Urban Cultures, Urban Landscapes: Growing Up in the American City

This e-reader was compiled for the U.S. Fachleiter Conference 2009
May 21 - 24, 2009 in Bonn

New Urbanism

Affordable Housing in New Urbanist Communities: A Survey of Developers. Jennifer Steffel Johnson and Emily Talen. Housing Policy Debate, 2008, v19, #4, pp583-614
One goal of the New Urbanism is the socially diverse neighborhood. Recent reports show that most New Urbanism projects are built for upper-middle-class residents. This article presents projects which support income diversity.
http://www.mi.vt.edu/data/files/hpd%2019.4/johnson-talen_web.pdf

Comment on Jennifer Steffel Johnson and Emily Talen's "Affordable Housing in New Urbanist Communities: A Survey of Developers". John K. McIlwain. Housing Policy Debate, 2008, v19, #4, pp615-619
John K. McIlwain writes in his reply to the article by Johnson/Talen that it is not possible to compare the New Urbanist developments with conventional projects. The assumption that New Urbanism creates more affordable units could not be proven.
http://www.mi.vt.edu/data/files/hpd%2019.4/mcilwain_web.pdf

Criticism of planned communities as social engineering unjustified. Emily Talen. University of Illinois, September 2002
Emily Talen explains the core values of New Urbanism like living more compactly, reducing land consumption, and decreasing dependence on the automobile. She is convinced that New Urbanism does not socially engineer people.
http://news.illinois.edu/gentips/02/09housing.html

Diversity as if it Mattered. Emily Talen. Terrain.org, Fall/Winter 2005
Emily Talen discusses segregation, diversity in the city of New Orleans.
http://www.terrain.org/essays/17/talen.htm

The Social Goals of New Urbanism. Emily Talen. Housing Policy Debate, 2002, v13, #1, pp165-188
Emily Talen evaluates the connection between the physical planning and the three types of of social goals (community, social equity, the common good). She relates her results to the 27 principles integrated in the Charter of New Urbanism.
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/kp/text_document_summary/scholarly_article/relfiles/hpd_1301_talen.pdf

Walkable Urban Places and the Green City

Detroit Tries to Get on a Road to Renewal. Alex Altman. Time Magazine, March 26, 2009
Detroit has been declining since the collapse of the automakers in the city. Population is shrinking. The city has an unemployment rate of 13 percent which is the worst in major metropolitan areas. Detroit must change. The future will be in a smaller, greener and denser city.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1887864,00.html

Footloose and Fancy Free: A Field Survey of Walkable Urban Places in the Top 30 U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Christopher B. Leinberger. Brookings Institution, December 4, 2007
In a field survey the Brookings Institution identified the number and location of “regional-serving” walkable urban places in the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan areas with a population of 138 million (46 percent of U.S. population). The survey presented new trends. Americans are starting to prefer a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. Walkable urban areas and rail transit systems are main topics in the future discussion.
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/1128_walkableurbanism_leinberger.aspx

Greening the Ghetto. Elizabeth Kolbert. The New Yorker, January 12, 2009, v84, #44, pp22-28
In this article Van Jones, the founder of the group Green for All, is portrayed. He is conviced that the best way to overcome global warming and poverty is to create Green jobs.
Full text

Philly's Many Walkable "Center Cities". Christopher B. Leinberger. Brookings Institutions, February 20, 2009
Leinberger analyses the new trend of walkable cities. He discusses rail transit and reduction of green-house gas emission.
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/0220_walkableurbanism_leinberger.aspx

Sustainable Urbanism. Jesse Schomberg. University of Minnesota, February 11, 2008
In the Blog Lake Superior Sustainable Communities of the University of Minnesota Jesse Schomberg writes about sustainable urbanism. He presents amazing facts from presentation at the New Partners for Smart Conference in Washington, DC. Schomberg connects the ideas of Doug Farr, Lynn Richards and Kaid Benfield with his own thoughts about the future of Duluth.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/jschombe/nemo/2009/01/sustainable_urbanism.html#more

