Course Title: The City: History, Economy, Politics, Society, and

Culture
CODE: CBCA-1000
PROFESSOR: Friederike Fleischer
EMAIL: f.fleischer406@uniandes.edu.co
OFFICE: Gb 607
OFFICE HOURS: WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY 10 – 11:30 AM
CLASS HOURS: WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY 12 – 2 PM

Description:
For the first time in history, today more people live in urban areas than in the countryside.
According to a 2009 United Nations report, over half of the world’s roughly seven billion
inhabitants reside in cities and this proportion is predicted to increase to over 70% by
2050. The majority of the fastest growing cities in the world are in developing countries.
The study of this phenomenon, and the urban form of life, is obviously more important
than ever. This course approaches the city from different angles: history, economy, politics,
society, and culture. Within these different fields we will examine the interrelation
between the city and human development; between the city, the economy and
globalization; between the city and forms and practices of everyday life; between the city,
art and popular culture; and between technology and the future of the city. More
specifically we will explore questions relating to the emergence of cities; factors that
contribute to the continuing urbanization of the world; cities’ structures and shapes; urban
politics and the challenges of urban planning; forms and problems of urban life and
culture; imaginations and representation of cities across time; and how the city of the
future can be imagined and planned.

Comprehension:
Students will gain understanding about:
- the city in its historical and local context(s)
- the importance of cities in human evolution
- the diversity of the urban form in time and space
- the factors, processes, and technologies that “make” the city
- the complexity of defining and conceiving of the city
- different approaches to studying the city
- present-day challenges to urban living.

Abilities:
Students will learn:
- to search for, and critically read and evaluate information (e.g. statistics, maps,
publicity)
- to analyze a phenomenon in its historical an local context

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
 - to identify cause and effect of processes.

Attitudes:
Students will:
- develop sensitivity, empathy and respect for social, economic, ethnic and other
differences, especially in relation to cities and urban life
- become aware of their own practices and resulting responsibilities
- value different forms of knowledge and thinking.

Methodology:
Each week of the semester is dedicated to one topic. Each session is organized around an
introductory lecture that treats the themes and readings for class. The lecture will be
complemented by discussions and questions about the assigned readings and other
material. In addition, selected videos and films will be screened and debated. Students are
expected to actively participate, not only with questions but also sharing their opinions
about the readings and material reviewed. At the end of each topic discussed, we will
jointly summarize the most important points discussed and lessons learnt in self-study and
in class.

Study questions about the assigned texts and exercises related to the topics will aid
students’ comprehension of the issues discussed. The written answers (max. 1 page for
each question) to these questions will be submitted in the last class (27.09.). In addition,
there will be a mid-term take-home exam as well as a workshop during which students
will examine one city as a case study and submit a written report. The exam takes the
form of an argumentative essay responding to an open question. The workshop offers
students the opportunity to work independently in groups, compiling, evaluating and
presenting relevant information.

Finally, this is a course “E” designed to help students develop and improve their
communication skills in English. To this end the working language of the course is English
and we will have a support English language teacher. Students will learn some key
strategies for effective presentation, argumentation, discussions, and academic writing,
and can practice them in class.

Duration: 8 weeks (12 hours of weekly dedication)

Time distribution:

8 weeks:

Strategies and Presence (total 4 hours) Individual work (total 8 hours)

activities

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
Class 4 hours
Readings 3 hours
Workshop 3 hour
Writing (Exams and 2 hour
summaries)

Schedule:
The course is organized around six general large themes: History; Economy; Politics and
Planning; Society and Urban Life; Arts and Culture; Future Perspectives.

Information regarding the English element of this course is marked with “E” in the
program

Introduction
Week 1 (7.8. Holiday & 9.8.): General Introduction and Explanation of Particularities;
Issues, challenges and questions. What is “the urban”? How to define the city?

