Politics in a Global Urban Age
| Module title | Politics in a Global Urban Age |
|---|---|
| Module code | POC3109 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Delacey Tedesco (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 50 |
|---|
Module description
According to popular and academic assessments, we have entered a global urban condition for the first time in history. These narratives suggest that if you want to understand and engage in world politics today, you need to understand the global urban transition. In this module, we draw on urban geography, urban studies and political geography, as well as politics and IR literature, to engage key theoretical debates on the political implications of the urban transition. These debates pose crucial questions for students of politics, IR, and geography, such as: How do global cities, planetary urbanization, and other approaches challenge assumptions of politics defined by state territorial borders? How is global urbanization changing practices of community, identity, and citizenship? Why have cities become the locus for security and terrorism, but also for sustainability and sanctuary? How can studying cities in the Global South help correct the political biases of urban theories based on Western cities and Western politics? What methodologies and approaches are necessary to define, study and engage ‘politics’ in this new urban world? We tackle such questions critically, asking who and what gets brought into – and left out of – this ‘urban’ frame. Throughout the module, we apply these questions and approaches to case studies of places in transition and analyze the spaces, practices and experiences of politics that emerge.
This module is suitable for specialist and non-specialist students studying Politics, International Relations or Geography. While not a pre-requisite, students are advised to complete POC2108 or POC3108 (Political Geographies: Local to Global) prior to undertaking this class.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to introduce and analyze political debates within interdisciplinary research on the global urban transition. We will connect key disciplinary concepts, arguments, and authors in Politics and International Relations to the burgeoning interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical research on global cities, global urbanization, planetary urbanization, assemblage urbanism, urbanisms in the Global South, and feminist and decolonial urbanisms, amongst other literatures. This module will enable you to analyze claims about global urbanism in relation to contemporary politics and to engage in place-specific debates about urbanization and urban transitions as debates about political futures. Additionally, this module aims to support connections between practical and theoretical learning by including a focus on place-based case studies, linking students to movements, organizations and scholars using multi-media formats and platforms and field-based research when feasible.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Describe and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of major theoretical approaches to the politics of the global urban transition, both as individual approaches and as a systematic whole that presently defines the interdisciplinary field.
- 2. Explain in detail the theoretical and practical challenges of developing political analyses of the global urban transition and coherently evaluate multiple approaches to addressing these challenges, based on independent research.
- 3. Analyze rigorously a particular 'urban' case (broadly defined) as a debate over definitions and possibilities of contemporary and future politics.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Synthesize and critically assess a defined field of political research, systematically and effectively.
- 5. Demonstrate the capacity independently to extend and revise political concepts to account for new fields of theoretical and empirical research.
- 6. Engage effectively with interdisciplinary research and question the significance of this work for analyses of contemporary political life from multiple perspectives.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Work independently and in groups to engage in spontaneous discussion and defence of arguments, to prepare presentations for discussion, and to show leadership in contributing to a productive learning environment for everyone.
- 8. Demonstrate an open and reflexive approach to intellectual work and the limits of knowledge through periodic review assessments of module content, including place-based case studies..
- 9. Demonstrate a self-reflexive academic practice that is both independent and collaborative, including: assessing strengths and weaknesses, prioritizing goals and work plans, and integrating feedback into plans for future work.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
The Urban and the Political: What’s the Problem?
- Polis, State, Global Urban: Where in the World is ‘Politics’?
- Framing the Challenge: Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology?
Key Approaches to the Global Urban Transition
- Global Cities/The Global City
- Planetary Urbanization
- Urban Networks and Assemblage Urbanism
- Cities and Urbanization in the Global South
- The Politics of Urbanism as a Way of Life
Case Studies: What and where is Global Urban Politics?
