This course conceptualises cities as spatial, political, economic and socio-cultural phenomena. Through interdisciplinary perspectives from anthropology, geography, political economy, planning and cultural studies, we will explore diverse case studies, problems, politics and perspectives. Students will explore the possibilities and challenges of urban life over time and space – the centrality, complexity, creativity and conflicts that cities embody. The examination of cities will encompass spaces of social and cultural order/disorder, problems of social difference and the possibilities of creative responses, and the challenges and evolving meaning of individuality and collectivity in dense population spaces. Students will also examine contemporary global alternatives and pay special attention in readings to the urban experience in Singapore as the metropolitan laboratory in which we are active participants in creating and shaping. Through readings, focussed questions, discussions and assignments, students are also invited to reflect on the privileges and demands of urban citizenship itself.
TBD
