Postgraduate Course: Urban Development (PGSP11368)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This optional course, designed for students whose first degrees are in a variety of disciplines but who share a common interest in cities in the 'global south,' is an introduction large urban areas from an international development perspective. After outlining some theoretical and historical foundations for the understanding of contemporary cities, the course examines a series of challenges faced by urban residents and by extension planners, development practitioners, public decision-makers and academics. |
| Course description |
Course Outline:
1 Is the rural/urban distinction defensible? Does development have an 'urban bias'?
2 Cities as physical embodiments of representations
3 The (re-)shaping of cities under French and British colonialism
4 Getting housing
5 Exclusion
6 Politics on the margins
7 Group projects: outcome presentations
8 Making a living
9 Moving around
10 Urban infrastructure and (public) services
Student Learning Experience:
The course involves 2 hours of weekly meetings, principally conducted in a 'seminar' style, i.e. as a structured discussion of readings that relate to that week's topic. In order to encourage participation and structure students' independent learning hours, weekly reading responses are required prior to each seminar meeting (regularity is assessed in the context of the participation grade). Seminar activities vary from week to week, and over the semester will typically include a range of presentations, break-out or 'buzz' groups. Significant emphasis will be placed on extended Socratic style dialogues with a single student or small group.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam 0%
Coursework 70%
Practical Exam 30%
Practical Exam consists of an oral group presentation.
Coursework consists of:
Participation: 20% Final written assignment: 50% |
| Feedback |
The assessment modes and timelines are designed to maximize student development and ensure feedback leads to improvement. This includes incorporating ¿formative¿ feedback, ¿feedforward¿ and feedback dialogue elements that are designed to provide information about learners¿ progression on low/medium-stakes assessment during the semester in a way that allows time to improve.
Students are encouraged to develop critical skills with respect to their own work and that of others through self- and peer assessments. Self and peers are thus also integral sources of feedback in this course, no just the lecturer. The course involves a significant group project so please be prepared for that. However the assessment model is designed so that not very group member automatically gets the same grade. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Acquire an intellectual toolkit (comprising authors and concepts) for thinking about and discussing urban space and the city, as well as development problems related to them.
- Demonstrate a subtle, empathetic, and politically aware understanding of various facets of the lives of poor residents of large cities of the global south
- Identify several contemporary and historical processes of city-building and urban development, and critique their, e.g., segregationist, colonial, exclusionary, disciplinary, or neoliberal dimensions
- Take significant responsibility for their own work and learning, and exercise substantial autonomy in the formulation, execution, and assessment of research projects and essays
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Reading List
Please see the appropriate course handbook for the most up to date reading list.
Abu-Lughod, J. L. & R. Hay, eds. (1979). Third World Urbanization. New York; London, Methuen.
Ayee, J. R. A. & R. C. Crook (2003). "Toilet wars": urban sanitation services and the politics of public-private partnerships in Ghana. Brighton, Institute of Development Studies.
Chatterjee, P. (2004). The politics of the governed : reflections on popular politics in most of the world. New York, N.Y., Columbia University Press.
Davis, M. (2006). Planet of slums. London; New York, Verso.
Elsheshtawy, Y. (2011). The evolving Arab city: tradition, modernity and urban development. London; New York, Routledge.
Elyachar, J. (2005). Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development and the State in Cairo. Durham and London, Duke University Press.
Fay, M., ed. (2005). The Urban Poor in Latin America. Directions in Development. Washington, D.C., The World Bank.
Gilbert, A. (1996). The Mega-City in Latin America. Tokyo; New York; Paris, United Nations University Press.
Gooptu, N. (2001). The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Harriss-White, B. & A. Sinha (2007). Trade liberalization and India's informal economy. New Delhi; Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, T. (2002). Rule of experts: Egypt, techno-politics, modernity. Berkeley; London, University of California Press.
Myers, G. A. (2005). Disposable cities: garbage, governance and sustainable development in urban Africa. Aldershot, Ashgate.
Oldenburg, V. T. (1984). The making of colonial Lucknow, 1856-1877. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Palmer, R. (2004). The informal economy in Sub-Saharan Africa: unresolved issues of concept, character and measurement. Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies. Occasional Papers, No. 98.
Ramsamy, E. (2006). The World Bank and urban development: from projects to policy. London, Routledge.
Sheppard, E., P. W. Porter, et al. (2009). A World of Difference. Encountering and Contesting Development. 2nd Edition. New York, Guilford Press.
Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven ; London, Yale University Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jamie Furniss
Tel: (0131 6)51 5675
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Morag Wilson
Tel: (0131 6)51 5122
Email: |
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