Course Description
With a majority of the world's population living in urban areas, nearly all of the problems and possibilities of society and human-environment relations are becoming urban questions. The city is the setting in which broad social, cultural, political and economic processes unfold, mediated and shaped by local context. Our focus in this course is the internal structure of the city. We examine the ways in which local experiences and conditions of urban life are shaped by social differentiation and processes of change. Our examination includes considerations of race, class, gender and ethnicity in the context of urban life as a way of exploring how identity and place shape one another. We consider different theoretical frameworks that researchers utilize to make sense of both the persistence of old problems and the emergence of new ones. Instruction will adopt a blended approach in which students will connect the concepts covered in class discussion through field work-based exploration of local urban neighbourhoods. This course fulfills five field days.
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Practicum hours: 24
Prerequisite: 9.0 credits