UEP 395 Special Topics in Urban and Environmental Policy

Topics vary semester to semester.

Visualizing Gentrification: Bridging Land Use Data and Ethnography

Students are challenged with the myths and realities of gentrification in an immersive discussion. The proposed course weaves urban planning, mapping and data research with qualitative analysis to recognize gentrification drivers, examine the pending experiential trauma of displacement and the community's aspirations and resistance. The course examines the communities of Northeast Los Angeles as they face three colossal planning projects that utilize gentrification as a catalyst and justification for their development.

In a holistic examination of the landscape, course participants will embed with community and other partners to explore the social networks and their relationship to research data. Course discussions will include developing metrics from an activist and documentary perspective to establish the observable community. Students will operate in small teams in developing data and fostering outcomes that reveal the human narrative. They can be visual in nature from ethnographic studies to data visualization, but also critical analysis and policy recommendations of the conditions on the ground. Same as SOC 395. Core Requirement Met: United States Diversity. Prerequisite: SOC 101.