Aims

- To provide students with an understanding of urban geography
- To help students situate these understandings alongside debates in economic, political and social geographies
- To enable students to critically reflect upon urban geography concepts through the discussion of real-world case studies and examples
- To encourage students to develop independent learning skills through reading, research and writing

Outline Of Syllabus

The module is structured around four subsections: thinking with the city, the economic city, the political city, the social city.

These topics will consider the following overarching questions:

- Thinking with the city: What shapes the form and function of cities? In what ways does infrastructure, or the lack thereof, challenge traditional urban development?

- The economic city: How do economic policies influence the development of cities and urban spaces? What role does labour and land play in economic growth and inequality in cities?

- The political city: How do cities reflect and influence the power dynamics and governance arrangements? In what ways do local political decisions shape the urban landscape and social relations?

- The social city: How do cities serve as spaces of social interaction, community building and identity formation?

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

These teaching methods support student learning through a combination of lectures, workshops, drop-in/surgeries and guided independent study.
- Lectures provide students with an opportunity to engage with the lecturer on their areas of expertise and delve deeper into urban geography concepts and empirics
- Workshops provide students with opportunities to learn about, and practice their reading, critical thinking, visual and/or writing skills in preparation for the assessment
- Drop-in surgeries provide students with support for their assessments

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

This module provides students with two opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of urban geography: the first assessment asks students to develop a case study (worth 50% of the total mark) and the second assessment asks students to produce an essay (worth 50% of the total mark). The case study asks students to design a map and produce a 1500 word analysis. The essay asks students to pick one of five options and write a 2000 word essay. These assessments encourage students to improve their reading skills, writing skills, critical thinking skills and independent learning skills.