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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Geography

Undergraduate Course: The Cultures of Cities (GEGR10109)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe 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
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. 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
  2. Have developed an appreciation for different methods of representing cities
    Understand the ways in which culture becomes part of city growth and (re)development
  3. Understand the links between culture, the economy, and the political structure of cities
    Understand the importance of ¿heritage¿ to the contemporary city
  4. 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.
  5. Further develop a range of study skills including analytical reading, discussion, debate, essay composition, and oral presentation
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.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsCulture + cultural geography, modernism + postmodernism, art, architecture, heritage
Contacts
Course organiserMiss Ealasaid Munro
Tel: (0131 6)50 9046
Email: emunro2@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: beth.muir@ed.ac.uk
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