E: The English language support teacher will explain the support offered throughout the
course

Assigned reading:
“The World Goes to Town,” The Economist, May 5, 2007,
http://www.economist.com/node/9070726
The Economist, “Triumph of the City. Our Greatest Invention.” Interview with Edward
Glaeser, urban economist and professor at Harvard University,
http://www.economist.com/multimedia?
fr_story=84945100aa89a13d7cfd12e6e250e74aa77de49e&rf=bm
Eames, Edwin; Judith Granich Goode, 1977, “The ‘Urban’ in Social Sciences,” in
Anthropology of the City. An Introduction to Urban Anthropology, Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall, pp 35-44.

Study question(s): What is “a city”? What is “urban”? What problems and challenges lie
behind these concepts?

I. History
Week 2 (14.8. & 16.8.): The origins and rise of the first cities

Assigned reading:
Childe, V. Gordon, 1950, “The Urban Revolution.” The Town Planning Review 21(1): 3-17.

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
Smith, Michael E. 2009, “V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: a historical
perspective on a revolution in urban studies.” The Town Planning Review 80(1): 3-29

Study question(s): What are the different theories about the rise of cities? What factors
appear to have contributed to their growth in different parts of the world?

Take-home exam will be distributed. Due date: 23.08.2019

E: In preparation for the midterm, the language professor will offer tutoring on how to
effectively write an argumentative essay. This will give students more tools to
effectively accomplish their goal in the midterm.

II. Economy
Week 3 (21.8. & 23.8.): Capitalism, colonialism, industrialization, and globalization. The
growth of the city

Assigned reading:
Braudel, Fernand, 1984, “Town and cities,” in Civilization and Capitalism 15th to 18th
Century, Volume I “The structure of everyday life.” Berkeley: University of California
Press, pp. 479–557.
Levinson, Marc, 2006. “Container Shipping and the Decline of New York, 1955-1975,” The
Business History Review 80(1): 49-80.
Logan, John; Harvey Molotch, 2005 [1976]. “The City as a Growth Machine,” en The Urban
Sociology Reader, Jan Lin, Christopher Mele, eds., London, New York: Routledge, pp. 98-
105.
Njoh, Ambe J., 2008. “The Segregated City in British and French Colonial Africa,” Race &
Class 49(4): 87-95.

Study question(s): How did the rise of capitalism affect cities? What is the role of the
industrialization and colonialism in the growth and form of cities? What happens with
cities in the era of globalization?

Take-home exam due on 23.08.2019!

III. Politics and Planning

Week 4 (28.8. & 30.8): Governance and transportation planning

Assigned reading:

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
Bassett, Thomas E., and Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, 2013. “Sustaining Mobility: Bus
Rapid Transit and the Role of Local Politics in Bogotá,” Latin American Perspectives 40:
135-145.
Frug, G., 2014. “Who Decides Who Decides,” in New Urban Governance: Urban complexity
and institutional capacities of cities. New Urban Governance Papers, No. 1. London: LSE
Cities.
Harkness, Alaina J., and Bruce Katz, 2016. “Why urban governance matters—now more
than ever.” The Metropolitan Revolution Blog, The Brookings Institute, available at
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/metropolitan-revolution/posts/2016/04/12-why-
urban-governance-matters-harkness-katz.
Le Corbusier, [1929] 2003, “A Contemporary City,” in The City Reader, Richard T. LeGates
and Frederic Stout, eds., London: Routledge, pp. 337-343.
Ng, Mee Kam, 2015. “Governing China’s U`rban Revolution’.” New Urban Governance:
Urban complexity and institutional capacities of cities. New Urban Governance Papers,
No. 1. London: LSE Cities.

Study question(s): What are the major planning and policy challenges cities face today?
What can be done to improve cities?

IV. Society and Urban Life

Week 5 (4.09. & 6.09.): Inequality, segregation, discrimination

Assigned reading:
Caldeira, Teresa P.R., 2000, “Fortified Enclaves: Building up walls and creating a new
private order,” en City of Walls. Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in Sao Paulo, Teresa
P. R. Caldeira, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 256 – 296.
Hall, Suzanne, 2011. “High street adaptations: ethnicity, independent retail practices, and
Localism in London's urban margins,” Environment and Planning A 43:2571-2588.
Hall, Suzanne, 2013. “Super-diverse street: a ‘trans-ethnography’ across migrant localities,”
Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Madden, David J., 2010. “Revisiting the End of Public Space: Assembling the Public in an
Urban Park,” City & Community 9(2):187-207.
Simmel, Georg, [1903] 1995, “The Metropolis and Mental Life” In Metropolis: Center and
Symbol of Our Times, Kasinitz, P., ed. New York: New York University Press.

