Frontiers in Human Geography 1 (U02527)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : GEO-3-HFRONT1

A majority of the world's population has now become urban, ensuring that many of the most urgent, fascinating, and frustrating questions of our time have become urban questions. This course is concerned with the deeply problematic planetary intensification of urban inequality over the past three decades, looking at the role of neoliberal ?statecraft? in reproducing and reinforcing harsh social divisions within cities. Using detailed case studies from four continents, it will examine how market processes and public policies drive spatial polarization/marginalization and geographical injustice, particularly by class and ?race?. We examine in seriatim the various processes creating urban divisions, such as gentrification and displacement; segregation and ghettoisation; ?carceral? urban systems; and suburbanization and ?fortification?. A normative approach is adopted throughout, encouraging students to think about how urban inequality in all its forms might be challenged by scholarship and by activism.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Geography, (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
12/01/2009	14:00	15:50	Room 2.19, Old Infirmary (Geography)	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	14:00	15:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

? To provide a cross-national, critical understanding of the geographies of urban inequality.
? To examine the role of neoliberalism (the mobilization of state power in the extension of market rule) in creating and sustaining divided cities.
? To provide a set of analytical lenses to understand key concepts relating to urban problems.