From Skid Row to Beverly Hills, students explored Los Angeles in Professor Les Howard’s well-known JanTerm course, Workshop in Urban Studies. The class utilizes the city as a classroom for studying urban development, with special attention to the design and use of public space. Howard and students also discuss the issues of homelessness and gentrification.
On their trip to various locations, participants were encouraged to use public transportation. They also visited Whittier City Hall where they met with members of the Metro Board, who explained how expansion of public transportation works.
One assignment was to go on a scavenger hunt around the city and identify official and unofficial art. The purpose of the assignment was to observe how different mediums of public artworks influence the space and the participating community within that space.
“At these different places, [my partner] Oliver and I found some of the most beautiful art as well as graffiti,” said Iyesha Ferguson ’19, who took the course on the recommendation by one of her English professors. “We also came across a factory that was making shirts […] and had to travel around via public transit and we became very familiar with the different train and bus lines/systems.”
Howard teaches the course outside and in his very own living room. Ferguson liked this structure of the course and explained that it “helped make students open to ideas in a more comfortable setting where they can talk about their points of views.”
