Module description
The module is structured chronologically and thematically, exploring the following issues:
An urbanising world: urban utopia or dystopia?
This section explores the new kinds of spaces that were being created in cities during the 19th and 20th centuries. How did the concentration of people and activities affect the nature of social, political and cultural relations in urban places? What kinds of questions were raised in relation to the use of public space? How did these issues differ in varying cultural contexts? What kinds of imaginative and representational spaces were created in order to understand the modern city? What did contemporary observers think about the changes and how were their ideas expressed?
Imperial and Colonial Cities
This section explores the ways that imperialism impacted on cities and in Britain and the British Empire, through planning, infrastructure and sanitation, architecture, domestic spaces, monuments and pageants. Focus will fall on questions of race, representation, and control.
Planning the urban future
This section explores new ideas about town planning that emerged in the early and mid-twentieth century in the UK and empire, and will explore slum clearance, town and country planning, garden cities, and New Towns. It will also include the showing of a film.
Housing the masses and creating community
This section will discuss the rise (and fall) of high rise public housing in the UK This will be placed in a comparative context with examples from across the world, including the Soviet Union and Singapore, and will also explore how community was produced and destroyed through modern planning. It will also briefly discuss more contemporary notions of high rise housing and the rebranding of public housing as exclusive city living. This section will also include a field walk in London.
Utopian visions
This section will return to questions of utopian thought in relation to the later part of the twentieth century. Focusing on the cybernetic and metabolic city alongside other visions of the future city, this section will explore some of the earlier histories of ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’ urbanisms.
If you are interested in colonialism or urban politics you might be interested in taking this module. It would complement many of the modules in the urban and cultural theme, as well as Territory, State and Nation.
Assessment details
Formative assessment (0%); 3000 word (or equivalent) essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the comparative dimensions of urbanisation from the late 19th century to 1980 and to enable students to explore the relationships between urbanisation and the broader currents of economic, social, political and cultural change. The modern and modernist city is the focus of the module, and in particular the themes of utopian thought, planning, housing, community, infrastructure, imperialism and postcolonialism. The geographical focus is primarily Britain, the British empire, and the post-colonial world. The module supports students to develop skills in the analysis of historical sources, such as photographs, film, maps, architectural plans, government records and oral histories. It also provides opportunities to develop skills in field observation through walking tours in London.
Learning outcomes
At the completion of the module students will be able to:
- compare and contrast patterns of urbanisation at different places and times
- to explain the relationships between social, cultural, political processes and the production of urban spaces and urban forms.
- Locate, engage with, interpret, understand and apply a wide range of original historical sources to their work;
- Apply key themes from the module to case studies from the UK and the post-colonial world
Teaching pattern
14 hours interactive lectures; 2 field visits, 1 workshop