ELECTIVE MODULE: URBAN GEOGRAPHY: URBANISATION - HOUSING - TOURISM

Specific Foundation / Core

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

Attending successfully the course students: Fully understand basic notions, processes and results of urbanization Learn to recognize and scientifically grasp contemporary urban phenomena and issues Are introduced and practice in research methods in urban geography (quantitative - qualitative synthesis) Practice in organization, documentation and writing of scientific reports

Cities are in continuous change. Geographies, environmental conditions, socio-spatial structures, human activities, all, gradually and in every instance readapt, in different rhythms and with unexpected effects within history. The course is introductory to the study of urbanization and contemporary urban phenomena. In the triangulation of economic, social, environmental and cultural approaches in the field of urban geography the course considers the complexness of the urban phenomenon from its origins to the contemporary “urban age”. The course focuses on the contemporary processes and manifestation of urbanization with an emphasis on space and place. It goes over “kaleidoscopic” transformations in parallel with applied policies and phenomena, uniquely expressed in every place, but glocalized by local specificities, new global economy conditions, continuous movement of people, perpetual information flows, planetary environmental crisis. It centres particularly on the spatial manifestation of urban change and on the landscape and public space transformation in the recent decades on the fringe of the city through its new relation with the countryside and the global hinterland. Thus, an objective of the course is to enhance and research on the obscure and undocumented cultural, social, political and gender dimensions of growth and sprawl of contemporary (greek) cities. The course content evolves through seminars and lectures as well as student presentations. Evaluation is based on an interim presentation and the final written essay – report on a topic which reflects the individual interest of each student within the thematic framework of the course. The course is introductory to a written diploma dissertation in the field of urban geography. During the 2016 spring semester we will host for lectures and discussion with Prof. Maria Kaika (Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester).

urbanization, urban change, sprawl, urban transformation

04-03-2016