Lecture course “The City: European and Global“

Organisers: Susanne Dahlgren, Marc Schalenberg, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies

Course duration: on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:15-5:00 pm from 19 Jan until 23 Feb 2010

Target group: Open to advanced and graduate students of various departments

Study credits: 5 CTS for regular attendance, further reading and an individual essay

Max. 20 students

Registration: October-November 2009 through WebOodi. Course code: 90098.

Outline:

Towns and cities are among the most defining variables for individual and social human life. They have been seen as places of emancipation and civic pride, but also as theatres of symbolic and real oppression, as cradles of civilisation and decay, as foci of hopes and ambitions, but no less of corruption and overload. In line with these manifold perceptions and experiences of cities, research and writing on them has been hugely diverse, too. An object of study in many disciplines and in wider public debate, some select approaches to “the city” shall be presented and discussed in the lecture series (cf. list of speakers). Particular focus will be laid on aspects of the “European city” as a historical phenomenon or idea, as a social and spatial practice. This shall be contrasted with post-colonial perspectives from the Global South to see how spatial practices and spatial imagination have contributed to complex processes through which raced, classed and gendered subjects negotiate and have been the object of urban projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.