Dr Alan Mace STC5.09

Dr Ryan Centner

This course is available on the BA in Geography, BSc in Environment and Development, BSc in Environmental Policy, BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics and BSc in Geography with Economics. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

From a global perspective this course examines the inter-relatedness of economy and society and the spatiality of social and economic phenomena in contemporary societies. Issues covered include: political economy and theories of uneven development; changing working conditions and patterns of inequality at different spatial scales; gentrification and displacement; and urbanisation in comparative perspective. We will examine relationships between economic and social restructuring; the geographies of privilege, exclusion and marginality; as well as responses through urban regeneration, urban renewal and city planning. At the end of the course students should be able to understand the relationship between the economic, social and spatial realms and communicate and apply these understandings to the contemporary geographies of everyday life.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT.

Students will be expected to prepare written work for weekly classes, and write one formative essay each term related to course readings.

M. Castells, The City and the Grassroots, 1984; P. Dicken, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 2010; D. Harvey, The Enigma of Capital, 2010; D. Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, 2007; D. Perrons, Globalisation and Social Change, 2004; K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 1944; G.Standing(2011) The New Precariat.

Exam (75%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (25%, 2000 words) in the LT.

In the examination students answer three out of nine questions. Details of the style and layout of the essay will be provided at the start of the session.