Dr Murray Low STC. S512

This course is available on the BA in Geography, BSc in Economic History and Geography, BSc in Environment and Development, BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics and BSc in Geography with Economics. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course covers theories and processes of contemporary urban development from a variety of perspectives – it aims to introduce students to key concepts in, and approaches to, politics in cities, as these have emerged and developed over time. Themes include, but are not limited to, political and economic power in cites, the role of ‘elites’, urban government finance, the politics of local economic development policy, the multidimensional role of culture in urban change, and the emergence of forms of urban governance. Case studies are largely drawn from cities in the United States and the United Kingdom, reflecting the development of core ideas in mainstream urban politics largely in these contexts.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6.

One essay plan for each piece of assessed coursework.

David Harvey (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

Robert Dahl (1961) Who Governs?

Clarence Stone (1988) Regime Politics.

Sharon Zukin (1995) The Cultures of Cities.

Coursework (50%, 2000 words) in the LT.
Coursework (50%, 2000 words) in the MT.