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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2014/2015
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Geography

Undergraduate Course: Encountering Cities (GEGR10102)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course explores the everday geographies of cities through the concept of encounter. Questioning how we understand cities, the course introduces diverse theoretical approaches to teh city and examiners different modes of researching and representing cities. Using Urban examples as diverse as Bradford and Baghdad, the course is organised around lectures and discussions that address 3 key conceptual concerns: understanding the everyday sociality of cities (the spaces of encounterand mundane interaction that mak up so much of urban life); grasping the emotional and affective life of cities (the embodied experiences of inhabiting and using urban spaces); and appreciating the urban materialities (the often overlooked things, technologies, natures, and infrastructure that are a part of every day life in cities). These conceptual concerns then form the basis for examining a series of important issues facing contemporary cities including; urban multiculture and living with difference; segregation and the sorting of bodies in cities; fear and the city; terrorism and wounded cities.
Course description Week 1: The everyday city
Week 2: Urban materialities
Week 3: Urban affects
Week 4: Knowing cities
Week 5: Everyday Edinburgh (group presentations)
Week 6: Urban multiculture: Bradford
Week 7: City of walls: Sao Paulo and Baghdad
Week 8: Haunted cities: Berlin
Week 9: Urban ruins: Detroit and Dortmund
Week 10: Wounded cities: London
Week 11: Revision lecture
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  43
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 22, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 152 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 40 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One Essay (40%)
One Degree Exam (60%)

Overall mark for the course (ie degree coursework and examinations) of at least 40.
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)2:00
Learning Outcomes
To provide students with a thorough knowledge of the city
To introduce students to a range of different ways of knowing the city
To make students aware of how knowledge and understanding of the city is developed through different research methods and representation
To provide a critical understanding of key concepts including encounters, sociality, emotions, materiality
To develop students understanding of a number of substantive, current issues affecting everyday urban life using case studies from cities around the world
To provide students with a detailed understanding of: the social life of cities; the emotional life of cities; and urban materialities
To encourage students to critically identify and analyse complex problems facing the city and to demonstrate some originality in dealing with these problems
Reading List
Amin, A. and Thrift, N. (2002). Cities: Re-imagining the Urban. Cambridge: Polity Press.
de Certeau, M. (1984). ¿Walking in the City¿ in The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp.91-110.
Hubbard, P. (2006) City. London: Routledge.
Latham, A., McCormack, D., McNamara, K., and McNeill, D. (2009). Key Concepts in Urban Geography. London: Sage.
Lefebvre, H. (1996). Writings on Cities. (Oxford: Blackwell).
Pile, S. (2005). Real Cities. London: Sage.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsGEGR10102
Contacts
Course organiserDr Daniel Swanton
Tel: (0131 6)50 8164
Email: dan.swanton@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: beth.muir@ed.ac.uk
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