Course Description

Cities are said to be our greatest inventions. As political, socio-economic, and cultural centres, they are demonstrations of human ingenuity, power, and capacity to manipulate resources and the environment. They also play crucial roles in shaping human development on both individual and collective levels, as such, defining and serving as founding sites and receptacles of our civilizations. This course guides students to explore the making and remaking of cities and their impact on the development of urban societies, from the rise of cities in the fourth millennium BC in ancient West Asia to the emergence of metropolitan cities and megacity regions in today’s world. 

By exploring the making of historical, modern, and contemporary cities in different cultures, this course aims to help students develop a critical and comparative understanding of the key issues, motivations, principles, institutions, and processes involved in city-making and how urban forms, governance, and functions interact with one another, together forging visions, beliefs, values, and power that shape individual and collective identities and experiences. The course will help students develop a deeper understanding of a rich social and cultural diversity in our urban heritages and traditions and innovations over the course of our urban trajectories; learn about the rise, fall, and the regeneration of urban societies; recognize the ongoing process of city-making; and appreciate the unprecedented scale and capacity, and commensurate responsibilities of modern and contemporary urban development. We will engage creatively around ideas of sustainable urban development, basic principles of policy and planning, and questions of human flourishing.

[There will be a compulsory fieldtrip scheduled during Reading Week.]

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a city-scale perspective of society and an integrative and historical understanding of city-making in terms of urban form, governance, and culture and society.
2. Navigate through traditions and innovations, and similarities and differences among diverse urban societies in the historical periods covered in the course.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of city-making on international, regional, and local levels.
4. Demonstrate skills related to creativity, communication, and teamwork in order to improve the quality of urban living for themselves and others.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

Second semester (Wed)