Urban political economy

The course consists of a political-economy approach to contemporary urban change. It builds on Henri Lefebvre’s conceptualization of the production of space as main theoretical foundation.

It is composed of a series of lectures exploring in turn the role of the spatial practices of capital, State-territorial regulations, and city dwellers’ appropriation of space in the social production of urban space. To do so, the course combines insights from different theoretical frameworks, most notably critical urban theory and neo-institutional approaches to urban governance, as well as a dose of post-colonial urban theory.

The overarching aim of this course is to help developing a critical perspective on urban change departing from representations that tend to naturalize urban dynamics or reduce urban issues to mere techno-management problems, therefore obscuring their deeply political character. Cities are rather considered here as social constructs shaped by constant negotiations, competitions and struggles between unevenly endowed social actors.

The course is divided up in 8 lectures (3 hours each)

1. Introduction – the city as social product
2. The production of urban space under capitalism
3. The urbanization of neoliberalism
4. The neoliberalization of urbanism
5. Culture as urban regenerator?
6. (Resisting) gentrification
7. Ordinary urbanizations
8. On urban alternatives

ex cathedra lectures, with ample opportunity for interaction and discussion

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

see suggested readings list (+ pdf) available on the UV

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Informations complémentaires

see UV course page

Contacts

mathieu.van.criekingen@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Travail personnel
• Examen écrit

Travail personnel

Examen écrit

• Examen à livre ouvert

• Question ouverte à développement long

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

written exam 50%, photo essay 50% (see course outline on UV)

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais