ITB 222 - City and Society

Course Objectives

Students who pass this course will be able to;
1. Recognise the social relations which shape the cities;
2. Describe the processes of capitalist urbanisation and industrialisation that started in the
Nineteenth Century in a historical and comparative perspective;
3. Analyse contemporary processes of urban change and urban problems;
4. Read and understand texts, make research and write in an enhanced way;
5. Communicate and discuss issues in an enhanced way.

Course Description

This course deals with the social relations shaping the cities. The course introduces the processes
of capitalist urbanisation and industrialisation that started in the Nineteenth Century in ahistorical and comparative perspective. This historical overview is followed by the analysis of
contemporary processes of urban change. Economic and institutional developments,‘deindustrialisation’, processes of urbanisation in developing economies, ‘gentrification’,housing problems of the urban poor, urban public space, ecological-social problems of urbansociety and contemporary rural-urban migration are analysed.