GEO-33306 Space, Place and Society

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

GEO-20406 Human Geography: Theory and Practice.

Continuation courses:

GEO-36806 Cultural Geography.

Contents:

This course focuses on the everyday spaces of ordinary people in urban environments, such as streets, squares, parks, residential areas. The central problem is how people use, experience and control spaces, and how 'social space' is created in close interaction with the material and functional environment. Emphasis will be put on the spatial qualities embedded in urban design and the opportunities these offer for a humane public places. The course begins with an analysis of public behavior in small urban spaces and the importance of material and physical spatial components for social life. Case studies will be presented from such cities as Copenhagen and New York. It continues with an analysis of spatial boundaries and settings, and the logic of placing objects and attributing functions. Coding, scripting and agency are the key concepts here. Further lectures will present an analysis of social space (social interactions, practices, behaviour) and the social construction of space. Here the multiplicity of urban public spaces will be discussed from the perspective of selectivity, exclusion and conflict. The way in which people construct spaces, and appropriate these is firmly constituted by conceptions of 'order'. To understand this ordering of space, attention will be given to time and history, political regulation and policing, moral standard, social control and discipline. Finally the course will give attention to perceptual and experiential dimensions of urban spaces. Throughout the course, students will be confronted with the question of how social life and the built environments interact and what this says about the power of design and everyday urbanism. Knowledge acquired during the lectures and from the literature will be applied in observation assignments.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- analyse the interaction between space and society from a multi-actor perspective;
- apply and design research methodologies for data collection in complex urban landscapes;
- assess the regulatory and moral power of space in everyday experience and use;
- classify and compare different types of space;
- identify the role of actors in spatial conflicts;
- criticize discourses on design and planning.

Activities:

- lectures;
- literature study;
- individual and group assignments;
- student presentation.

Examination:

Written exam and assignments.

Literature:

Thwaites, K. (2013). Socially Restorative Urbanism. The theory, process and practice of experiemics (Routledge);
Mehta, V. (2013). The Streed. A Quintessential social public space (Routledge);
Gelhl, J. (2010). Cities for People (Island Press);
Carmona, M.; Heath T.; Tiesdell, S.; [et.a;]. (2010). Public Places - Urban Spaces: The Dimensions of Urban Design - 2nd ed. Routledge. 408 p. ISBN-10: 1856178277.
The compulsory literature will be announced on MyPortal.