Students at NYU quickly learn that the city is their classroom. But for certain courses, that is quite literally true. In classes like Walking New York City, Photography and New York, and New York Underground, curricula take students out of the lecture hall and into the city they call home. If you’d like to earn credit while taking advantage of everything New York City has to offer, NYU has a class for you.
Tiptoe through the Empire City
New York City is one of the most pedestrian-friendly cities in the United States. So, the best way to see it is by getting out and hitting pavement. In the Gallatin School of Individualized Study first-year seminar Walking New York City, that’s exactly what students do. “It wasn’t so long ago that walking was the primary way of getting around. Prior to the 1930s or so, pretty much everyone did it—philosophers, painters, all kinds of old sources,” explains Peder Anker, who teaches the course.
Each week, students explore a new neighborhood and connect their wanderings to history, anthropology, literature, and culture. Anker pairs each journey with relevant readings and reflection-based discussions. So, a walk on the High Line leads to an investigation into the “promenade” as a concept. And a day trip to Coney Island becomes a contemplation on pleasure and escape. Most of all, notes Anker, “It’s fun! I walk a lot. I find that it’s a good way to remind myself that there’s a world out there, when I’m stuck in academic arguments on my computer.”
Zoom In on the Big Apple
Who can look at a photograph of New York City, with its towering buildings, bustling crowds, and bright blue skies, and not fall in love? In the first-year seminar Photography and New York at the College of Arts and Science, photographer Peter Kayafas teaches students how photography has changed New York and how New York has changed photography. Throughout the semester students visit a variety of local photographic landmarks. Then, they create a personal photo diary of snapshots from the five boroughs. Finally, students choose a renowned photographer and curate samples of their work to showcase their relationship to the city.
“I constructed this class based on the classes I remember from when I was a first-year student,” Kayafas explains. “It’s one way for students to understand photography in a way that’s different than a snapshot on a phone. If they can fall in love with New York City and establish their own relationship to it through photography, then I’ve succeeded.”
Dig Deep in the Center of the Universe
Today, Katie Schneider Paolantonio is a clinical professor of biology at NYU. However, she trained as a cave biologist. Now, she’s putting that education to good use, teaching New York Underground. The course takes students underneath New York City to study its belowground water, energy, and transportation infrastructure. “In New York City, you have this fantastic underground network of systems. There are gas mains, subways, sewer lines, and water pipes,” explains Schneider Paolantonio.
This course is all about experiential learning. When they study transportation, students descend into New York City’s subway stations. Then, they work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to study noise pollution and air quality. When they focus on water, they visit Westchester County to tour the 300-foot-tall New Croton Dam and the tunnels of the Old Croton Aqueduct. “When I think about the courses I took in college, the ones that I remember most were the ones where I was doing something,” reflects Schneider Paolantonio. “I love that connection to the real world.”
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