HMØK00067U Global Urban Studies

Global Urban Studies: Cultural Analysis in a World of Cities

Today, more people live in cities than outside them – indeed, we live in a world of cities. What does urban culture mean at a time of global urbanization? How can we study culture in cities in a truly global fashion, beyond the traditionally West-centric perspectives of urban studies? And can we compare cultural processes in cities around the world?

This course introduces the student to a multi-disciplinary field of comparative and cross-cultural studies of structure and change in urban societies. The focus is on ethnographic and cultural analytical research on urban life, economy, politics and social relations. The aim is to foster a critical awareness of the interrelations between cultural imaginaries, material conditions and the built environment.

Examples of urban cultural analyses are drawn from research from across the world, including case studies from cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Tehran and Copenhagen. The students will learn to connect micro-processes on the local level to regional and global processes on the macro-level by applying relevant theories and methods.