Undergraduate Course: The Cultures of Cities (GEGR10109)
Course Outline
School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
Summary | The Cultures of Cities offers Honours-level students an introduction to cultural-geographic understandings of the city. It does so by examining the relationship between ¿culture¿ and the economic and social processes currently at work in cities throughout the Western world. Increasingly, these economic and social processes are transformed by and through what Jameson (1984, p.53) calls ¿cultural logics¿. This course helps students to understand the ways in which ¿culture¿ might be implicated in a wide range of urban processes. Students will tackle the following themes in their examination of the ¿cultural city¿: culture in the modern and postmodern city; the society of the spectacle; culture¿s role in regeneration and gentrification; iconic architecture; the role of cultural institutions in city life; art in the city; heritage and the heritage industry; and the place of urban sub-cultures. The course encourages students to engage with a wide range of academic material, and to consider other media such as documentary and feature films, literature, music, web-sites, blogs, etc. |
Course description |
The Cultures of Cities offers Honours-level students an introduction to cultural-geographic understandings of the city. It does so by examining the relationship between ¿culture¿ and the economic and social processes currently at work in cities throughout the Western world. Increasingly, these economic and social processes are transformed by and through what Jameson (1984, p.53) calls ¿cultural logics¿. This course helps students to understand the ways in which ¿culture¿ might be implicated in a wide range of urban processes. Students will tackle the following themes in their examination of the ¿cultural city¿: culture in the modern and postmodern city; the society of the spectacle; culture¿s role in regeneration and gentrification; iconic architecture; the role of cultural institutions in city life; art in the city; heritage and the heritage industry; and the place of urban sub-cultures. The course encourages students to engage with a wide range of academic material, and to consider other media such as documentary and feature films, literature, music, web-sites, blogs, etc.
Sample lecture programme:
¿ What is cultural geography?
¿ Culture in the modern city
¿ Culture in the postmodern city
¿ The Society of the Spectacle
¿ The ¿Creative City¿ thesis
¿ Branding, tourism and the cultural city
¿ Events and mega-events
¿ Iconic architecture
¿ Gentrification and cultural capital
¿ Art, artists and the city
¿ Heritage and the heritage industry
¿ Cultural institutions
¿ Culture and cosmopolitanism
¿ The multi-cultural city
¿ Commodifying multiculture
¿ Summary and feedback
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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 |
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the distinctive theoretical and methodological approach of cultural geography, with reference to the urban environment
Be aware of how knowledge and understanding of the city is developed through different research methods
- Have developed an appreciation for different methods of representing cities
Understand the ways in which culture becomes part of city growth and (re)development
- Understand the links between culture, the economy, and the political structure of cities
Understand the importance of ¿heritage¿ to the contemporary city
- Understand the important of cultural institutions ¿ museums, art galleries etc ¿ to the contemporary city.
Be able to present, verbally and in writing, a reasoned argument exploring a range of issues facing cities.
- Further develop a range of study skills including analytical reading, discussion, debate, essay composition, and oral presentation
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Reading List
Anderson, K. (1987) ¿Chinatown: the power of place and institutional practice in the making of a racial category¿, The Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol 77 (4): 580-598
Charney, I. (2007) ¿The politics of design: architecture, tall buildings and the skyline of central London¿, Area Vol 39 (2): 195-205
Florida, R. (2004) The Rise of the Creative Class: And How it¿s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. London; Basic Books.
Jameson, F. (1991) ¿Postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism¿. Durham, NC; Duke University Press.
Ley, D. (2003) ¿Artists, Aestheticization and the Field of Gentrification¿, Urban Studies Vol 40 (12): 2527-2544
Soja, Ed. (1996) Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-imagined-places. Oxford; Wiley-Blackwell.
Zukin, S. (1996) The Cultures of Cities. Oxford; Wiley-Blackwell.
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Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
Keywords | Culture + cultural geography, modernism + postmodernism, art, architecture, heritage |
Contacts
Course organiser | Miss Ealasaid Munro
Tel: (0131 6)50 9046
Email: emunro2@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: beth.muir@ed.ac.uk |
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