u/Black_LeRoi

URBST 210 / URBST 702 / AFST 202 (QUEENS COLLEGE)

"URBAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS" - FALL 2026

Thursdays 6:30pm - 8:30pm (ONLINE)

This timely seminar explores the sociological and political economic dimensions of urban social movements through case studies of two defining social justice uprisings of the 21st century: Occupy Wall Street and the Movement for Black Lives. Through deep engagements with each, students will develop a robust understanding of the numerous challenges facing contemporary movements-- from the promises and perils of horizontalist organizing, liberal identity politics, and social media to intensifying violent state repression and liberal co-optation.

Neither movement exists in a vacuum, however. To that end, we will situate our analyses of OWS and M4BL within a broader global historical frame that links earlier flourishings like the 20th century’s Black Freedom Movement to today’s immigrant rights and global anti-imperialism struggles. What sorts of strategies and political frameworks animate contemporary progressive social movements? How do we assess their historical impacts? And most importantly, how do we apply such insights to the emergence of future movements for social justice?

This course is open to undergrads (210) and grads (702), and it is cross-listed with Africana Studies-AFST 202.

alan.takeall@qc.cuny.edu

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Are you interested in energy efficient urban construction? Older cities like NYC have a lot of existing infrastructure that needs to be upgraded and retrofitted for a sustainable future. If you've ever wondered how all of that talk of green buildings, carbon reduction, and urban sustainability actually happens, this is the class for you!

URBST 265 (28439) / 7603 (28438)

“Introduction to Building Science & Energy Engineering”

FALL 2026
Wednesdays 6:30pm-9:20pm (in-person)

Description: This critically important in-person course introduces students to mechanical and electrical systems and equipment in buildings from the perspective of equipment performance evaluation and asset planning. Students engage the fundamentals of equipment operating, control, and retrofitting for energy efficiency and carbon reduction. The course emphasizes professional practice, including field testing, instrumented data acquisition and key parameter analysis as methods in energy auditing, performance assessment, and commissioning. Students will lead team-based evaluations and improvement based on case studies. They will be responsible for coordination and quality control of student-team work: clarity of analysis, quantification procedures, and quality of technical writing.

TUITION REIMBURSEMENT IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS COURSE!!!

For more information contact:
Prof Alan R. Takeall: alan.takeall@qc.cuny.edu

A powerful class to start your summer with purpose!

URBST 258 / URBST 7703-001: “ABOLITIONISM & COMMUNITY JUSTICE”

QUEENS COLLEGE, CUNY

Summer 2026 (Session 1)

M-T-W

6:30PM-8:35PM (Online)

Professor Alan R. Takeall (alan.takeall@qc.cuny.edu)

In this abbreviated (4 weeks!) online seminar, we will engage the multifaceted movement to abolish the carceral state in its many manifestations. The class will begin with an exploration of the deep historical roots of the prison and policing abolitionist movement, its theoretical foundations, critical junctures, and its numerous resistance fronts-- from the prefigurative world-building of the 1971 Attica Prison uprising to the valiant efforts to “Abolish ICE” by detainees and protesters at the Delaney Hall Immigrant Detention Center in Newark, NJ. Throughout the course, we will compare abolitionist perspectives on justice and safety to familiar reformist schemes like community policing, body cameras, and “E-carceration.” The class will consider the promise and practice of transformative justice as a liberatory framework.
This course is open to undergrads (URBST 258) and graduate students (URBST 7703-001).