♪ Walkable Urbanism is Changing City Life. Interview with Christopher B.Leinberger. Kojo Nnamdi. CNN, December 5, 2007 (Audio file)
Leinberger was interviewed about his ideas on "Walkable Urbanism". He thinks that a rising demand for walkable urban places is a new trend in today's living style.
http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2008/0109_walkableurbanism_leinberger.aspx

Social Projects

The Freedom Writers Foundation
"The Freedom Writers Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1997, positively impacts communities by decreasing high school drop out rates through the replication and enhancement of the Freedom Writers Method."
http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/

Memphis

What Public Boarding Schools Teach Us. Steven Gray. Time Magazine , March 26, 2009
Kriner Cash, the superintendent of the public schools in Memphis, Tennessee, plans to create a residential school for 300-400 children whose parents are in financial distress. The models are the SEED schools founded in the 1990s. Cash's concept is to focus on students from grade 3 to 5. The separation of parents and children is discussed.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1887875,00.html

Minneapolis

Immigrants See Charter Schools as a Haven. Sara Rimer. New York Times, January 10, 2009
In this article the pros and cons of public schools and charter schools are discussed. Charter schools are publicly financed but independently run. These schools are focused on students from specific immigrant or ethnic groups. On the one hand Charter Schools could be seen as fastening re-segregation. On the other hand new immigrants are often isolated in public schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/education/10charter.html

New York City

Beacon Community Centers
"The mission of the Beacon Community Center is to provide high quality, inclusive, year round educational cultural and recreational programming to improve the lives of individuals and families of all ages in Beacon and surrounding communities."
http://www.beaconcommunitycenter.org/

Haarlem Children's Zone
" The Beacon programs turn school buildings into community centers, offering programs during the afternoon, evening and weekend. They offer programs for youth and adults - from education to the arts to recreation."
http://www.hcz.org/programs/beacon-community-centers

Mayor Bloomberg, Others Announce Plans to Continue Youth Programs at 25 New York City Housing Authority Community Centers Throughout Five Boroughs. U.S. Federal News Service, January 13, 2009
The article announces a plan of the city administration to fund community centers in 2009. These centers are results of the Beacon model created in 1991. This model was copied in cities nationwide.
Full text

New York City. Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)
"The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) was created in 1996 to provide the City of New York with high-quality youth and family programming. Our central task is administering available city, state, and federal funds to effective community-based organizations. Selected organizations must be in touch with the needs of the people they serve, devoted to the highest principles of community service, and committed to sound fiscal management."
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/html/about/about_dycd.shtml

Project America Scores
"America SCORES New York empowers students in urban communities using soccer, writing, creative expression, and service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, America SCORES New York inspires youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities."
http://www.americascores.org/#/newyork/program/1372

Orlando

Parramore Kidz Zone
"Parramore Kidz Zone (PKZ) is modeled after the well-known Harlem Children's Zone in New York City. PKZ aims to lower teenage pregnancy, juvenile crime and child abuse rates among children in this neighborhood, and also improve their school performance.  How will PKZ do this?  By investing in things that make a difference in children's lives - such as quality early childhood education, after school programs, programs that build family economic success, youth development programs for teenagers, access to health care, mentoring, and more. PKZ will make Parramore a GREAT place for kids."
http://www.cityoforlando.net/executive/children/aboutpkz.html
How does the project work
http://www.cityoforlando.net/executive/children/pdf/how%20it%20works.pdf
About the Parramore Kidz Zone Project
http://www.flcities.com/files/E2AED5300D354B2BA245FFDB95237A79.pdf

Way Beach

Freedom Writers Dialog
This book was written by Erin Gruwell and 150 of her students from an inner city high school in Way Beach, California.
googlebooks: The Freedom Writers Dialog. 1999
googlebooks: The Freedom Writers Diary. Teacher's Guide. 2007

Surveys, Statistics, and Demographics

Diversity Spreads Out: Metropolitan Shifts in Hispanic, Asian, and Black Populations Since 2000. William Frey. Brookings Institution, March 2006
The survey shows that Hispanic, Asian, and black populations expand to new destinations like suburbs, growing job centers in the South and West, affordable areas adjacent to higher-priced coastal metro areas.
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2006/03demographics_frey.aspx

