Urban Studies 201 at Trinity College

For the fall semester of 2015, I assigned our new book Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai to my class (Urban Studies 201) “From Hartford to World Cities” at Trinity College. To help the students get more out of the book and connect it to local shops beyond the six global cities covered by the book, I asked them to visit a local shop or other businesses in their hometowns or else where to write a short blog for the Discussion page of this website. Altogether 28 of the 45 students did so. The local shops and businesses they wrote about vary in size, type, location, and ownership, but they share a few important functional features such as serving the convenient commercial needs of local residents and as their social interaction spaces. While some of them appear to have been part of gentrification, others seem to maintain their local authentic attributes, thanks to clear municipal zoning ordinances that restrict gentrification. Below you can read these 28 posts with photos and make comments on them.

Xiangming Chen