Dr Alan Mace STC513a and Dr Ryan Centner STC601c

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.

This course examines the inter-relatedness of economy and society and the spatiality of social and economic phenomena in contemporary societies. Themes include: spatial fixes, Fordism, the development project, suburbanisation, rural crisis and shrinking cities. Through these themes we 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 9 hours of classes in the MT. 10 hours of lectures and 9 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.

N. Brenner and N. Theodore, Spaces of Neoliberalism, 2002.

D. Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, 2005.

D. Massey, World City, 2007.

P. McMichael, Development & Social Change: A Global Perspective (5th edition), 2012.

K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 1944.

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.