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My Top Five asks a Weitzman faculty member to curate a list of five cultural artifacts—in any medium, from any time period—to give insight into their thinking about visual culture and the built environment.
“I absolutely love television, even more so when ‘the city’ is a character,” says Akira Drake Rodriguez, assistant professor of city and regional planning. Her response would not surprise anyone familiar with her research, which delves into the complex character of America's cities.
Rodriguez’s research charts the ways groups and communities in cities have gained access to—and sustained—political power by rallying around and organizing in marginalized spaces. For example, her book Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing explores how the history of planning and race in that city created a politics of resistance within public housing developments. Other research has focused on the work of public education advocates in Philadelphia to combat what they considered racialized disinvestment on the part of the Philadelphia school district. Among the courses Rodriguez teaches is Introduction to Housing, Community and Economic Development.
Still from opening credits for Law & Order. Image: IMDB
1. Law & Order
Copaganda aside, this is one of my favorite shows and, as one of the longest-running television dramas, it serves as a beautiful archive of New York City (Manhattan only)! From season 1 (1990) before Times Square was “Disneyfied” to the sanitized, non-descript backgrounds of the current season (25), L&O is a great conversation-starter for old and new New Yorkers alike.
Michael Kenneth Williams, S. Robert Morgan, and Robert F. Chew in The Wire. Image: IMDB
2. The Wire
The fanfare around The Wire is warranted – far from overrated, this HBO series provides a layered understanding of the City of Baltimore through five seasons (and institutions). The show’s creators incorporate real life Baltimoreans, many who received training from native Baltimorean Robert F. Chew, who plays Proposition Joe on the show.
Kareme Young in South Side. Image: IMDB
3. South Side
I love Chicago! And nothing captures the specificity of Black Chicago like South Side. Come for the beautiful scenes set in South Shore, stay for the employee roasts of customers at Harold’s.
Donald Glover (right) in Atlanta. Image: IMDB
4. Atlanta
One of the first scenes of Atlanta shows an interaction between two employees at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, one of the largest airports in the country. It is nearly impossible to meet someone in the city who hasn’t worked, or knows someone who worked, there. The show is great, and it captures the contradictions of the “Black Mecca” with subtlety.
Kim Dickens in Treme. Image: IMDB
5. Treme
I love New Orleans!!! Treme is heart-wrenching examination of life in one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the country in the months and years after Hurricane Katrina. The sounds, accents, music, slang—not to mention enviable dishes cooked on-screen— makes this an ideal comfort show. But keep tissues nearby!
