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 Nottingham 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 has extensive scholarly background on the city of Rome and is currently engaged in research which takes him to the peripheral districts of major Italian cities.

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)

  • "Paesaggi pini pinoli: notes on Rome's edible landscape," University of Arkansas Rome Center (2019)
  • "Performing citizen narrative," Biennial of Public Space, Rome, Italy (2013)
  • "Narrative in place," Biennial of Public Space, Rome, Italy (2011)
  • "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)
  • "Prossemica 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)

  • 2023, The landscapes of Italian food. Local development and healthy practices. (With Gilda Berruti. London: Routledge)
  • 2022, Pasolini. Narrare la città. (Rome: Media&Books)
  • 2021, Urban narratives and spaces of Rome. Pier Paolo Pasolini and the city. (London: Routledge)
  • 2013, Public space in Rome through the ages, Editor with Jan Gadeyne. (Farnham: Ashgate)
  • 2012, La comunità e lo Stato. Antropologia e storia nella Marsica del Novecento. (Luco dei Marsi: Aleph Editrice)
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