History of the European City

Catalog description

What is the city? How is it constituted? What forces and processes shape it? What functions does the city perform? What forms of living does the city bring about? What kind of culture does the city produce? In this seminar, we will confront these questions by exploring the history of the European city from the 15th century to the present. After an introductory lecture on the scope and methods of urban history and two sessions devoted to the principles underpinning the ancient and the medieval city, the course will explore the transformations of urban form and urban life of the past five centuries, with a particular emphasis on the way architects, planners, and urban thinkers have responded to the challenges of urbanization. In order to develop a critical understanding of the economic, social, cultural, and political process that have shaped the European city, we will read from a broad range of sources, including classic works of urban history such as Lewis Mumford's The City in History and Spiro Kostof's The City Shaped as well as contributions by geographers, sociologists, cultural historians, and critical theorists. During the seminar, we will also undertake in- depth analyses of several cities whose development has been particularly significant in the history of European urban culture, including Venice, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, London, and Berlin.