An in-depth “forensic” exploration of the urban artifact that is Paris through the study of a variety of texts, films, paintings, engravings, and maps. The course will explore competing ambitions, economic pressures, and ideologies that have, over centuries, produced one of the most visited cities in the world.

This class will offer students a historical exploration of the urban artifact that is Paris. Proceeding “forensically,” the class aims to peel back what is visible to today’s observer in order to uncover the historical, economic, and ideological forces that have produced one of the most visited cities in the world. Students can expect, first, to gain knowledge of the city’s infrastructure, from its historical center to its marginalized outer suburbs. More generally, we will attend to the overlapping layers in Paris’s built environment, which is also to say the way that the Instagrammable urban present is haunted by the displacements and traumas of the past. And beyond Paris itself, we’ll be thinking a lot about how all human-made environments inscribe the needs, values, and technologies that have made them possible.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills