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Course 01

Technology, Space & Society

A 15-week seminar for undergraduate and graduate students

STS Cities 15 Weeks UG + Graduate Seminar

How do technologies reshape the spaces we inhabit? This course asks that question across fifteen case studies — from the postwar television to ambient AI — using the analytical tools of Science and Technology Studies. Students leave able to apply STS frameworks to new cases, trace the spatial consequences of design decisions, and ask who benefits and who bears the cost of technological change.

Course Overview

The course's central question — How do technologies reshape the spaces we inhabit? — is written on the board in Week 1 and stays there for fifteen weeks. Each session returns to it through a different case: the television, the automobile, the telephone, the personal computer, the smartphone, platform urbanism, micromobility, ambient AI, and remote work. By Week 15, students should be able to look at any technology-space relationship and produce a rigorous account of what happened, why, and for whom.

Three Analytical Moves

The method draws on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and compresses into three moves that are applied across every case study:

Logistics

Format15-week seminar, 75–90 min sessions
AudienceDual-listed: upper-division undergraduate + master's
PrerequisitesNone; open to all majors
Undergraduate deliverablesResearch proposal (Week 7) · Final research paper + 10-min presentation (Week 15)
Graduate deliverablesResearch proposal + annotated bibliography (Week 7) · Final paper + 15-min presentation (Week 15)
Reading loadUndergrad: 1–3 texts per session · Graduate: 6–10 texts per session
Instructor guideDownload PDF ↓

A full introductory essay on the course method — including the three analytical moves and the arc of the fifteen weeks — is available in the Writing section.

Week-by-Week Schedule

Click any week to expand anchor readings. Full reading lists for both tracks are in the Reading List section below.

Full Reading List

All readings available via university library or open access unless noted. @arcktip sources are primary practitioner readings drawn from Patrick's professional experience.

