Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world
- Offered byCoursera
Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world at Coursera Overview
Duration | 12 hours |
Total fee | Free |
Mode of learning | Online |
Schedule type | Self paced |
Difficulty level | Beginner |
Official Website | Explore Free Course  |
Credential | Certificate |
Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world at Coursera Highlights
- 100% online Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
- Flexible deadlines Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
- Beginner Level
- Approx. 12 hours to complete
- English Subtitles: French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Russian, English, Spanish
Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world at Coursera Course details
- Urbanization is reaching a new peak in the contemporary world with the rise of mega cities. Researchers try to make sense of these large urban areas using a variety of concepts. The class will review debates and present social science models of cities to analyse and compare contemporary developments.
- General Overview Help Center
- Urbanization is reaching a new peak in the contemporary world with the rise of mega cities. Researchers try to make sense of these large urban areas using a variety of concepts. The class will review debates and present social science models of cities to analyse and compare contemporary developments.
- Globalization, Europeanization processes support the rapid developments of cities in different part of the world. Urbanization is reaching a new high in the contemporary world with the rise of mega cities (beyond 15 million inhabitants) such as Calcutta, Los Angeles, Dhaka, Cairo, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Mexico or Seoul. Beyond the modern metropolis, researchers try to make sense of these large urban areas using a variety of concepts such as the ?postmetropolis?, ?global cities?, and ?global city-regions?. The class will review debates and present social science models of cities and metropolis to analyse and compare contemporary developments. How can do we study those cities when they become mega urban regions, does size matter and for what? Do we see the making of a vast urban world or by contrast beyond the apparent convergence of complex globalisation processes understood in relation to globalised capitalism, is it possible to identify masked differentiations and the strengthening of different urban worlds? How do we make sense of this urban world when cities are not independent units but have to be understood both in terms of territories, rootedness, and at the same time in terms of relations to take into account flux, mobility, circulations ? What is the relevance of social science concepts developed in the Western world to analyse the transformation of Lagos? To what extent may the systematic development of new forms of comparison between northern cities and cities from the South change social sciences and contribute to overcome the bias towards national comparison?
- For the time being, given current conditions of capitalism, political, economic, cultural and social questions are increasingly becoming urban questions. In the modern conception of the world/globalcity, characterised by size, the aggregation of housing, differentiated divisions of labour, and the density of interaction, several conceptions of cities exist which have become entangled and sometimes opposed to each other. These different conceptions underline different processes of integration: the material city of walls, squares, houses, roads, light, utilities, buildings, waste, and physical infrastructure; the cultural city in terms of imaginations, differences, representations, ideas, symbols, arts, texts, senses, religion, and aesthetics; the politics and policies of the city in terms of domination, power, government, mobilisation, public policies, welfare, education; the social city of riots, ethnic, economic and gender inequalities, everyday life and social movements; and the economy of the city : the division of labour, scale, production, consumption, trade.....
- Classic urban questions about inequalities, housing, government, integration, are combined with issues about the urban fabric, questions of mobility and rootedness, sustainable development and risks, the making of the cyborg cities, questions of social control and riots, urban culture, innovation and urban economic development.
- All video produced by Sciences Po for this Mooc are under Creative Commons (BY / NC / SA)
- Recommended Background
- The course is designed for undergraduates but it also will interest graduates and professionals concerned in urban issues.
- The course is organized in 8 sequences and displays multimedia contents (images, video, original documents). There will be also assignments that consist in participating to discussions related to theoretical models presented in the course based on case studies of your choice, and peer assessments on your contributions.
- Syllabus :
- Week #1 : Introduction, definition, urban questions and the use of models
- Week #2 : European cities and the weberian model of integration
- Week #3 : Colonial and post colonial cities
- Week #4 : Industrial cities (and Socialist cities) and Marxist models
- Week #5 : The American metropolis and the Chicago School,
- Week #6 : Post metropolis, fragments and differences
- Week #7 : Global cities and mega cities
- Week #8 : Smart cities and the sociology of science and technology
Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world at Coursera Curriculum
Week 1 ? Introduction
Welcome to the new urban world
Ancient cities
Words to qualify cities and the urban world
A world of cities or a generalised urban world ?
Definitions
Models and urban sociology
Urbanisation processes
References
Week 2 ? European City
Introduction to European city
Municipal revolution and the fragile political autonomy
The weberian model of the « Occidental city »
Neo weberian model part 1
Neo weberian model part 2
The Los Angeles case study
Historical emergence of european cities
The urban bourgeoisie
The Venice Case study
Municipal revolution and the fragile political autonomy v2
How useful is the European city model
References
Week 3 ? Colonial City
Imposing a universal European framework or looking for alternatives ?
Inequality, segregation and the colonial political order part 1
Inequality, segregation and the colonial political order part 2
Features of colonial cities
Legacy of colonisation, post colonial cities ? v1
Colonial empires and the making of colonial cities
Do colonisers need cities ?
A model of colonial cities ?
Legacy of colonisation, post colonial cities ? v2
References
Week 4 ? Industrial City
Industrial urbanisation and urban change
Two waves of industrialization
The making of the industrial city as a social structure
Methods and variables of the marxist industrial agglomeration model
The Industrial revolution and the emergence of the industrial cities/urban regions
The conditions of the working class: exploitation, poverty, inequalities
The physical infrastructure of the industrial metropolis
Industrial cities beyond Europe, Chicago takes the lead
A marxist interpretation of the industrial city
Industrial cities after the West and the industrial city model
References
Week 5 ? Metropolis
centers of experiment for modern social life
European capitals of the great nation states of the 19th century turn into metropolis
Metropolis in the south
The human ecology of cities and the US coming of age of urban sociology
Competition and the development of the metropolis
New York, the American metropolis
Buenos Aires
Metropolis and the urban way of life
"The City" by Louis Wirth
The segregated metropolis, race and class, measures and cultural making of boundaries part 1
The segregated metropolis, race and class, measures and cultural making of boundaries part 2
References
Week 6 ? Global City
a globalising urban capitalist world
Globalization
Big cities with advanced economic functions ?
Conclusion Global city
The rise of mega cities
The financiarisation of the city, real estates, utilities
A model of the urbanization of capital
Scott and Storper and the new economic geography
Cities of flows and nodes of networks
Unequal City
References
Week 7 ? Post Metropolis
Post metropolis and the criticism of models
Conflictual cities, Contested cities, rejecting modernism, capitalism and the state
Beyond modernism the cultural turn of urban studies
Culture and entertainment are back in town, the city of visitors
Different urban worlds
Urban Riots
informal settlements, networks and illegalities part 1
informal settlements, networks and illegalities part 2
Conclusion Post Metrpolis
References
Week 8 ? Digital City
Introduction to smart city ? Part 1
Introduction to smart city ? Part 2
Maps and networks ? Part 1
Maps and networks ? Part 2
Smart city model ? Part 1
Sustainable city
Maps and networks ? Part 3
Smart city model - Part 2
Access and online activity in the city
Transforming life - transforming India
References
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