This paper reports on the author's experience teaching urban studies and planning to 20 North American undergraduates in Rome. For these students, the contrasts between the U.S. city and the European city provided great intellectual stimulation and outweighed the cultural contrasts. The experience of seeing and using the benefits of social democracy, or its still functioning remnants, was powerfully impressive. The students developed a sensitivity to their urban surroundings. Worked into writing requirements, their observations brought them to new and sharper perceptions about city life in the United States.
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