Urban Colloquium 1 introduces students to activists, communities, as well as public, private and non-profit organizations working in New York City to address its most urgent urban issues. The course is meant to shed light on how complex urban challenges are framed, discussed, and acted upon, and how professional work and advocacy activities are put into practice to reach resolution. In NYC today, the line between professional and advocate is often blurred: people working within this urban ecology navigate a complex set of constraints as well as possibilities to affect change. The course asks: Who are the individuals and communities that commit themselves to the fray of shaping how we live, work and play? How do they position themselves in bureaucracies, organizations or as individual actors, with their discrete missions, resources and identities? Urban Colloquium 1 is structured through fieldwork, guest lectures, readings, and workshops. Guest speakers are practitioners from the realms of political advocacy, community organization and development, jurisdiction, transportation, government, economic development, as well as those who have created radical shifts in practices of urban design, city planning, and real estate development, especially working together with communities and non-profit groups. Students will be expected to gain solid understanding of how people and organizations navigate this urban ecosystem, and to reflect this comprehension they will develop podcasts aimed at weaving together the narratives of different invited speakers into an overall interpretation of interrelated voices, issues and contexts. Colloquium topics include but are not limited to contemporary urban politics, socio-spatial justice, environmentalism, activism, and housing.