Teaching Assistant

TF opportunities for GENED 1103: Living in an Urban Planet

We are looking to hire TFs for GENED 1103, which will be taught during the Fall term (T/Th 10:30-11:45 a.m.) by Professor Bruno Carvalho.

Course Description:

How did our planet become so urban, and how can our cities be more vital, livable, and sustainable?

It has become a cliché to say that more than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. The speed and scale of urbanization over the past century has been stunning, and we tend to underestimate the extent to which built environments and natural landscapes have become entangled. As both lived and imagined spaces, cities will continue to shape life on our planet. In fact, if we consider the flow of resources (and refuse), energy systems, the circulation of people and cultures, where do our cities actually end?  This class starts from the premise that the urban today represents a worldwide condition in which nearly all political, economic, cultural, and socio-environmental relations are enmeshed.

We will focus on multiple aspects of urbanization, including housing and transportation, as well as socio-economic mobility and the reproduction of inequalities. We will cover the history of urban planning, and how processes of the past converge in the present. We will discuss the aspirations of individuals and groups that have made cities, as well as the intended and unintended consequences of technological innovations and design. We will reflect on metropolitan, regional, and global scales, with attention to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and class. And we will consider the ecological dimensions of urbanization, including research on compact cities as more environmentally sustainable than sprawling settlements.

Urbanization has been an expression of the notion that humans can reshape the environment, as well as their own destinies. Throughout modernity, people have imagined and experienced cities as places of frustration and promise. Our aim is to engage a wide range of perspectives on contemporary urban conditions and on how we got here, with the hope of opening up possibilities for the future.

To Apply:

Interested parties are encouraged to email Prof. Carvalho directly (bcarvalh@fas.harvard.edu) with a note detailing their interest and their CV. If Q scores are available, applicants are encouraged to send those, too.

START DATE:                     8/1/24
END DATE:                         12/31/24

LOCATION:                        Cambridge, MA
PAY RATE:                         $5,860-$6,575 per section; In line with HGSU-UAW contract
PAY FREQUENCY:            Monthly
WORK SCHEDULE:           Exact hours to be determined with Supervisor

Harvard University prohibits discrimination in the employment or treatment of qualified individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is covered by this collective bargaining agreement if filled by a Harvard student.