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The module Urban Inequalities and Global Development takes a critical look at ‘the urban’ in the context of development and globalization. As the majority of the world’s population has moved to urban areas, cities are an important site for the analysis of inequality and socio-spatial justice. In cities across the world, rising inequalities manifest in processes of spatial marginalisation and displacement as well as in barriers to access basic social goods such as dignified housing, safe water and sanitation, and infrastructure.ÌýÌý

The module will explore how these global processes are impacting differentially on people and through case studies. It will also present key issues confronted by development practitioners to bridge the gap between theory and practice for those interested in working in this field. Finally, the module will look at alternatives, by analysing how municipalities, activists, and grass-root organisations can collaborate to co-produce more just and democratic cities.

Teaching Delivery

This module includes one 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour seminar per week.

Indicative Topics

Indicative lecture topics – based on module content in 2023/24, subject to possible changes:Ìý

Session 1. An introduction to urban inequalities and globalisation Ìý

Session 2. Urbanisation and the UN New Urban AgendaÌýÌý

Session 3. Development: now and thenÌý

Session 4. Beyond formal and informal urbanisationÌýÌý

Session 5. What is (and is not) planetary gentrification?Ìý

Session 6. Housing struggles and the financialization of the built environmentÌý

Session 7. Tourists go home, refugees welcomeÌý

Session 8. Participation in development planningÌý

Session 9. An introduction to the right to the cityÌý

Session 10. New MunicipalismÌý

Module Aims and Objectives

• An introduction to the different ways cities have been theorised, represented and imagined in urban studies, with a focus on the intellectual foundation of the southern urban critique.ÌýÌý

• A critical understanding of how and why urban inequalities occur both spatially (e.g., segregation, urban informality, and gentrification) and socially (e.g., class, poverty, race, and gender) in contemporary cities.ÌýÌý

• An understanding of the tensions and trade-offs of key global processes and their manifestation in cities, by examining different case studies of the so-called Global North and South.ÌýÌý

• A sensitive awareness of the different ethical concerns of working in contexts with high levels of urban inequality.ÌýÌý

• A critical comprehension of the extent to which policy interventions as well as collective action can address (or not) urban inequalities.Ìý

Recommended Reading

• Satterthwaite, David. "A new urban agenda?" Environment and Society 28, 1 (2016): 3-12. ÌýÌýÌý

• Craggs, Ruth. "Chapter 1. , pp. 27-31. Routledge, 2014.Ìý

• Roy, Ananya. "Urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning." Journal of the American Planning Association 71, no. 2 (2005): 147-158. Ìý

• Rolnik, R. (2013). Late Neoliberalism: The Financialization of Homeownership and Housing Rights. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(3), 1058-1066. Ìý