Postgraduate Course: Urban Development (PGSP11368)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This optional postgraduate course, designed for students whose first degrees are in a variety of disciplines but who share a common interest in international development, is an introduction to cities in the 'global south' and some of the key development issues to which they give rise. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 32 |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will:
* Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the main trends of urbanisation, rural-urban mobility, and population growth that, over the last century, have transformed many cities of the global south;
* Critically understand the differences between the urban and rural environments from a development perspective, while avoiding false or misleading dichotomisations;
* Articulate a theoretically informed interpretation of the urban fabric and be capable of applying it to concrete contemporary and historical examples of 'transforming projects' in order to critique and evaluate their content in symbolic and semiotic terms;
* Identify several contemporary processes of urban development and the forms of the built environment to which they give rise; possess critical awareness of the inequalities which these (re-)produce, conceal, or exacerbate;
* Possess a subtle, empathetic, and ethnographically informed understanding of several important facets of the lives of the urban poor; be capable, in the future, of approaching new problems and issues in urban development in a manner that integrates features, terminology and conventions of the discipline of anthropology;
* Review competing models for the provision of urban services and be critically aware of the manner in which they are not merely technical but also political choices; conceive of and articulate thoughtful arguments both for and against competing models;
* Take significant responsibility for their own work and learning, as well as for that of others with whom they collaborate in peer relationships; exercise substantial autonomy in the assessment of such work in order to develop their capacity to be effective, independent lifelong learners and practitioners;
* Communicate effectively in writing and orally on course topics to an audience consisting of both peers and more senior specialists (the course convener); this includes appropriate use of technology to support and enhance communication
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Assessment Information
The students final grade will be arrived at on the basis of:
* A final essay of 2500 words, assessed according to established marking indicators (40%).
* Coursework consisting of a group project/presentation (40%).
This mark will be arrived at on the basis of peer assessment, half being given for 'process' and half for 'outcome'. The 'process' grade is given by group members to one another and assesses their relative contributions to the collective output.
The 'outcome' grade is to be given by the class (non group members), based to their assessment of the quality of the group's output. All members of the presenting group share the same grade for this portion of the assessment. Managing the consequences of shared responsibility for the outcomes of group projects is an important reality which students will face in their professional lives.
* Participation (20%). This will be assessed through short critical responses to questions/core readings set by the lecturer, due at regular intervals. While the grade will be given purely on the basis of whether this work is completed or not (the responses will not be graded), this provides an opportunity for the lecturer to give regular feedback as well as for structured self-reflection on the part of the students.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1 Why cities matter: rural-urban mobility, population growth, and urbanisation
2 What is urban development? How is that different from rural development? ...and from urban planning?
3 'Transforming projects' and visions of 'modernity': reading and inscribing meanings into the urban fabric
4 Colonial cities
5 Contemporary geographies of urban inequality, part I: slums, bidonvilles, squatters, informal housing
6 Contemporary geographies of urban inequality, part II: exclusion
7 Urban popular politics: the political life of the urban poor
Weeks 7 & 8 focus on different facets of the 'everyday life' of the urban poor, beginning with popular politics. In what ways do the urban poor contest the extremes in inequality, the injustices and the indignities with which life in the city confronts them?
8 Economic life in the city: urban livelihoods and the informal economy
9 Urban infrastructure and public services, part I: public? private? public-private partnership?
10 Urban infrastructure and public services, part II: the case of waste collection
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| 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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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jamie Furniss
Tel: (0131 6)51 5675
Email: Jamie.Furniss@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Jessica Barton
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: Jessica.Barton@ed.ac.uk |
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