Week 1 · Introduction: Technology Redefines Space
Hoffman, Patrick T., Technology, Space & Society — Course Introduction (2026) — @arcktip framing essay
Winner, Langdon, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" Daedalus 109, no. 1 (1980): 121–36 — foundational & accessible
Petroski, Henry, The Evolution of Useful Things, Ch. 1 (1992) — how objects embed decisions
Week 2 · Hearth → Television
Spigel, Lynn, Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, Introduction & Ch. 1 (1992) — the core text — essential
Spigel, Lynn, "Installing the Television Set: Popular Discourses on Television and Domestic Space, 1948–1955" (1988)
Hayden, Dolores, The Grand Domestic Revolution, Ch. 1 (1981) — domestic space before television
Week 3 · STS Frameworks
Latour, Bruno, We Have Never Been Modern, Ch. 1 (1993) — most approachable Latour entry point
Silverstone, Roger & Hirsch, Eric (eds.), Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces, Introduction (1992)
Pinch, Trevor J. & Bijker, Wiebe E., "The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts," Social Studies of Science 14, no. 3 (1984): 399–441 — SCOT framework
Week 4 · The Automobile & the City
Hayden, Dolores, Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820–2000, Ch. 1 & 5 (2003)
Kunstler, James Howard, The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, Ch. 4–5 (1993)
Shoup, Donald, The High Cost of Free Parking, Ch. 1 (2005) — the parking minimum argument
Week 5 · The Telephone & the Threshold
Fischer, Claude S., America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940, Ch. 1 & 5 (1992)
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Introduction (1959) — front/backstage framework
Schwartz Cowan, Ruth, More Work for Mother, Introduction (1983)
Week 6 · The PC & Domestic Labor
Turkle, Sherry, The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, Introduction & Ch. 1 (1984)
Wajcman, Judy, Feminism Confronts Technology, Ch. 4 (1991)
Nilles, Jack, The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff (1976) — the original telecommuting concept
Week 7 · Midterm Presentations
No assigned reading — preparation week. Students present research proposals.
Week 8 · The Smartphone & Third Places
Oldenburg, Ray, The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, Introduction & Ch. 2 (1989)
Turkle, Sherry, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, Introduction (2011)
Carr, Nicholas, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2010)
Week 9 · Platform Urbanism
Srnicek, Nick, Platform Capitalism, Ch. 1–2 (2017) — concise — essential framing
Wachsmuth, David & Weisler, Alexander, "Airbnb and the Rent Gap: Gentrification Through the Sharing Economy," Environment and Planning A 50, no. 6 (2018)
Davis, Mike, Planet of Slums, Introduction (2006)
Week 10 · Micromobility & Street Design
Hoffman, Patrick T., Dockless: What We Learned Building the Bike That Became JUMP (forthcoming) — @arcktip — primary practitioner source
NACTO, Urban Street Design Guide (selected chapters) (2013) — professional design standards
Sheller, Mimi, Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes, Ch. 1 (2018)
Week 11 · AI & the Intelligent Home
Zuboff, Shoshana, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, Introduction (2019)
Mattern, Shannon, "A City Is Not a Computer," Places Journal (February 2017) — open access
Sadowski, Jathan, Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism Is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World, Introduction (2020)
Week 12 · Remote Work & the Office
Sennett, Richard, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, Ch. 1 (2018)
Saval, Nikil, Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace, Introduction (2014)
Florida, Richard, The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited, Introduction (2012)
Week 13 · Studio Critique I
Graff, Gerald & Birkenstein, Cathy, They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Ch. 1–2 (2006)
Silvia, Paul, How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing, Ch. 1 (2007)
Week 14 · Designing the Response
Brand, Stewart, How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built, Introduction & Ch. 1 (1994)
Duany, Andrés, Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth & Speck, Jeff, The Smart Growth Manual, Part I (2010)
Aureli, Pier Vittorio, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, Introduction (2011)
Week 15 · Final Presentations
No assigned reading — final presentations week.
Week 1 · Introduction: Technology Redefines Space
Hoffman, Patrick T., Technology, Space & Society — Course Introduction (2026) — @arcktip framing essay
Winner, Langdon, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" Daedalus 109, no. 1 (1980): 121–36
MacKenzie, Donald & Wajcman, Judy (eds.), The Social Shaping of Technology, Introduction (1985) — foundational STS anthology
Bijker, Wiebe E., Hughes, Thomas P. & Pinch, Trevor (eds.), The Social Construction of Technological Systems, Preface (1987) — SCOT framework origins
Petroski, Henry, The Evolution of Useful Things, Ch. 1 (1992)
Mumford, Lewis, Technics and Civilization, Ch. 1 (1934) — canonical long arc
Jasanoff, Sheila, The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future, Introduction (2016) — technology and democratic governance
Week 2 · Hearth → Television
Spigel, Lynn, Make Room for TV, Introduction & Ch. 1–2 (1992) — full scholarly apparatus
Spigel, Lynn, Welcome to the Dreamhouse: Popular Media and Postwar Suburbs, Ch. 1–2 (2001)
Boddy, William, Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics, Ch. 1 (1990)
Hayden, Dolores, The Grand Domestic Revolution, Ch. 1–2 (1981)
Spigel, Lynn, "Installing the Television Set" (1988)
McCarthy, Anna, Ambient Television: Visual Culture and Public Space, Introduction (2001)
Week 3 · STS Frameworks
Latour, Bruno, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory, Introduction & Part I (2005) — ANT primary text — dense, required
Callon, Michel, "Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay" (1984/1986) — the 'scallops' paper
Silverstone, Roger & Hirsch, Eric (eds.), Consuming Technologies, Introduction & Ch. 1 (1992)
Pinch, Trevor J. & Bijker, Wiebe E., "The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts," Social Studies of Science 14, no. 3 (1984)
Law, John, "Notes on the Theory of the Actor-Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity," Systems Practice 5, no. 4 (1992)
