As students, we often hear nebulous terms tossed around in lectures, heated conversations, and especially on Twitter rants. The kinds of phrases I’m talking about are the ones that you have a grasp on, but may struggle to provide a precise definition when asked directly–or maybe, at this point, you’re too afraid to ask. This can be frustrating, but also restrictive. When you don’t possess the vocabulary used in a certain discourse, it can be difficult to truly participate and enact change.

We can be quick to employ these academic-sometimes-bordering-on-pseudo-intellectual terms in everyday conversations but seldom take the time to really unpack the meanings of these phrases, their political and social implications, and their origins in a historical context. The problem here being that many of these socio-political concepts can’t be reduced into concise, elevator-pitch-length definitions. To really get a hold on broad subjects surrounding urbanism, it’s important to not just read about them, but talk about them, walk through them (both physically and didactically) and ask questions about them, too.
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