Course Topics <\/strong><\/h3>\n(Please click on the course titles below to expand for more details.)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_accordion use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” icon_color=”#ff5d00″ custom_css_before=” ” custom_css_main_element=” ” custom_css_after=” ” custom_css_toggle=” ” custom_css_open_toggle=” “][et_pb_accordion_item title=”\u201cFirst Cities\u201d:\u00a0\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck and Mesopotamian Cities”]<\/p>\n
This introductory lecture will consider the attributes of cities and meanings of the \u201curban.\u201d Rather than attempting to provide a set of fixed definitions, we will begin by examining the forms and organizations of a range of early cities that first emerged in Mesopotamia, using these to help us think about processes of urbanism and urban functions, such as housing, use of resources, social surplus, religious practices as well as theemergence of social hierarchy, divergentmodes of urban life and world vie<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Governing the City: From Mycenaean Citadels to Greek and Roman Colonies”]<\/p>\n
This week introduces the idea of urban governance and establishment of urban orders. Cities, as the planning theorist Peter Hall explains, are disordered places that are more difficult to manage than villages or small towns. Thinking about urban orders lead us to associate the physical forms of cities with the rules and regulations that shape them, and how they were in turn reshaped or re-appropriated in everyday practices by individuals and social groups. Discussion of these will raise questions about the provision of infrastructure, land ownership, labor markets, as well as the role of government, political freedom and the construction of citizenship.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Cities and Empires: Persepolis, Rome”]<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s lecture will explore ideas of empire and how cities have contributed to imperial rule. While their forms varied significantly according to specific social and political structures, almost all imperial cities acted as symbolic capital and as sites where certain ideological expressions were displayed. Imperial cities of empires also tended to consist of diverse groups of people that were attracted by prospects of advancement near the center of power or drafted in by conquest. Meanwhile, characteristics of an empire were often expressed in cities outside the imperial capital by local authorities seeking to enhance their status by adapting an imperial model.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Cities of Lineage: Chang\u2019an, Nara, Kaifeng”]<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s lecture will discuss how particular urban forms and traditions are made, maintained and transformed over time under different political regimes. It will begin by examining the Tang capital\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Chang\u2019an<\/span><\/span>, whose spatial arrangement could be traced back to the intellectual order established in antiquarian China. While\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Chang\u2019an<\/span><\/span>\u00a0has itself become a planning model for other cities in Asia such as Nara and Kyoto, the urban patterns of the latter continue to evolve according to their own religious\u00a0<\/span><\/span>traditions\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and cultural\u00a0<\/span><\/span>practices<\/span><\/span>. The lecture will end by visiting the Song city Kaifeng, which saw the rise of a new urban tradition: the commercial street.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”\u201cIslamic\u201d cities: Baghdad, Damascus, Cordova “]<\/p>\n
Pickin<\/span><\/span>g up the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>questions raised<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the previous<\/span><\/span>\u00a0week<\/span><\/span>, this lecture<\/span><\/span>\u00a0explores the<\/span><\/span>\u00a0varied\u00a0<\/span><\/span>forms of cities in the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Muslim world.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Although conventional\u00a0<\/span><\/span>historiographies tend to define cities as \u201c<\/span><\/span>Islamic<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>their<\/span><\/span>\u00a0shared<\/span><\/span>\u00a0set of religious\u00a0<\/span><\/span>b<\/span><\/span>uilding types and other physical<\/span><\/span>\u00a0elements<\/span><\/span>, recent research challenges\u00a0<\/span><\/span>this\u00a0<\/span><\/span>stereotypical<\/span><\/span>\u00a0image of \u201cthe Islamic City\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>because it<\/span><\/span>\u00a0do<\/span><\/span>es<\/span><\/span>\u00a0not take into acc<\/span><\/span>ount the factor of time<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>nature of urban growth functions<\/span><\/span>\u00a0that differ from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>place to place<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>This\u00a0<\/span><\/span>lecture will examine\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>process<\/span><\/span>es by which several cit<\/span><\/span>i<\/span><\/span>e<\/span><\/span>s\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Middle East\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and the Mediterranean\u00a0<\/span><\/span>region<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>became\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>Islamic<\/span><\/span>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>B<\/span><\/span>y doing so it\u00a0<\/span><\/span>further\u00a0<\/span><\/span>highlights\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the necessity<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>of placing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the study of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>cities\u00a0<\/span><\/span>within their\u00a0<\/span><\/span>historical and cultural\u00a0<\/span><\/span>contexts.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”The Modernist City: Paris, Chicago, Shanghai”]<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s lecture will introduce the ideas of modernism, modernization and modernity. It will begin by tracing the advent of modernist planning in Europe in the mid 19<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span>\u00a0century. It will then discuss how modernist planning and architectural ideas travelled to other places and were re-appropriated by various agents to serve specific purposes. The discussion will examine how particular urban forms were adapted to suit local circumstances and how these developments played a part in the construction of identities and citizenship.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Colonial Modern: Casablanca, Singapore, Hong Kong”]<\/p>\n
Continuing from the last topic, this lecture will discuss ways in which visions of modernism were adapted in colonial and \u201cnon-Western\u201d contexts and how \u201ccolonized subjects\u201d experienced modernity on their own terms. The discussion will also consider the idea of colonial cities as \u201curban laboratories\u201d \u2013 places where planners and reformers were able to experiment with new forms of social organization due to greater governmental power which they did not possess in their home countries.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Crisis Cities: London, Hong Kong, San Francisco”]<\/p>\n
Throughout history, disasters and urban crises tended to help usher major policy changes and commencement of new planning projects in different cities around the world. Accompanying these changes were the production of new knowledge and techniques to improve the health and safety of the populations. Using crisis and trauma as a lens, this lecture will examine the urban improvement\u00a0<\/span><\/span>schemes initiated after major disasters in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>two\u00a0<\/span><\/span>cities. We will also explore the contestations entailed in urban regeneration and how efforts to regulate the urban environment were often compromised by resistance from property owners who fought to protect their own interests.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”The City of Homes: New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai”]<\/p>\n
Since the late 19th century, the conception of home and practices of domestic life have undergone significant changes amidst ongoing processes of modernization. Our discussion this week will\u00a0<\/span><\/span>touch on\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the emergence of the \u201cgarden city\u201d as a remedy for urban problems in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>England and how the concept had been<\/span><\/span>\u00a0adapted by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>policy makers and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>developers in other parts of the world. We will trace the development of several housing projects that utilized\u00a0<\/span><\/span>different utopian\u00a0<\/span><\/span>imaginaries\u00a0<\/span><\/span>to foster<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>collective aspiration for the future<\/span><\/span>. The study of these projects will also make clear that urban knowledge\u00a0<\/span><\/span>was<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>co-<\/span><\/span>produced by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>different social and institutional actors whose ideas were often adapted from other places.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Cities and Urban Futures “]<\/p>\n
Over the course of history,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>urban visionaries have been inspired by the prospect that a radical reconstruction of cities would\u00a0<\/span><\/span>help\u00a0<\/span><\/span>resolve\u00a0<\/span><\/span>existing\u00a0<\/span><\/span>urban p<\/span><\/span>roblems and social crisis. Desires for\u00a0<\/span><\/span>better urban futures often\u00a0<\/span><\/span>entail<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a break from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>