The Nature of Cities

Catalog description

This course investigates the environmental conditions and consequences of cities and urbanization in the context of climate change, aging urban infrastructure, and deepening social and environmental inequality. We will examine different efforts to conceptualize the socio-ecological and historical processes that create and change cities, and explore ways in which these processes are consequential, including cities’ appetites for natural resources, energy, and land; pollution and hazardous waste; newer and older forms of environmental injustice and privilege; and urban sustainability movements. We will take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing mainly on scholarship from anthropology, geography, history, sociology, and urban studies. Throughout, we will treat cities as laboratories for engaged humanities and social science inquiry.