- Cornwall, UK
- New York City, NY, USA
- Student led case study analysis
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour Seminars Students will be given guided opportunities to provide opening commentary, questions, or interventions for seminar discussions. Students will be expected to engage with their peers and provide constructive feedback on occasion. |
| Guided Independent Study | 43 | Private study students are expected to read required and suggested texts, engage with module multi-media resources, and make notes prior to seminar sessions. More specifically, students are expected to devote approximately: 43 hours to weekly readings and seminar preparation |
| Guided Independent Study | 10 | Formative, peer review, and self-assessment activities |
| Guided independent study | 50 | Independent research, reading, and writing |
| Guided independent study | 20 | Practical/creative research project |
| Guided Independent Study | 5 | Presentation preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem Statement | 500 words | 1-9 | Written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio - Critical Reflections | 20 | 2 x 650 words + 3 images (one place-based reflection) | 1-9 | Written |
| Essay | 50 | 2,000 words | 1-9 | Written |
| Case Study 'Guide Book' | 30 | 5 minutes | 1-9 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio Critical Reflections Journal | 2 x 650 words + 3 images (one place-based reflection) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
| Essay | Essay (2,000 words) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
| Case Study 'Guide Book' | 5 minutes video/narrated content +750 words written analysis via PowerPoint, web page, blog or other media | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
Amin, Ash. 2013. The Urban Condition:�A Challenge to Social Science. Public Culture 25 (2): 201-208.
Amin, A. and N. Thrift. 2002. Cities: Reimagining the urban. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Boudreau, Julie-Anne. 2017. Global Urban Politics: Informalization of the State. Cambridge, UK and Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Brenner, N. 2013. Theses on urbanization. Public Culture 25 (1): 85-114.
Closs Stephens, A. 2010. Citizenship without community: Time, design and the city. Citizenship Studies. 14 (1): 31-46.
Coward, M. 2009. Urbicide: The Politics of Urban Destruction. New York: Routledge.
Curtis, Simon. 2016. Global Cities and Global Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Diouf, Mamadou and Rosalind Fredericks, eds. 2015. The Arts of Citizenship in African Cities: Infrastructures and Spaces of Belonging. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Farías, I. and Bender, T., eds. 2010. Urban assemblages: How actor-network theory changes urban research. New York: Routledge.
Jacobs, Jane. 2012. Urban geographies I: Still thinking cities relationally. Progress in Human Geography 36 (3): 412–422
King, AD. 1990. Urbanism, colonialism and the world-economy: cultural and spatial foundations of the world urban system. London: Routledge.
Lefebvre, Henri. 2003 [1970]. The urban revolution, trans. R. Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Low, N. 1991. Planning, politics and the state. Abingdon: Unwin Hyman Ltd. Part I: Planning practice and political theory pp 11-51.
Magnusson, W. 2011. Politics of urbanism: Seeing like a city. London: Routledge. (selections TBD)
McLean, Heather. 2017. In praise of chaotic research pathways:�A feminist response to planetary urbanization. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 0(0) 1–9 DOI: 10.1177/0263775817713751
Merrifield, A. 2012. The politics of the encounter and the urbanization of the world. City 16 (3): 269-283.
Peake, Linda. 2016. The Twenty-First Century Quest For Feminism And the Global Urban. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 40 (1): 219–227. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12276
Pratt, G. 2017. One hand clapping: Notes towards a methodology for debating planetary urbanization. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 0(0) 1–7 DOI: 10.1177/0263775817716555
Robinson J. 2002. Global and world cities: A view from off the map. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 26(3): 531-554
Roy A. 2009. The 21st-century metropolis: New geographies of theory, Regional Studies 43 (6): 819-830. DOI: 10.1080/00343400701809665
Sassen S. 2010. The Global City: Strategic Site, New Frontier. Accumulation by Dispossession: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order ed. Swapna Banerjee-Guha. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ldt.
Sennett, Richard. 1969. Classic essays on the culture of cities. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.
Wekerle G. 2004. Framing feminist claims for urban citizenship. Mapping Women, Making Politics: Feminist Perspectives on Political Geography ed. LA Staehali, E Kofman, LJ Peake. New York and Oxford: Routledge. 245-259.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
City Lab: www.citylab.com
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 23/01/2018 |
| Last revision date | 27/08/2020 |