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Course description: Key urban thinkers of the twentieth century have identified the centrality of space in social and political struggles, with some suggesting that space is fundamental in any exercise of power. Scholars pursuing this line of argument have stressed the mutually constitutive relationship between space and social relations as they are both defined and transformed by claims of power. The objective of this course is to establish and emphasise this significant aspect in the way we have come to understand the city through a lens of not only crisis and catastrophe but also critical modes of contestations. It acknowledges the way power has emerged as a significant lens for an array of theorisations in recent re-conceptualisations of the twenty-first century city. To do so, it will focus on the multiple ways in which power operates in urban spaces, not only through formal state apparatuses but prominently via diffused social networks. Acknowledging power as a discursive as well as non-discursive everyday practice is central to this module which seeks to undermine the tendency to frame contemporary urban dynamics in a paradigmatic manner by drawing attention to the contextual specificities and wider range of power dynamics across the world.

Course aims: The main aim of the module is to ensure that students develop a more nuanced understanding of power in the production of urban space, viewing it as a relational process rather than an absolute hegemonic entity. To this extent, the module will focus on two objectives:

1. To introduce students to a broad range of critical urban studies discourse, emphasising the interdisciplinary nature of the debate, drawing on literature from geography, sociology, anthropology, architecture, and planning. At the end of the module, students should be able to weave some of the themes together to frame their own position vis a vis spatial manifestations of power in the urban condition.Ìý
2. To apply these theoretical approaches in analysing specific case studies, encouraging students to reflect on the appropriateness of these arguments to their own cities or urban conditions they are familiar with, and to review carefully their applicability across a broad range of contexts.

Assessment is through one coursework essay on a choice of questions that will allow students to develop confidence in critical thinking encouraging a personalised mode of written analysis. Understanding urban studies arguments around power and the way it continuously reconfigures state-society relations is increasingly vital for roles across government, consultancy, NOGs, media as well as research within and outside the academia. As a key individual skill, the module allows students to recognise the provisional nature of knowledge and understanding as they reflect on the process of learning that emphasises de-stabilising sustained arguments around reasoned notions such as ‘cities, space and power’.

Course content: The module is structured as a series of guest lectures/seminars investigating different theoretical and empirical aspects of the urban/power dialectic. These sessions will draw on a mix of scholarship including the foundational Marxist text as well as emerging debates on postcolonialising and decolonialising power relations. The module is also linked to the programme’s annual theme (2021: Emergency; 2022: Memory; 2023: Memory) and will weave in questions related to the theme in terms of its bearing to the discourse of power. Ìý

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