GEOG1050

Interpreting Urban Landscapes

Objectives: On completion of the module, students should have acquired:

  1. an understanding of the main forces shaping the built environment;
  2. a grasp of the processes underlying the social, cultural and economic differentiation of the landscape; and
  3. an awareness of contrasting interpretations of urban landscapes.

Syllabus: Origins and growth of settlements

8. Social and cultural landscapes

16. Urban nodes in global networks.

1. Urban origins

9. Identity and place: class

17. The territorialisation of production complexes

2. Urban growth and change

10. Identity and place: race and ethnicity

18. Technological change and new spaces of production

3. Growth and change in Leeds

11. New racisms

19. Workshop:Urban fortunes and the comparative advantage of cities

4. Building and managing cities

12. Workshop: Social and cultural explorations of Leeds 6

20. Linking spaces of production and consumption: Commodity chains and the production of value.

5. Workshop: interpreting the map of central Leeds in the 1890s

13. Gendered landscapes

21. What if a Big Mac is bigger than you think? The myth of the global corporation.

6. Urbanisation today

14. Symbolic spaces; meaningful places The City and the Global Economy

22.The whole picture: revision lecture.

7. Urban environments - managing cities for tomorrow Social and Cultural Explorations of the City

15. Mapping globalisation.

 Form of teaching: 22 x 1 hour lecture or workshop sessions.

Form of assessment: 1 x 2 hour examination. (100%) The examination paper will be in three sections and students will be expected to answer one question from each section.