Greg Smith

Greg Smith has taught for Cornell in Rome since 2003. Over the years, he has been a faculty member of many American and British universities in Italy, including American University (Washington, DC), the University of California Education Abroad Program, Temple University, and Notthingham Trent University. He was the dean of academic affairs at the American University of Rome for more than a decade. He has carried out extensive research in rural parts of Italy, where he maintains an interest in food production and distribution. He also has extensive research background in the city of Rome.

Smith is currently on the steering committee for the Biennial of Public Space, organized by the Italian National Planning Institute (INU Lazio). This international initiative brings together scholars and planners working on public space in Italy and in the world. Within the biennial, he is codirecting a special session on the history of public space in Rome, as well as a session on teaching urban studies workshops. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University.

Classes (Selected)

  • CRP 4160 Rome WorkshopThis course focuses on the city as a system through the analysis of (1) a set of neighborhoods and (2) issues affecting these neighborhoods. We will consider the relationship of these neighborhoods and issues to the functioning of the contemporary city of Rome and the wellbeing of its residents. This course will emphasize fieldwork and experiential learning that is supported with readings, class discussions and lectures. Field activities will take place during scheduled class times plus supplemental hours that are scheduled informally for an average of 12 hours per week, in addition to time spent on reading, writing, and the field trips.
  • CRP 3720 Contemporary Italy: Politics and SocietyThis course provides background on contemporary Italian politics and society, as an essential foundation to students with various disciplinary interests, from planning to architecture, from the fine arts to sociology and anthropology. This course provides a comprehensive survey of Italian society today, starting with Italy's geography and the historical forces that shaped the nation. It examines tensions between north and south, and such broad features of Italian social life as community structure, urban development, and family forms. The course also reviews selected institutional issues, such as gender, the system of education, problems of criminality and justice, economic reform, social class, religion, and politics.

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

  • "Rome Planning Workshop: From an Experiential to a Reflexive Approach," with Mildred Warner, Carlotta Fioretti, and Claudia Meschiari, presentation made at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (2010)
  • "Prossemita e distanza cittadina," lecture given at Rome City Hall in a conference organized on urban distress (2009)
  • "Media and the Appropriation of Place in Central Italy: A Geosemiotic Analysis," paper presented at the International Visual Sociology Association Conference (2009)

Publications (Selected)

  • Storia e antropologia nella Marsica moderna, Luco dei Marsi: Aleph Editrice (2011)
  • "Social Anthropological Considerations on the Predictability and Unpredictability of Community Outcomes," Complex Matters of the Mind by Franco Orsucii (1998)
  • "Caos e fatalita," Fra ordine e caos,  eds. Marcello Turno, Elena Lotta, Franco Orsucci (1996)
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