Spring Capstones: eCodex: Excavating the Future of Westlake
AUD 289-10_Spring 2020
Project Director & Lead Instructor: Gustavo Leclerc
Core collaborators: Kenny Wong & Marcos Ramires (ERRE)
via ZOOM
View the full works here
The third and final quarter of the Urban Humanities core curriculum brought focus back to Los Angeles, where students developed situated, collaborative, interdisciplinary, multi-modal research to provide engaged, scholarly, creative projects around the broad theme of “spatial justice” within the context of the Westlake/MacArthur Park (WMcAP). Students were tasked with conducting in-depth urban ‘excavations,’ that included archival research, digital mapping, interviews, and ephemeral popular knowledges (such as myths, local stories, gossip, merchant posters, political paraphernalia, etc.) of some of the most significant urban issues that have affected the Westlake/MacArthur Park area.
On Borders and “Borderizing:” From Tijuana to Mexico City
AUD 289_Winter 2020
Professors: Maite Zubiaurre and Gabriela Barrios (UCLA) in coordination with Maria Moreno Carranco (UAM-Cuajimalpa)
View the full syllabus here
This seminar looks at borders (Tijuana as borderland; the borders or “borderizing” practices that separate and section off urban space and social reality in Mexico City) through the lens of social justice, activist practices, and public art. It will provide extensive reflection on what it means to approach border realities and “borderized” urban spaces responsibly and ethically.
The Architecture of Seven Ecologies: Engaged Urban Theory and Praxis in Los Angeles
AUD 289-2_Fall 2019
Professors: Gustavo Leclerc, Dana Cuff
TAs: Gus Wendel, Kenny Wong
Film Workshop Instructor: Jesse Lerner
View the full syllabus here
This year the Urban Humanities program will turn to Mexico City and Los Angeles, with the intention of developing closer ties between the two cities that are attuned to exigent urban, social, economic, and cultural issues. It is in our moment of political crisis when we must turn to the challenges Los Angeles faces and propose new possibilities for our collective future.
Introduction to Urban Humanities
AUD M289_Summer 2019
Borders & Commons
University of California, Los Angeles
Learning from Westlake: Spaces of Power and Resistance
View the full syllabus here
The UH Institute is one of the required courses for a graduate certificate in Urban Humanities and is the first course in the year-long sequence dedicated to studying Los Angeles (Westlake District), Tijuana (Colonia Libertad and Playas), and Mexico City (Xochimilco and Historic Center).