Metro America in the New Century: Metropolitan and Central City Demographic Shifts Since 2000. William Frey. Brookings Institition, September 2005
This survey examines population growth and migration in the largest U.S. metropolitan areas and their central cities. It compares the large metropolitan growth in the 2000s with smaller metropolitan areas, the new micropolitan areas, and nonmetropolitan territory.
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20050906_metroamerica.pdf

Racial Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas and Cities, 1990-2000: Pattern, Trends, and Expectations. William H. Frey and Dowell Myers. Population Studies Center, April 2005
This study presents statistics on neighborhood dissimilarity, segregation etc., in metropolitan areas.
http://www.frey-demographer.org/reports/rr05-573.pdf

Suburbs are Graying Faster Than Big Cities. Sam Roberts. New York Times, June 12, 2007
Big cities like New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago are attractive for aging suburbanites. Smaller cities and metropolitan areas are marketing themselves as magnets for urban professionals ages 65 to 74.
Full text

The End of White Flight. Condor Dougherty. Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008
There is a new trend in U.S. cities. Afro-American families move out of the cities. In San Francisco the Afro-American population has fallen by 30,000 people since 1990. In 50 of the largest cities numbers of whites decline but the rates are reduced. New challenges arise out of this population shift. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642866373567057.html

Trading Places. Alan Ehrenhalt. The New Republic, A ugust 13, 2008
The "demographic inversion" of the American city is the topic of this article. In cities like Chicago and Atlanta the poor and newcomers are moving to the outskirts. The people who can afford it live near the city centers. One reason for this development is the deindustrialization of the central cities that create stylish places to live. The author describes a new urbanist generation.
http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=264510ca-2170-49cd-bad5-a0be122ac1a9

Youth Culture

♪ Movie Freedom Writers
Web site with all information about the movie Freedom Writers, including the soundtrack, a photo gallery and a trailer.
http://www.freedomwriters.com/

American Memory. The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898-1906. Library of Congress.
This collection contains forty-five films of New York dating from 1898 to 1906 from the Paper Print Collection of the Library of Congress.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/papr/nychome.html

Growing Up Urban: The City, the Cinema and American Youth. James A. Clapp. Journal of Popular Culture, 2007, #4, pp601-629
Clapp describes the presentation of American Youth in movies after WWII until today. He points to titles and gives a short analysis.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117961336/PDFSTART

The City in the Film. Mark S. Herwick, Karry Gillespie, and David Sutherland. Seminar at Portland State University, 1995
In this syllabus urban studies themes in movies are discussed. Cities and city living are presented in classic and modern films. A list of movies is included.
http://www.h-net.org/~urban/teach/syllabi/herwick1995syl1.htm
List of the movies: List

The Most Typical Avant-Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles. David E. James. Berkeley University Press 2005
- Remapping the History of American Independent Film. Humanities and Social Science Online. Review - Search in the book: googlebooks

Urban Studies. Berkeley Media LLC
This web site of Berkeley Media LLC, one of America's foremost distributors of independently produced documentaries and educational media, presents a collection of films about the city.
http://www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkeleymedia/films/sociology/urban_studies

Grafitti and the Arts

Graffiti as the Voice of the Urban Culture. April 28, 2005
This article describes graffiti as a counterpart to commercial advertisement in the American city.
Full text

Strong Pictures Get the Point Across: Teens put life (and Art) Up on a Billboard. Karen Friedland. Arts and Activities. February 2009, v145, #1, pp38-40
Karen Friedland is a teaching artist. She describes a project at a school in Queens where students expressed their views on topics like smoking, violence, war, drugs etc with visual instruments. In several workshops the students learned about communication through imagery, design, color and composition. All participants were surprised and amazed by the results of this project.
Full text

Youth Initiative. Nick Stillman. Artforum, January 2009, v4, # 5, pp115
This article describes an art exhibition in the New Museum in New York titled The Generation: Younger than Jesus. 50 artists under the age of thirty-three present their art works.
Full text

Media

Building the Local Youth Media Community. Gin Ferrara. Youth Media Reporter, December 11, 2008
The author underlines the importance of public presentations of the youth media. The author describes a youth media festival in Baltimore which included a practitioners, organizations and students.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2008/12/building_the_local_youth_media.html

