The purpose of this course is to understand the conceptual dilemmas presented when analyzing ‘the urban’, and to explore insights (and blind spots) offered by a variety of contemporary urban theoretical perspectives. Students will gain a strong grounding debates over how we understand and research the city, and will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to creatively assess and interpret uneven geographic development, processes of urbanization, and the experience of global urbanism as a way of life.

This course compares and debates the main trajectories or pathways of cities, from past to present and future, and from a global perspective. In understanding the evolution of cities, historical and comparative global perspectives must be considered. The course will move between empirical observation and theory.