through a content analysis of a local newspaper "The Columbus Dispatch" over the past 80 years, the salient issues and context within which neighborhood activism occurs are defined. Data were obtained from…

The failure of today's newspapers to provide creative leadership in successfully integrating our cities is tragic. White racism has become a critical factor in the neglect of our cities, as has the reluctance of some newspeople to involve themselves more deeply in efforts to explain today's urban crisis. Much of the journalism profession's…

In order to appraise the quality of life (Q.O.L.) in American cities, the fifty largest American cities were examined according to twenty-six socioeconomic variables. These variables were arranged under seven headings: housing, crime, education, health, social disorganization, economic status, and amenities. The results of this study, when…

Since the 1950's the Ford Foundation has spent some $36 million trying to promote a closer link-up between American universities and the problems of American cities. This document reviews the foundation's experience and some of the lessons from it and speculates about the future. Since the foundation has not yet fully evaluated the results of this…

The many different kinds of urban institutions are identified and the state of higher education in urban areas is discussed. The effect of the land-grant colleges movement is described. Three guiding philosophies during the present century about American education are identified: colleges as aristocratic institutions, meritocracy, and…

In an effort to put into action an increased interest in interdisciplinary teaching at the higher education level, a model for interdisciplinary instruction was designed and used for a seminar on ancient urbanization and city development. The model for the seminar used what Robin Fogarty has termed "webbed" likening this perspective to…

The anthropological study of the city's role in the evolution of human systems requires the use of both macro and micro levels of analysis. From the macro perspective, the city is viewed as part of a wider complex society, while from the micro point of view, the city provides the context for understanding specific human institutions or processes…

This paper discusses a study to determine patterns of residential segregation by sex in Washington, D.C. over a 30 year period. Objectives were to explain statistically sex ratio distribution in housing, identify unsuspected sex discrimination processes affecting urban populations, and to clarify residential clustering. Washington, D.C. was…

This paper explores possible answers to the question of why more social science research is not applied to the solution of current problems. A series of interviews in several cities with 45 people, including members of city government and university administrators and faculty, provided the data for this study. In particular, the work of the Urban…

METRO-APEX is a computer based gaming simulation in which students study a large urban city and its surroundings by playing the roles of city and county politicians, industrialists, environmental control officials, city planners, land developers, and labor groups. METRO-APEX was played once a week for five weeks as part of one credit course in…

This research paper presents an analysis of the computer simulation, SimCity, used for an urban city planning class. The data were gathered by actual use of the simulation and an electronic mail network was employed to secure impressions from users of the simulation. SimCity (developed by Maxis) provides the player with rules of human factors,…

Recently, there have been some major changes in the theory and practice of social services, social welfare, and social work. However, instead of the major educational modifications necessary to accompany these changes, minor curriculum changes have taken place. The need to modify education programs is severe at the undergraduate level, and…

City planners should take on a "maieutic" role, which is to say that they should encourage wide participation in a process that elicits and enlists the latent knowledge and desires of all citizens in a city-building effort. Planners must try to obtain a sense of (1) what the everyday life of people living in and using cities is like, and (2) the…

The paper is designed to help instructors in college-level geography courses design urban field trips. The objective is to illustrate how a few core materials and concepts derived from urban geography texts, census tract maps, and social space models can help provide order and pattern to students' understanding of a city. Census tract maps are…

This paper analyzes an instructional approach based on a student-designed and constructed model of a city and describes how this approach was used in a college-level sociology class on ethnic relations in the city. The approach is called 'City Building.' The major objective of this approach is to bring social life into the classroom. Students…