Course Catalogue

Urban Geographies: Cities, Ecologies, Politics GEOG4095

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2 (Alternate Years)
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course examines the interrelationship between urbanization, people and nature, with a particular emphasis on how social power relations produce and change politico-economic and socio-environmental conditions and how these are lived, resisted and reworked by urban dwellers.

Timetable

2 to 3 hours per week (lectures and seminars) for 10 weeks

Requirements of Entry

Students should have completed Level 2 Geography at minimum of grade D3

Excluded Courses

None

Assessment

A 2500-word essay on a topic to be selected from a list circulated at the beginning of the semester and an unseen 90-minute exam.

Main Assessment In: April/May

Course Aims

■ To theorize how the urban and the physical world interact;

■ To explore the entanglements of social, political, economic and physical conditions that shape urbanization;

■ To develop a critical understanding of the politico-economic and socio-ecological dynamics of urbanization;

■ To explore the key factors that shape urbanization and their spatial configurations and outcomes;

■ To show how urbanization is also political processes; 

■ To illustrate these processes by means of concrete historical-geographical examples.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain the key concepts and theories that underpin critical urban theory, urban political economy and  urban political ecology;

■ Be able to critically discuss the relationships between people and their environments;

■ Understand the political significance of the entanglement of urbanization and socio-ecological processes, problems, and conditions;

■ develop critical discussions on diverse urban issues and struggles across the world

■ offer critical analysis on the notions, epistemologies, methodologies and ethics of urban research

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions