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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : History of Art

Postgraduate Course: Art in the Creative City (HIAR11098)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course examines contemporary art's interactions with the city, situating these in relation to the recent turn towards 'Creative City' models of urban policy and development.
Course description The term 'Creative City' was first used in the late-1980s by urbanist Charles Landry to describe an approach to urban development and governance informed by a logic of creativity, and focused on the promotion of culture and the 'creative industries'. The idea gained particular momentum in the 21st Century in the wake of the work of urban economist Richard Florida, whose writings on the creative class have led to the widespread adoption of creative city strategies as a panacea to all manner of post-industrial urban ills. This course examines the roles played by art practices, art practitioners and art institutions in the contexts of the creative city.

Seminars will examine the histories of community art and public art; the role of the museum and the gallery in urban regeneration schemes; art's and artists' imbrications within gentrification processes, and indeed instances of solidarity between art and anti-gentrification activism. Case studies are largely drawn from North America and Europe - those regions which have most voraciously embraced the creative city model - but we will also attend to recent adoptions of creative city strategy in the Middle East and South-East Asia.

The course is necessarily interdisciplinary, drawing upon art-historical methodologies and sources alongside those of the many other disciplines with a stake in urban environment, including architectural history, sociology, urban studies and economics.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the theory and practice of the creative city, as well as related issues such as the creative industries, regeneration and gentrification.
  2. Think critically about the urban environment and culture's role therein.
  3. Analyse, read and critique the city, and to adapt art-historical methods to the study of the urban environment.
  4. Demonstrate an awareness of key developments in urban and cultural policy since the 1980s.
  5. Research, structure and present their own arguments and methodological positions independently.
Reading List
Deutsche, Rosalyn, and Cara Gendel Ryan. 'The Fine Art of Gentrification'. October 31 (1984): 91-111.

Florida, Richard L. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books, 2004.

Graham, Janna. "A Strong Curatorial Vision for the Neighbourhood 'Countering the Diplomatic Condition of the Arts in Urban Neighbourhoods'". Art & the Public Sphere 6, no. 1/2 (September 2017): 33-49.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. London: Pimlico, 2000.

Kester, Grant H. Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

Kwon, Miwon. One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.

LeGates, Richard T., and Frederic Stout. The City Reader. 5th edition. London: Routledge, 2011.

Zukin, Sharon. Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change. Baltimore; London: John Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Writing, verbal presentation
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Harry Weeks
Tel: (0131 6)51 5450
Email: Harry.Weeks@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Anna Johns
Tel: (0131 6)51 5740
Email: Anna.Johns@ed.ac.uk
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