AT 18-001_FA22: Saint Petersburg is a city of contrasts—rich and poor, blight and beauty, sweeping expanses of mangroves abutting urban sprawl. Our city has been shaped in part by the same broad social forces that have affected all American cities, but it has also been formed by the choices of its individual residents and visionaries. We will explore how the city is shaped by its physical environment, like its geography, parks, buildings, and roads. But we will also consider how people have built communities in St. Petersburg, from pre-Columbian indigenous peoples, to Gilded Age entrepreneurs, 20th Century snowbirds, and the artists and entrepreneurs of today’s bustling city. We will pay particular attention to the contemporary issues of development facing the Sunshine City, such as building a new baseball stadium for the Rays, redeveloping the pier, and confronting issues of homelessness. In so doing, we will explore the question of how your new home town can attain its greatest potential in the future.
- Enseignant: Nicholas Dempsey