Elective / Seminar
Critical Perspectives FROM Southern Urbanism
Urban phenomena in many cities of the South have long been planned and analysed through hegemonic theoretical positions that claim global applicability, though are generally more specific to the Global North. They are insufficient to address and explain Southern cities and their situatedness in time and place. Hence, they fail to provide adequate explanations for growing issues of inequality, informality, poverty, and urbanization. By adopting a critical perspective, the course will stimulate a re-thinking of topics related to urbanisation and urban planning policies in the context of cities of the Global South.
The seminar is centred around three main topics: 1) Housing and urban upgrading, 2) Social movements and the Right to the City, and 3) Migration and displacement. Within each topic, there will be lecture inputs, literature analysis, practical case studies and discussions. We will be exploring the current discourses on the topics with the aim to critically analyse and deconstruct them towards a rethinking of planning theory from a Southern perspective.
The variety of international reference cases (to be confirmed: Serbia, Brazil, Namibia, Vietnam, Syria, Portugal) will serve to identify cross-cutting issues as well as exemplary approaches. In this regard, the course aims to bring together various disciplinary perspectives – geography, history, sociology, governance and urban studies – in an attempt to juxtapose the theoretical discourse with the range of policies and planning approaches that these countries mobilize in order to deal with the externalities of rapid urbanization, globalisation and situations of conflict.
Students will be selected for the seminar on the basis of motivational letters. If you are interested in joining the seminar, please submit a motivation letter (pdf) with max 400 words latest by 8 April, 15:00 CET to els.keunen@si.uni-stuttgart.de.
