GY430 - Cities, Space and Society

Theoretical perspectives on contemporary cities, with a specific focus on the global nature of urban social and cultural change and development. A primary intention of the course is to challenge western-centric views of the city, exploring the mutual shapings of ‘Western’ and ‘Third World’ urban experiences in a wide range of areas. The course will equip students interested in urban change and development to understand and consider appropriate responses to social and cultural aspects of cities. As crucibles of social transformation, successful interventions in contemporary cities around the globe require awareness of and sensitivity to social and cultural dynamics. A practical component of the course will use London as a laboratory for the examination of social and cultural aspects of contemporary urbanism and urban change in comparison with case studies of selected other cities from around the world. It will highlight the fractured and fragmented nature of the ‘urban experience’ as well as the global determinants of the contemporary city.