In this course, Emerging Global
Cities; Urbanism and Identity, students
will study cities explicitly through the lens, of
"globalization." Using the latest theories of emerging global
cities we will use architecture, urban design, film, text, images and reportage
as different forms to read the city and understand what cities in the 21st
century mean. Our focus will be on emerging Asian and Middle Eastern cities
currently heavily under construction and rapidly globalizing. Dubai, Doha, and
Istanbul has been at the forefront of developing into postmodern global cities,
and others, even secondary cities like Abu Dhabi and cities in China like Shanghai, Chongqing, Kunming along with the reconstruction of Beijing, as the
Olympic city, and the Sinification of Hong Kong and Taipei present
themselves as attractive locations and global hubs. Most
importantly, we will understand how global connections are forged, creating
benefits for some and disadvantages for others; a process of ‘uneven
development.’ How humans build and inhabit their
environments, and how these built environments in turn shape human beings and
their collective futures. Will cities be able to maintain their distinctive
identities or will they become reproducible and homogenized entities? Students
will choose their own city upon which to conduct primary research and deepen
their understanding of globalization as a process located in specific histories
and spatial relations, to make arguments about how global processes are
re-shaping their selected urban locale. By the end of the course, students will
have the theoretical knowledge along with empirical case studies to critically
respond to the question: What does the globalization of the city look like?
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1.
Understand the key
perspectives in interdisciplinary theoretical debates on “global cities.”
2.
Understand fundamental
relationships between urban dynamics and transnational social, cultural and
political-economic processes in the production of culture and art.
3. Understand how globalization is reproduced and challenged through urban dynamics and the social and political practices of urban actors.
Pedagogical Principles and
Methodology
1.
In the course, students are asked to have read, before each class,
all the required readings for each class and prepare one or two relevant
questions based on the reading for joint discussion and further exploration in
class.
2.
Students are also expected to participate actively in
presentations and discussions.
3.
Every participant is encouraged to choose individually one
Middle Eastern or Asian city (preferably not those included as major
examples in the class) as an illustrative model and to consider it regularly in
the light of the different aspects of global urban development, which we will
discuss throughout the course, contributions based on these specific insights
and experiences will be integrated into the common discussions.
4.
The course consists of a combination
of lectures, student presentations, work in small groups and common
discussions. Lectures will introduce the general topic of the day, present the
main relevant issues or situate them in their wider theoretical and empirical
context.
Required Readings