Eradicating Stereotypes: Initiatives for Culturally Aware Leaders. Beth Paul. Youth Media Reporter, March 14, 2007
In this article Beth Paul remembers the old pop song by Petula Clark Downtown. This song inspired people in Trenton, NJ to start a three-semester community-based research program unter the title: Downtown: Inner City Youth and Families. This project is an example of anti-racist approaches for inner-city teen empowerment.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2007/03/eradicating_stereotypes_initia.html

Not Too Young to Watch, Not Too Young to Make. Kristin Brenneman Eno. Youth Media Reporter December 11, 2008
Kristin Brenneman Eno has eight years of experience working with children and videos. She is convinced that children under the age of eight can learn how media are made. She presents examples from her experience.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2008/12/not_too_young_to_watch_not_too.html

Photography in the Field. Empowering Youth and Affecting Public Policy. Emma Nolan-Abrahamian. Youth Media Reporter, March 2, 2009
Emma Nolan-Abrahamian worked at Critical Exposure - a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. which organizes youth empowerment workshops on documentary photography and social advocacy. Participants document issues important to them.The author describes several results.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2009/03/photography_in_the_field_empow.html

Music: Rap and Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop: American Youth Culture At Home and Abroad. Electronic Reader. U.S. Embassy Berlin. October 2007
This e-reader was compiled for a teacher seminar on October 31, 2007 at Humboldt University Berlin, American Studies Department.
Content: General, language, hip-hop and sexism, lesson plans, further readings, links
See: http://germany.usembassy.gov/hiphop.html
http://usa.usembassy.de/classroom/hiphop.htm

10 Questions. Will.i.am. Time Magazine, January 19, 2009, p4
Protocol of the chat between the frontman of the Black Eyed Peas and participants about hip-hop and politics.
Full text

From Pop Charts to Politics. Adam Srwer. The American Prospect, October 2008, v19, #10, pp33-35
Nas - a hip-hop star got into politics when he spoke out against the way Fox News reported about blacks. Some other hip-hop artists also got a higher political profile in 2008. Meanwhile hip-hop is been considered as cultural mainstream. The author writes about hip-hop and young voters.
Full text

Hip-Hop: The Medium of Urban Youth. Davin Thompson. Youth Media Reporter, June 6, 2008
David Thomson writes about hip-hop as a medium of the urban youth in Oakland, California.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2008/06/hiphop_the_medium_of_urban_you.html

It's a Hip-Hop Worlds. Jeff Chang. Foreign Policy, November/December 2007, pp.58-65
Hip-hop is a global business. Several examples present the commercial side of hip-hop.
Full text

Oh!So Spectacular. Interview. Flawless Hustle Blog, April 6, 2009
In this interview Oh!So Spectacular speaks about his career in the music business as a producer and artist. Google describes the Flawless Hustle Blog as one " the fastest growing urban culture blog featuring music downloads, artist interviews, streetwear, street art, graffiti, hiphop and more."
http://www.flawlesshustle.com/interview/ohsospectacular-interview/

Plantation High students get hand pulling up their pants. Hannah Sampson. Miami Herald, March 27, 2009
Armed with 200 donated belts and the President himself on MTV teachers and parents exhorted Plantation High students to pull up their droopy drawers. The MTV video on YouTube is included on the Miami Herald web site. (Video: 1: 23 min)
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/970030.html

Programs

General

American History Through Literaure: Adolescent Identity in the 20th Century. Karen Wolff. Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute, 1981
The author discusses literature as a resource for understanding historical change and its impact on people's live. In her lesson plan she offers stories about live experiences. A teacher's bibliography and a student's bibliography are attached.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/1/81.01.09.x.html

The City in Black and White and Color: An interdisciplinary approach to teaching life in the city using literature, social studies, art, and photography. Robert Johnson Moore. Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute, 1981
The city creates images in the mind of people reflecting in art, music, literature and phography. In this lesson plan the students are supposed to design a collage of the contemporary urban life integrating their impressions of urban life.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/1/81.01.07.x.html

