IS 395: Special Topics (Global Cities) TuTh1:30-2:45
Over 50% of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas and the dramatic urban population growth from 746 million in 1950 to 3.9 billion in 2014 is projected by the United Nations1 to rise by another 2.5 billion in 2050. In this class, students will explore new urban challenges such as food scarcity, ecological limitations, housing shortages, security concerns, socio-economic inequality, and infrastructural demands that emerge as a result of this increased urbanization post World War II and the intensification of global or transnational processes. Students will approach global cities as both physical and virtual spaces from an interdisciplinary perspective that incorporates classic theoretical material as well as more recent research from anthropology, cultural geography, political economy, urban sociology, and regional and city planning.