Study question(s): Is inequality and segregation inevitable in the city? What factors
contribute to the phenomenon, what could be done to overcome or improve it?

IV. Arts and Culture

Week 6 (11.09. & 13.09.): Urban imaginaries and the arts

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
Assigned reading:
Fairey, Shepard, 2011, “Street Art and Politics in Copenhagen”, Huffington Post, 08/14/11,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shepard-fairey/street-art-and-politics-
i_b_926802.html#es_share_ended
Plaza, B., P. González-Casimiro, P. Moral-Zuazo, C. Waldron, 2015. “Culture-led city brands
as economic engines: theory and empirics.” Annals of Regional Science 54(1): 179-96.
Shin, H., Q. Stevens, 2013. “How Culture and Economy Meet in South Korea: The Politics of
Cultural Economy in Culture-led Urban Regeneration.” International Journal of Urban
and Regional Research 37(5): 1707–23.
Yamamura, T., 2018. “Pop culture contents and historical heritage: The case of heritage
revitalization through ‘contents tourism’ in Shiroishi city.” Contemporary Japan 30(2):
144-163.

Study question(s): How has the city been seen and represented in the arts? How does art
affect the city?

V. Student Workshop
Week 7 (18.09. & 20.09.): Case Studies

During this week, students will work independently in groups exploring a city assigned by
the instructor, and hand in a short report (max. 7 pages, 1.5 line, Times New Roman, 2
cm border) on Friday the 20.09.

Study question: What distinguishes your city? What are its main challenges? What could
we learn from the place?

E: The language professor will offer tutoring on how to understand and discuss texts, and
how to effectively write an argumentative essay during the sessions. This will give
students the tools to effectively accomplish the task of this workshop.

VI.Outlook: The Future of the City

Week 8 (25.09. & 27.09.): The future of the city and the city of the future

Assigned reading:
Bulkeley, Harriet; Andrés Luque-Ayala, Jonathan Silver. 2014. “Housing and the
(re)configuration of energy provision in Cape Town and São Paulo: Making space for a
progressive urban climate politics?” Political Geography 40: 25-34.

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.
Brain, David, 2005, “From Good Neighborhoods to Sustainable Cities: Social Science and
the Social Agenda of the New Urbanism,” International Regional Science Review 28(2):
217-238.
Fishman, Robert, 1987, “Beyond Suburbia: The Rise of the Technoburb,” in The City
Reader, pp. 78-86.
LSE Cities, 2013, Going Green: How cities are leading the next economy. A global survey
and case studies of cities building the green economy. Final report. London: LSE Library
Services.

Study question(s): What are the main challenges facing cities in the future and their
possible solutions?

Compiled study questions due on 27.09.2019!

Evaluation:
There will be one (1) take-home exam, one (1) student workshop (written report), as well
as the compiled written answers to weekly study questions to be submitted in the last
class (27.9.).

Grade percentages:
Mid-term: 30%
Workshop: 25%
Compiled study questions: 25%
In-class participation: 20%

Only certified medical certificates are valid excuses for not taking the exam or missing any
of the other assignments. Failure to submit any assignment on time will be penalized by
lowering the grade by half a grade-point per each day of late submission. The grade for not
presenting or not submitting one of the evaluations during the course is 0.00.

Not attending more than 25% of the course without valid excuse within the following eight
(8) days of non-assistance results in failing the course.

Universidad de los Andes | Vigilada MinEducación - Reconocimiento como Universidad: Decreto 1297 del 30 de mayo
de 1964.
Reconocimiento personería jurídica: Resolución 28 del 23 de febrero de 1949 MinJusticia.