Woolgar, Steve, "Configuring the User: The Case of Usability Trials," in A Sociology of Monsters, ed. Law (1991)
Week 4 · The Automobile & the City
Hayden, Dolores, Building Suburbia, Ch. 1, 4–6 (2003)
Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, Ch. 11–12 (1985) — definitive U.S. suburban history — FHA, highways
Kunstler, James Howard, The Geography of Nowhere, Ch. 4–6 (1993)
Shoup, Donald, The High Cost of Free Parking, Ch. 1–2 (2005)
Rome, Adam, The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism, Ch. 1 (2001)
Fogelson, Robert M., Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950, Introduction (2001) — Harvard UP
Week 5 · The Telephone & the Threshold
Fischer, Claude S., America Calling, Ch. 1, 4–5 (1992)
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Introduction & Ch. 1 (1959)
Schwartz Cowan, Ruth, More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave, Ch. 1–2 (1983)
Marvin, Carolyn, When Old Technologies Were New, Ch. 1 (1988) — Oxford UP — historical perspective on communication technology
Aronson, Sidney H., "The Sociology of the Telephone," International Journal of Comparative Sociology 12, no. 3 (1971)
Hochschild, Arlie, The Second Shift, Introduction (1989) — labor and domestic technology
Week 6 · The PC & Domestic Labor
Turkle, Sherry, The Second Self, Introduction & Ch. 1–2 (1984)
Wajcman, Judy, Feminism Confronts Technology, Ch. 3–4 (1991)
Ceruzzi, Paul, A History of Modern Computing, Ch. 8–9 (2003) — PC's emergence as a consumer product
Nilles, Jack, The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff (1976)
Schwartz Cowan, Ruth, "The Consumption Junction: A Proposal for Research Strategies in the Sociology of Technology," in The Social Construction of Technological Systems (1987)
Hochschild, Arlie, The Second Shift, Ch. 1–2 (1989)
Week 7 · Midterm Presentations
No assigned reading — proposal presentation week. Students present proposals + annotated bibliographies.
Eco, Umberto, How to Write a Thesis, Ch. 3–4 (1977/2015) — optional — MIT Press translation
Week 8 · The Smartphone & Third Places
Oldenburg, Ray, The Great Good Place, Introduction & Ch. 2–3 (1989)
Turkle, Sherry, Alone Together, Introduction & Part II (2011)
Wellman, Barry, "Little Boxes, Glocalization, and Networked Individualism," in Digital Cities II (2002)
Carr, Nicholas, The Shallows, Introduction & Ch. 1–2 (2010)
Hampton, Keith, "Neighborhoods in the Network Society: The e-Neighbors Study," Information, Communication & Society (2007)
Ito, Mizuko et al., Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out, Introduction (2010) — MIT Press
Week 9 · Platform Urbanism
Srnicek, Nick, Platform Capitalism, Ch. 1–3 (2017)
Wachsmuth, David & Weisler, Alexander, "Airbnb and the Rent Gap," Environment and Planning A 50, no. 6 (2018)
Zuboff, Shoshana, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2019) — platform logic as surveillance
Davis, Mike, Planet of Slums, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2006)
Rosenblat, Alex, Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work, Introduction (2018)
Graham, Stephen & Marvin, Simon, Splintering Urbanism, Introduction (2001) — networked infrastructure and urban fragmentation
Week 10 · Micromobility & Street Design
Hoffman, Patrick T., Dockless: What We Learned Building the Bike That Became JUMP (forthcoming) — @arcktip — primary practitioner source
NACTO, Urban Street Design Guide (selected chapters) (2013)
Furness, Zack, One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility, Introduction (2010)
Sheller, Mimi, Mobility Justice, Ch. 1–2 (2018)
Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph (eds.), City Cycling, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2012) — MIT Press — comparative infrastructure politics
Adkins, Arlie et al., "Bicycle Commuting and Its Relationship to Infrastructure," Transportation Research Record (2012)
Week 11 · AI & the Intelligent Home
Zuboff, Shoshana, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Introduction & Ch. 1–2 (2019)
Mattern, Shannon, "A City Is Not a Computer," Places Journal (February 2017)
Mattern, Shannon, Code and Clay, Data and Dirt, Introduction (2017) — infrastructure and urban intelligence
Sadowski, Jathan, Too Smart, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2020)
Andrejevic, Mark & Burdon, Mark, "Defining the Sensor Society," Television & New Media 16, no. 1 (2015)
Rosenblat, Alex, Uberland, Ch. 3–4 (2018) — algorithmic management as spatial control
Week 12 · Remote Work & the Office
Sennett, Richard, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, Ch. 1–2 (2018)
Saval, Nikil, Cubed, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2014)
Florida, Richard, The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited, Introduction (2012)
Glaeser, Edward, Triumph of the City, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2011) — density as innovation engine
Wajcman, Judy, Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2015) — Chicago
Hoffman, Patrick T., @arcktip Practitioner Essay: Remote Work and the Future of Urban Density (2026) — @arcktip
Week 13 · Studio Critique I
Graff, Gerald & Birkenstein, Cathy, They Say / I Say, Ch. 1–3 (2006)
Sword, Helen, Stylish Academic Writing, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2012) — Harvard — scholarly voice
Hayot, Eric, The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities, Introduction & Ch. 1 (2014) — Columbia UP
Silvia, Paul, How to Write a Lot, Ch. 1 (2007)
Week 14 · Designing the Response
Brand, Stewart, How Buildings Learn, Introduction & Ch. 1–2 (1994)
Duany, Andrés, Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth & Speck, Jeff, The Smart Growth Manual, Parts I–II (2010)
Hoffman, Patrick T., @arcktip Practitioner Essay: Design at the Intersection of Technology and Space (2026) — @arcktip
Aureli, Pier Vittorio, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, Introduction (2011)
Koolhaas, Rem, S,M,L,XL, "Generic City" essay (1995) — architecture's response to technological urbanism
Picon, Antoine, Smart Cities: A Spatialised Intelligence, Introduction (2015) — Wiley
Week 15 · Final Presentations
No assigned reading — final presentations and external critic responses.
For instructors and teaching assistants
The full facilitation guide — including session overviews, theoretical frames, suggested discussion arcs with timing, numbered discussion questions (with separate graduate-level questions), common misconceptions, and cross-session connections — is available as a PDF download.