Classic Theories in Urban Studies 1900-SM-1-32

The classes will allow the students to learn about the fundamental theories of urban studies. The course will be conducted in the form of a seminar: the participants will be expected to, firstly, acquaint themselves with the assigned readings and be able to deliver their criticism of them and exchange opinions, and secondly, spontaneously practice the ability to theorise that is to transport ideas that are sometimes general and abstract onto the ground of their own empirical experiences and intellectual searches.
The status of the discussed theories as classical should be understood not as much by high publication volumes and number of citations, although most of the focus will indeed be on fundamental and establishing theories of urban studies. Rather, they will be chosen based on the period in which they were formed and originally presented, that is until the end of the 20th century. It was also a period in which urban studies established themselves as a separate area of scientific reflection, although the were not entirely alienated from their interdisciplinary background. The different leanings adopted by these theories, sometimes leaning towards sociology, in other cases towards architecture and urban planning, are meant to make the participants of the course aware of and present to them examples of urban studies’ multi-disciplinary character. Another criterion in the selection of the theories is linking them to actual processes and problems of how cities and life in them are shaped.
The scope of the issues covered by the seminar includes, among others, the social formation of cityscape, urbanisation in industrial societies, modernism and its various critiques, and the “right to the city”.