Urban Transformations

Course description 

There is no doubt that cities around the world change, and do so rapidly. But cities do not ‘do things’ by themselves. Underneath those transformations are many actors framing, planning, acting, failing and succeeding. There are external forces – migration, climate change, economic cycles – that play an important role in shaping those changes. Moreover, while it is clear that cities change, they do so at different rates and into very different directions. There is divergence as much as there is convergence. Under what conditions do cities change, how do they change, and in what directions do they change? These are the three questions that this course will develop answers to. The course will do this in two big steps. The first part focuses on the role of imagination and visioning in urban change. This covers the ‘why’ question of transformations. The second part builds on the foundations of imagination, and focuses on the fundamental dynamics of urban transformations. This covers the ‘how’ question of those transformations.  

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to: 

• Explain the dynamics of urban transformation, including the divergence and convergence of cities, and the influence of political, social, and economic factors on these processes. 
• Analyze specific case studies of urban change to determine how imagination, visioning, and institutional legacies shape the development of cities in different contexts. 
• Compare and contrast the conditions under which cities change, focusing on factors such as homogenization, diversity, and the politics of imagination. 
• Develop a framework for capturing urban change that incorporates patterns of temporality, emergent urban order, and tipping points. 

Sessions 

A short history of envisioning urban change

Part I 

• Whose vision is this anyway?
• Homogenization and diversity
• The capital of imagination
• The politics of imagination 
• Creativity and repetition
• Liminal imagination 
• Rhythms and cycles
• Technologos 
• Endless cities

Part 2 

• Change the city or build a new city
• Emergent urban order
• Time horizons
• Bifurcation and amplification
• Tipping points and hysteresis
• The quest for fit 
• Temporality / temporary use