Urban Inequality

Catalog description

This course explores the theoretical and methodological formulations of space and place and their relevance for sociological and social analyses. We will study the relationship of space/place to inequality as manifested in different guises around the world: spatial polarization, architecture, urban planning and design, spatial integration, symbolic space, etc. Throughout the course, we will pay close attention to how space and place intersect with inequality and how challenges to inequality are leveled through spatial approaches. How does the urban experience vary for different groups of people (by gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality)? Why? What explains the processes of urbanization and suburbanization? Who controls public space? How do different cities respond to the needs of the poorest residents, and what shapes these responses? How did (do) cities around the world come to develop and grow? What is the role of gentrification? These are some of the questions we’ll address in this course.