Course Description
| "The inferno of living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many; accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space." Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1974). |
| This class is about the "inferno." How have cities come to reflect hierarchies of power in space? Where does the challenge to power come from? The city is a social crucible, and urban space reflects conflict and change. By introducing different disciplinary approaches to urban studies, this course will examine the classic arguments and the recent discourse in urban theory that seek to understand changing urban space both historically and cross culturally, within the context of capitalist economic, political and social relations. Along with the assigned reading, class discussions will include emerging issues in the media and in our community. |
| Blackboard |