Recording: Sociology

Duration: 32 Minutes
2200897
Feedback: https://form.jotform.com/220622168705048

[00:00:00]
ANNOUNCEMENT

Reminders
● Choose a city you want to write your feedback to.

[00:00:01]
CLASS DISCUSSION

California
● California has its own known standard for cars.
● You can buy a car from Tennessee that has worked in Texas, but won't pass California's
higher standard for control motion.
● (00:00:54, inaudible word) overlooked the fact that they turned the early environment
into environments enslaved by cars and people.
● And they were one of the first to show arrogance in urban planning
● They never take into consideration the natural feel of good air in the environment.

Points Diagramming
● The diagrams look like a short illustration and (00:01:43) over 19 years.
● Points diagramming is easy to remember.
● There is eccentricity in 60 percent of these diagrammatic expressions.
● An impressive example is San Jose.
○ Most of the residential areas around San Jose are 30-40 years old.
○ They have a team of engineers, and software developers who work in the dot
com industry and now they become rich.
○ They have a stock receipt for the future.
○ San Jose was developed from this new aristocracy.
● Santana row in San Jose is a beautiful downtown.
○ It's the way they use architecture in envisioning a city or state where on top of
shops are dwellings and residences.

University Campuses
● It all depends if you’re into an urban feel, you find some university campuses appealing.
● Long Beach has a very urban feeling.
○ It has some elevations with different staircases.
● Forten has an identity crisis.
○ It's near the Grey Hills so you get the feeling of nature.
○ However, the campus is just flat and not the most dramatic environment.
● San Jose is pretty flat too but Google built a huge facility beside them.
 ○ They created one of the best gyms.
● There's no conclusive evidence that being in a beautiful environment is better for your
mental facilities.
● However, the professor would argue that those studies are flawed.
○ He believed that cities in nature have a profound effect on your intellect and its
development.
● An example is Humboldt State University which became Cal Poly Humboldt, the third
polytechnic university of California.
○ They are now the polytechnic dealing with the earth sciences and are very
specific about this environmental orientation.
○ They have one of the most healing environments.

Sentiment and Symbolism Theory

● An example is the historic city of Boston.
○ Why does a chunk of Boston historically significant?
○ Why do people write brochures about the street?
■ The reason is some of the streets are cobblestones that go back to the
1700s.
● There’s no major urban environment that has faith in the cobblestone streets.
○ It's not necessarily the safest street.
○ If there's tremendous humidity, there's gonna be moss on it.
● Walter Firey proposed the sentiment and symbolism theory.
○ He didn't call it that.
○ He just wrote about Boston Common.
○ His theory is unique.
○ He examines why cities don't grow.
● How do you predict a city that doesn't grow?
● Is it a bad thing?
○ Firey’s answer is no, it's not bad.
○ Firey argues that if cities don't grow, it’s because their residents want to preserve
the historic areas.
○ To define an area of historical value, make a petition for it to be declared a
historical landmark.
○ Boston Common residents turn the area into a historical landmark with a formal
designation by the city and state.
● If a part of your city is declared a historic landmark, these things will occur:
○ Agents from the city will come and talk to you about what upkeep would you like
for this year.
○ They kind of freeze or preserve that part of the city.
● As cities become more mature or developed, they will keep the historic areas.
● If people love the area too much, they grow attached to it.
● These parts will never grow probably because of sentimental value.

Examples of Demolished Structures

 ● The pointy building was demolished years ago.
○ Even though a lot of people don’t like it, it has become a landmark.
○ Everyone knows the pointy building even if they're not Cal poly students.
○ It is a violent culture related.
○ If they don't like something, they just blow it up and destroy it.
○ The professor thought they should've saved it.
● Latterman Center used to be a state-run facility for the most severely mutilated in Pointe
Road.
○ The facility decided to close in 2012.
○ It’s a beautiful landscape inside the area.
○ The professor suggested turning this environment into a Student Meditation
Center.
○ Meditation is now well-validated by science.
■ If you control your breathing and make your mind stabilized, you can
create clarity in your knowledge.

Historical Areas
● Boston Commons is about keeping the sections of the city intact.
● The negative impact of keeping certain areas intact is the population will not be
developed.
○ The population growth will not be significant enough to generate income.
● Areas registered and slated for historical recognition are not in the best parts of town
and not in the richest part of town.

CLA Pointe
● The CLA 20 building was a safety hazard.
● One of their problems is that they're above an earthquake fault.
● The roofing was leaking from the first day and it was on probation.
● The battle between architects and engineers never ends in urban planning.
● The architect focuses on aesthetic design while the engineers on the structure's safety
and viability.
● They have to find that healthy balance.
● The CLA building was leaking and could've been an electrical hazard.
● The professor first proposed they should have guided everything in turn into a multistory
terrarium.
○ It is where all forms of vines and plants can take over a building as a case study
of how nature reclaims the land.
○ People can also have tours above.
○ Make it a big air filter.

Four Key Groups of Theories

1. Consenting zone theory
2. Full Reference Central Place Theory
3. Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Theory
 4. Walter Firey’s Sentiment and Symbolism Theory

More about the Theories

● Consenting Zone theory is the simplest to understand based on your study.
● Full Reference Central Place theory is one of the more pronounced theories.
● Walter Firey never talked about sentiment and symbolism but it will be read in his work
in the Boston common.
○ He cares about the feelings of the residents and the symbolic value of the area.

Amargosa Opera House

● The opera house was one of the most beautiful, old, dilapidated opera houses built in
the middle of the desert in the 1800s.
● The activity there was due to mining for gold.
● It’s located in the part where you’re about to enter Death Valley.
● The proprietor who took over had a wife who was a former ballet dancer.
○ She would perform at the Opera House even to an empty audience.
○ Some people and Europeans were fascinated by this eccentric phenomenon.
○ She died in the 2000s.
● The opera house was kept as a historical landmark.
● The professor thought that some areas of undeveloped regions of Southern California
should be kept as historical areas.

California City
● The city is about a hundred and 20 miles northeast of your location.
● It was developed in the 1950s by a sociologist named Mendelsohn.
● California City became notorious because he wanted to claim it as a selling point.
● The thing is it was a massive piece of land.
● He wanted it to outdo Los Angeles so he created all the roads that were ready for
development to occur.
○ The road span tens of miles.
○ You may drive through this if you have courage and your car is in good shape.
○ They all have street signs
● Only about 10 percent of the land was taken over by people who built homes.
● About 99 percent of the place is empty.
● It’s a fascinating place but a massive empty environment.
● Some BMXers and ATV riders go there on weekends.
● The professor thought they should preserve this as an example of a failed plan.
● Most people didn't wanna go out and live in the desert.
● The desert is a very challenging environment to thrive in.
● LA was intoxicating people with downtowns and beaches which California City doesn't
have.