Urban Fiction/ Street lit

A Method of Teaching "Turned Off": Inner City Youths to Produce Urban Literature. Belinda Carberry. Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute, 1981
Belinda Carberry wanted to connect the students with their city. Mostly students know a little about their community and its history. But they can express their feelings about drugs, violence etc in the city. Carberry asked the students to express their feelings in writing. This is a collection of five lesson plans with an introduction, an annotated teacher bibliography and a student bibliography. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/1/81.01.03.x.html

Collection Development 'Urban Fiction": Streetwise Urban Fiction. David Wright. Library Journal, July 15, 2006
There is a new trend in Afro-American literature - called street lit. Under this headline hip-hop, street and urban literature is combined. Sstreet lit readers consider this genre as authentic because many writers have firsthand experience in the life they describe. This genre is very popular among the young but also discussed controversially. A list of street lit is included.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6349018.html

From the Streets to the Libraries. Anne Barnard. New York Times, October 22, 2008 ;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/nyregion/23fiction.html

Hip-hop lit' is full of grit. Rona Marech. San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2003
New literary genre emerging from underground authors
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/19/MNGP72ERMV1.DTL

The Real World. Vanessa E. Jones. Boston Globe, November 3, 2008
Increasing numbers of teenagers read urban fiction, also known as street lit. In 2007 urban fiction formed 4 percent of the adult fiction market. 82,000 copies were sold. Teens defend their reading of street lit. Adults have objection.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/11/03/the_real_world?mode=PF

♪ Readers Embrace 'Ghetto Lit' Genre. Karen Michel. National Public Radio, January 20, 2004
"A genre of fiction known variously as "street lit," "ghetto lit," "urban lit" or "hip-hop lit" has begun registering impressive sales, catching the attention of the publishing industry. Previously sold as typewritten photocopies on street corners, these pulp-fiction books now appear in slick paperbacks available in bookstores and online." (Audio file)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1606270

Urban Fiction - Street Lit - Gangsta Fiction
Definition: Urban fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fiction

Urban/Street Lit Fiction Reading List. Suitable for school library collections grades 6 and up. Vanessa J. Irvin Morris. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 2008 http://wal9114.gse.upenn.edu/~vmorris/VJMWebsite/urbanfiction/SchoolUrbanFictionReadingList.htm

Welcome to Street Fiction
Street Fiction is dedicated to reviewing street fiction, also known as urban fiction, street lit, or gangsta fiction. One of the fastest growing genres, these books expose the reader to drugs, violence, sex and and the gritty realities of street life in urban America.
http://www.streetfiction.org/

Novels: Urban Fiction for Teens (a sample)

Autobiography of my Dead Brother. Walter Dean Myers. 2006
After the shooting death of his best friend, Jesse finds an escape from the ghetto in his sketchbook.
googlebooks

Ballad of a Ghetto Poet. A.J. White. 2003
Chico finds that poetry is his only escape from the inner-city neighborhood in which he lives.
googlebooks

Bronx Masquerade. Nikki Grimes. 2003
An open-mic poetry slam brings teens together in the Bronx as they share their experiences about growing up in the ghetto.
googlebooks

Hip-Hop High School. Alan Lawrence Sitomer. 2006
Theresa finds an escape from the bad times of high school in the sounds of hip-hop.
googlebooks

Manchild in the Promised Land. Claude Brown. 1999
This classic novel is a fictional account of the author’s street life in Harlem.
googlebooks

Romiette and Julio. Sharon Draper. 2001
Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating.
googlebooks

(Resource: San Francisco Public Library http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/teen/booklists/urbannew.htm )

The City in Literature (a sample)

Boston

The Handmaid's Tale. Margaret Atwood. 1998
The post-nuclear Cambridge and Boston are the setting of this dystopian novel.
googlebooks

When Willard Met Babe Ruth: A Story. Donald Hall. 1996
It is a story about the way baseball has bound generations together in the nation's past.
googlebooks

Boston. Joy Harjo. Ploughshares, Fall 1991
Fictional sketch about Joy Harjo's father's temporary shift from Oklahoma to Boston.
http://www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmArticleID=3145

About Boston. Ward Just. 1983
googlebooks

The Echoes of Summer. John Kendall. 2003
googlebooks

Hell-Heaven. Jhumpa Lahiri. The New Yorker, 24 May 2004
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/24/040524fi_fiction

Interpreter of Maladies: Stories. Jhumpa Lahiri. 1999
googlebooks

Nobody's Business. Jhumpa Lahiri. 2004
googlebooks

The Namesake. Jhumpa Lahiri. 2004
The novel set largely in Cambridge and Boston, explores the difficulties of Indian-Americans making their homes in America.
googlebooks

The Send-Away Girl. Barbara Sutton. The send-away girl: stories. Barbara Sutton. May 2002
googlebooks

(Resource: Suffolk University Boston http://webcas.cas.suffolk.edu/richman/Boston/bosbib.htm)

Chicago

The Adventures of Augie. Saul Bellow. 1953
"I am an American, Chicago born—Chicago, that somber city—and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man's character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn't any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles."
Information: googlebooks
Overview: http://www.saulbellow.org/NovelOverviews/AugieMarch.html

The Studs Lonigan trilogy. James T. Farrell. 1932-1935
Young Lonigan (1932); The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan (1934); Judgment Day (1935)
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Lonigan

Native Son. Richard Wright. 1940
"The moment a situation became so that it exacted something of him, he rebelled. That was the way he lived; he passed his days trying to defeat or gratify powerful impulses in a world he feared."
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Son
Movie: http://home.gwu.edu/~cuff/wright/events/ns-film.html

New York City

The Brooklyn Follies. Paul Auster. 2005
googlebooks

The New York Trilogy. Paul Auster. 1987
googlebooks

Dreamland. Kevin Baker. 1999
googlebooks

Paradise Alley. Kevin Baker. 2002
Reviews: http://www.kevinbaker.info/f_pa_reviews.html
googlebooks

City of God: A Novel. E.L. Doctorow. 2000
googlebooks

Waterworks. E.L. Doctorow. 1994
googlebooks

Mona in the Promised Land. Gish Jen. 1996
Jen's work combines the adolescent's search for self with the larger search for cultural identity. Not only does she focus on her own Chinese American ethnic , the author also includes work on Jewish Americans, African Americans, and Irish Americans, as well as other groups.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/jen_gish.html
googlebooks

Netherland. Joseph O’Neill. 2008
Review in New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/books/review/Garner-t.html

Apex Hides the Hurt.Colson Whitehead. 2006
googlebooks

John Henry Days. Colson Whitehead. 2001
googlebooks

The Colossus of New York. Colson Whitehead. 2003
googlebooks

The Intuitionist. Colson Whitehead. 1999
googlebooks

Anthologies

Wonderful Town: New York Stories from the New Yorker. David Remnick. 2000
googlebooks

Writing New York: A Literary Anthology. Phillip Lopate
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-New-York-Literary-Anthology/dp/0671042351#reader

History

Empire City: New York Through the Centuries. Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar. 2005
PBS Documentary on NYC
googlebooks
Columbia University: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-10908-6/empire-city

New York. A documentary. PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/

Web sites

♪ Sense of the City: New York
The BBC is asking novelists who have a profound understanding of the city they live in to reflect on the fiction it has produced and the various works of literature set there. Lawrence Block is one of the world's most popular crime writers. Two of his most successful series of novels, featuring the characters of Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr, are set in his home city of New York.
(Audio file)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3128949.stm

Lesson plan

Past and Present New York Through A Comparative Study of Photography and Poetry. Jane K. Marshall. Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute, 1981
This unit is planned to connect poetry and photography under the topic New York City. In part I the students will be introduced to the art of photography. In the second part the students will compare photography and poetry. The lesson plan contains a list of photographs, a list of student readings and a bibliography.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/1/81.01.06.x.html

The Programme Social City. Status Report. Summary. German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, July 2008
"The urban development programme “Social City” was launched in 1999 by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) with the aim of counteracting growing socio-spatial polarization in German cities and upgrading and stabilizing deprived neighbourhoods... The Social City programme serves as a key point of reference for the future of national and international urban development."
http://www.sozialestadt.de/en/veroeffentlichungen/statusbericht-kurzfassung_en.pdf