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Semester | fall semester 2018 |
Course frequency | Once only |
Lecturers | Faranak Miraftab (faranak.miraftab@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
Content | This course interrogates the relationship between planning and varied forms of grassroots action in the context of global neoliberal capitalism. It critically examines the shifting configuration of the roles and responsibility of state, market and citizens in this era of late capitalism and asks what does this mean for planning as a field of praxis. Towards this broader goal, we will discuss several critical themes: a) Planning theories: how overtime planning theories have opened up from framing planning as a mere scientific activity of elite professionals to include everyday practices of the grassroots. b) State decentralization and citizenship: how reconfiguration of state-citizen relations have simultaneously given rise to market oriented entrepreneurial planning and community-based participatory planning. In specific, what these shifts mean for notion of citizenship. c) Radical care: how at the center of self-reliant grassroots development are women and gendered responsibilities of collective care. In specific, how feminist scholarship on informal politics and social reproduction (collective consumption) help us understand grassroots practices for project of urbanization. d) Insurgent practices of planning: how does processes of urban development in this late capitalist era urge us to rethink planning as contested field of action by multiple actors and decenter the role of professional planners in practices of planning. In specific, how we can learn from grassroots insurgent planning practices and urban movements to shape a future baring the promise of a humane urbanism. We will engage with each of the themes above drawing on readings, insights, experiences and case examples from global South and North. In specific, the lectures will draw from instructor’s observations in cities of Latin America, West and South Africa and the United States. The course format combines lecture, discussion and group work. Overall, the morning sessions include lectures, and the afternoon sessions include discussion of readings, group work where students draw on course readings and lectures to reflect on their own observations and experiences in cities where they have lived, worked, or studied, and presentation of group works. |
Learning objectives | Above all the objective of this course is to advance a critical perspective that facilitates urban frameworks for development of humane urbanism. For that, we will a) Engage with and decenter professional formal planning decision in the analysis of urban development processes. b) Analyze the current urban development processes and struggles through anti-capitalist, anti-sexist and anti-racist lenses offered by critical interdisciplinary urban and planning scholarship. c) Reflect on the global perspective we earn through this course, to better understand the current struggles and contradictory processes of urban development in cities where students are situated. |
Language of instruction | English |
Use of digital media | No specific media used |
Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
Modules |
Modul Fachkompetenz Globaler Wandel (Master's degree subject: Geography) Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Projects and Processes of Urbanization (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) |
Assessment format | continuous assessment |
Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
Scale | Pass / Fail |
Repeated registration | no repetition |
Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |