AIMS AND TOPICS

The course explores the main social, economic and physical transformations that are currently redefining the form and configuration of contemporary cities. Due to both long-term structural processes of change and to the recent global recession and wave of austerity policies, new concerns about the complex relations between urban development, social cohesion and quality of life arise. The role of architecture in the creation and shaping of spaces and opportunities for social integration is crucial, especially in connection with other disciplines and professions such as urban planning, urban sociology, welfare policies and social work. The main aim of the course is therefore to provide students with some analytical tools to critically consider the relations between the spatial and social features of contemporary cities, and of their current transformations.

ORGANIZATION 

The course will be organised in three parts.

1. the first part will centre on the basics and the classics of urban sociology;
2. the second part will first deal with the shift from fordism to post-fordism, and then tackle different phenomena affecting contemporary cities, including globalization and the changing relations between the city/the nation-state/the world, and their impacts, including inequalities and conflicts;
3. the third part will focus on cities as places of welfare, and explore how architecture can contribute facing the complex and hard challenges posed by long-term macro processes combined with the recent great recession (including, for instance, the evictions crisis and the refugees flows).

Invited speakers, field visits, movies or other materials for discussion will enrich the course.

Active participation of students throughout the course will be encouraged and evaluated.

Attending students will be required to carry out an exercise activity; details will be given at the beginning of the course, and uploaded on Beep.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography, for all students, will consist in a collection of readings of the course, including a selection of chapters from:

Jan Lin and Christopher Mele, The Urban Sociology Reader, Routledge, 2012 (available in the library)

See the syllabus – that will be uploaded on Beep – for a selection of the chapters of the Reader to be prepared and for a list of the additional readings and where to find them.

For attending students the evaluation will consist in:

• students’ exercise and presentation in class
• a final oral exam on the indicated bibliography

For non attending students the evaluation will consist in:

• a final oral exam on the indicated bibliography.

See the syllabus – that will be uploaded on Beep – for the detailed list of the readings to be prepared and information about where to find them.