Content

Urban anthropology covers a wide range of issues that vary from one socio-cultural context to another. The conurbations in the Global North are primarily viewed as remnants of the Industrial Age which need to be revitalized, branded and marketed. Debates focus on temporality, appropriation of the public realm, the reconversion of brownfields and other efforts at urban renewal, as well as on the mediatisation of the home environment and the ageing of the white, previously dominant population groups. The current drive of urbanisation, however, has shifted towards southwards and mainly towards Asia. Virtually all of the world's expected population increase will be in the cities of the Global South. By contrast to earlier experiences of urbanization, urban growth in the South is taking place under conditions of extreme cultural diversity, vast demographic pressures, and unprecedented speeds of social change. Underlying this shifting trend are global concerns about climate change, scarce resources and violent conflicts, all of which bring about unprecedented migratory flows. In the face of crises like these, ‘urbanness’ is increasingly being discussed in terms of resilience, inclusiveness and place-making.

The theoretical part of in this course explores these issues through a series of lectures, documentaries and relevant case-studies taken from various socio-cultural contexts around the world.  Each case examines the cultural operation of architecture and urban form within a specific context and how this local set of operations relates to broader contemporary challenges at a global level. As part of this reflective exercise, students also get a chance to examine through group discussions and selected presentations how these themes are dealt with in their respective home countries and/or home towns.

Self-reflection is taken one step further in the seminar component of the course, when students 'test' the acquired knowledge and insights comparing the cosmopolitan context of Brussels with cities in their home country.

Course material

Required or compulsary study materials:

• Lecture notes and texts (a reader) made available on Toledo.
• Reading assignments made available during the classes in preparation of group discussions 
• Reading assignments and texts made available on Toledo in preparation of the Brussels fieldwork assignment

Recommended sources:

• Appadurai, A.,1991, 'Global Etnoscapes: Notes and Queries for a Transnational Anthropology'. In: R.G. Fox (ed.),Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present', pp. 191-210.
• Bull, Catherine and Kate Gamble (eds.), 2008, Cross-cultural Urban Design. Global and/or Local Practice, London: Routledge.
• De Wandeler, K. and A. Dissanayake, 2013, Rhythmanalysis as a tool for understanding shifiting urban life and settings. In: Dayaratne, R. and Wijesundara, J. (eds.), Cities, People and Places: Proceedings of the International Urban design Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 14-17 October 2013. Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa (ISSN: 2345-9530), 137-153.
• Kesteloot, C. (2000) Brussels: post-Fordist polarization in a Fordist spatial canvas. In: Marcuse, P. & van Kempen, R. (Eds.), Globalizing Cities - a New Spatial Order? Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 186-210.
• Swyngedouw, E. & Baeten, G. (2001) Scaling the City: The Political Economy of ‘Glocal’ Development—Brussels’ Conundrum. European Planning Studies, 9(7), 827-849.
• Stanek, L., Henri Lefebvre on Space, Architecture, Urban Research and the Production of Theory, Minnesota: Uinversity of Minnesota Press

Language of instruction: more information

All lectures, discussions and feedback is done in English. Literature, reading assignments are distributed in English.

Reporting and written reports are due in English.

Fieldwork (if any) can be conducted in participants' native language.

Format: more information

This part of the course combines three teaching methods:

• Classroom lectures (ex cathedra or online) in combination with classroom assignments per country of origin and group discussions 
• Self-study under supervision of the lecturer. This component focuses on the reading assignments that relate to the issues broached in theoretic lectures.
• Classroom lectures (ex cathedra or online), in combination with excursions in and around Brussels introducing fieldwork conditions and methods

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Students appropriate and interpret the knowledge and insights disseminated through the lectures by internet searches, and interpretation of reading assignments.

Students apply the knowledge and insights gained from the lectures to their home country through group assignments and presentations.