Studying at York
Urban Pasts and Futures - SOC00069I
- Department: Sociology
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
During this module, you will learn about the ideas of key urban sociologists and gain an insight into the major urban transformations of the twentieth century, such as industrialisation, urban renewal, ghettoisation and gentrification. We link these transformations to the reproduction of social class, race and gender inequalities but also consider how these may be overcome.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
How are cities and urbanisation crucial to understanding modern, diverse societies? In this module we aim for you to urban sociology, to develop a critical understanding of how urbanisation is viewed as central to current policy goals of improving economic development in the Global South. In addition to learning about the ideas of key urban sociologists, you will gain an insight into the major urban transformations of the twentieth century, such as industrialisation, urban renewal, ghettoisation and gentrification. We link these transformations to the reproduction of social class, race and gender inequalities but also consider how these may be overcome. The module encourages you to think and act as urban citizens, not simply as individuals with rights but as agents capable of initiating change in the environments that we live in.
Module learning outcomes
Diagnose social harms in urban environments and suggest alternatives, improvements and remedies
Use visual methods as an aid to critically analyse features of urban life such as buildings, monuments, architecture as they relate to core module themes
Evaluate historical legacies of race, imperial, gender and class inequalities in the city
Identify mechanisms of exclusion in cities, and communicate and practise more socially just ways of conceiving urban futures
Demonstrate creative engagements with contemporary urban life and possible future changes
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 70 |
| Essay/coursework | 30 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 70 |
| Essay/coursework | 30 |
Module feedback
For formative work - Presentation - students will receive written or verbal feedback on how to improve their skills in areas that will contribute towards their summative assessment. The formative assessments provide practice for the summative task, and in line with MLO 2.
For summative work - Urban Futures Video and VisualEssay - students will receive an overall mark and grading according to clearly defined criteria for assessing their knowledge, skills and abilities in line with MLO 1-5. They will also receive written feedback showing areas in which they have done well, and those areas in which they need to improve that will contribute to their progress.
Indicative reading
Hunt, T. (2005) Building Jerusalem: the rise and fall of the Victorian city. London: Phoenix.
Lefebvre, H. (1991) The production of space. Oxford: Blackwell.
Russell, D. (2004) Looking North: Northern England and the national imagination. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Williams, R. (2004) The anxious city: English urbanism in the late twentieth century. London: Routledge.