Fall 2002 Program: London a Moving Experience

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

What better way to get to know London than to look at its transportation system? Bucknell-in-London 2002 takes a close look at how people and goods are moved in one of the world's most fascinating metropoles.

Students and faculty in London 2002, will experience and discover London as an organic whole, moved by cabbies and busses, the famous "tube," roads and bridges, lorries, railways, airports, and energized by the people who make their lives within these systems.

London has arguably the most carefully planned transport system among the world's great cities. Its coordinated system of taxis, urban buses, and subways connects into the regional system of intercity bus and rail lines, and links directly to international rail, ship and air services. Intentionally de-emphasizing the private car, London's systems give mobility to people of all social classes. Yet, London's system is struggling. Privatization, the spread of suburban malls, deferred maintenance needs, changing technology and huge costs are posing profound challenges to the system on which London's functioning depends, putting London's transport system at the center of national debates.

And Bucknell-in-London 2002 is not just about transportation. It's an opportunity to experience British culture, history, people and institutions first hand, with your instructors and with your friends. We'll attend six of the best of current West End theatre productions. We'll also examine many of the great historic buildings of British history. And we see some of its greatest art.

During fall, 2002, 16 Bucknell students will study London transport and discover a great city in the process.

Tally Ho!

THE BUCKNELL FACULTY:

Dr. Richard McGinnis (Civil and Environmental Engineering) teaches courses in transportation and in urban planning. He has done highway safety research in the UK and has met with many European transportation and planning officials.

Dr. Tom Greaves (Anthropology) has long been interested in the study of work and worker culture. He conducted long term field research and published on tin miners, agricultural field hands, and other wage workers in South America. His lifelong avocational interest is railroads.

THE BRITISH FACULTY:

London '02 faculty includes two British instructors who are favorites of Bucknell's London Semester: Dr. Vesna Goldsworthy, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at London's University of Kingston and former film critic for the BBC, will introduce us to the latest London theatre productions. A trip to Stratford-upon-Avon for a Shakespearean play is also part of the theatre component of the 2002 program. Dr. Patrick Conner, author of five books in art history and expert on oriental art, will guide us through a judicious sampling of British historical architecture and fine art in and around London, and at the seaside resort town of Brighton.

THE COURSES:

Students in the London Semester take four courses. None of the courses has prerequisites and all are appropriate to students in all majors.

CORE COURSES:

British Transportation: A Response to Changing Regional and Global Realities (UNIV 274) - McGinnis and Greaves
The program's core course is team-taught by Greaves and McGinnis. England has a fascinating set of transport services (air, rail, trucking and inter-city buses, urban subway and surface networks, taxis, package delivery services, etc.) that has been integrated into a planned urban system that is widely admired. We focus on how this planned system has emerged over the past 25 years and how it now responds to mounting challenges and regional pressures. We will look principally at the London metropolitan area, but also regionally within the rest of England, within Great Britain as a whole, within Europe, and as part of the global system.

Field trips will be frequent. Indeed many of our sessions will meet on site in Greater London, with demonstrations and first hand observations of, for example, the London Underground's Central Control Center, the canal system, British Rail, and London's signature cab services. Three trips are longer: a three-day excursion to Manchester, (central to the reshaping of transport to the 19th Century Machine Age), and York (site of the National Railway Museum), another to Brighton, Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath, and a third through the Channel Tunnel to France to compare the French and British "high-speed" trains, examine plans for a unified network of high-speed trains to serve Europe and England, and contrast the Paris Metro with its London counterpart.

Theatre, Art and Architecture (THEA 265/ART 215=1 course) - Goldsworthy and Conner
Two British faculty will introduce Program students to contemporary London theater and to London's historic art and architecture. Meets twice weekly, with at least one session "on site" at the theater or at a particular place of historic significance within London. The course includes a visit to the Globe Theatre, a workshop at the Theatre Museum, and a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, for a Shakespearean play.

ELECTIVE COURSES (choose two):

Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning (CENG 431) - McGinnis

Urban planning has had a major impact on the development of England and particularly London over the last 60 years. The British methods of planning and controlling land use will be examined through readings, discussions with British urban planners, visits to planning agencies, field trip(s) to one or more of the British new towns, a trip to the Cotswolds, and individual research by the students.

London Transport, a Cultural History (ANTH 302) - Greaves

This seminar investigates London's history, social class structure, growth and changing ethnic mix through readings, guest lectures, fieldtrips and team research projects dealing with aspects of London's transport - canals, trolleys, shipping, railroads, cabs, etc. - in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The focus will be on the people who operated these systems and the people who used them.

FIELD COURSES: (May be taken as ANTH 351, CENG 439 or CENG 490)- McGinnis or Greaves

Students delve more deeply into one or more aspects of the anchor course through guided research projects or supervised internships, mentored by the appropriate faculty member. During the spring semester the BU faculty will work with those doing field projects to define the project and approach. Contacts with London-based agencies, companies and organizations will be made to facilitate these projects. May be undertaken individually or in pairs or groups. No prerequisites other than clearance by either instructor to enroll.