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BLOUSTEIN SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND PUBLIC POLICY
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
INTERNATIONAL URBANIZATION AND
HOUSING ISSUES
(Course # 34:970:655)
Monday, 9:50 – 12:30
Civic Square, Room 173
Spring 2015
Mi Shih
Civic Square, Room 366
Office Hours: Monday, 1-3 p.m.
Email: mi.shih@ejb.rutgers.edu
Sai Balakrishnan
Civic Square, Room 367
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2-4 p.m.
Email: sbalakrishnan@ejb.rutgers.edu
COURSE GOALS:
In 2007, for the first time in human history, the world’s population passed the threshold of 50% urban
residence. Today, more people live in urban areas than in rural settlements. Global urbanization, however,
is uneven. Urban populations are expanding the most rapidly in less developed regions, while those in
advanced countries are holding almost steady (United Nations, 2011 World Urbanization Prospects). In
other words, cities outside economically advanced and mature societies have become crucial sites where
new life experiences, planning issues, and policy challenges emerge to confront both researchers and
practitioners. How should we understand these cities in the so-called Global South? Do their urbanization
dynamics merely represent a stage of underdevelopment, as is usually suggested in the “last and
compulsory chapter on ‘Third World Urbanization’ in the urban studies textbook” (Roy, 2009, p. 820)?
Or do they in fact challenge and reinform our understanding of planning knowledge and practices? What
are the issues and needs faced by these cities, and what planning practices have been adopted to address
them on the ground? This graduate seminar will examine these questions and advance our understanding
of different cities and their urbanization processes. The focus will be mainly, but not exclusively, on cities
in less developed and developing economies, the Global South.
The seminar is organized into four main segments. In the first part of the course, we will briefly review
the relatively established literature on global cities, and then discuss how urbanization in the Global South
offers an alternative perspective on this theorization. In the second segment of this seminar, we will
illustrate this alternative conceptualization of cities by exploring four pathways to urbanization: the
developmental state model, mega-projects, urban-rural linkages, and urban informality. The third part of
the seminar examines issues and policies for addressing rapid urbanization. Our discussion will focus on
slums and housing policies for the urban poor, infrastructure and challenges in its provision, inequality,
and bottom-up approaches to confronting various forms of inequality. The final, fourth part of the
semester will be devoted to oral presentations by seminar members examining and analyzing case studies
of international urbanization and housing issues.
REQUIREMENTS:
This seminar combines short lectures, in-class audiovisual materials, student presentations, and in-class
discussions. Reading and active participation in course discussions is essential. Participation includes
attendance, questions to guest speakers, participation in discussion, and in-class exercises.
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Leading article discussion (30%=2×15%):
Seminar members will take turns serving as discussion leaders. Two members will work together to (1)
summarize the selected reading, (2) share with the class any materials they have found useful to advance
understanding of the reading, such as short YouTube videos, pictures, press articles etc., (3) formulate at
least 3-4 questions for discussion, and (4) facilitate discussion. In total, each member will present two
class discussions on two separate readings.
Reading responses (30%):
Students are required to upload reading responses (ca. 250 – 350 words) for every class. The responses
should be critical reflections on the week’s readings: they can include, inter alia, questions of interest that
can be further discussed in class, cases of relevance and unusual insights from the readings that
change/challenge the way we think about a problem. In short, these responses should go beyond being
mere summaries of the week’s readings. They should be uploaded to Sakai before 5 p.m. on the Sunday
preceding the class.
Active class participation means completing the assigned readings and being ready to engage in a
reflective discussion in class. Students are encouraged to contribute cases and experiences from countries
they are familiar with.
Research project and final presentation (40%):
Researching, writing, and oral presentation of a seminar paper. The paper should provide a theoretical and
empirical analysis of a specific case study related to international urbanization and/or housing issues.
The total length of the paper is expected to be about 4,000 to 5,000 words (18-20 pages of double-spaced
text with one-inch page margins, not counting bibliography, illustrations, and tables). This paper must
draw from, and apply, concepts and themes discussed in class. Suitable topics will be selected on an
individual basis.
For your guidance in planning your work, the following due dates will apply:
• On March 27 (before 5 p.m.), submit a brief statement and an outline of the paper describing your
research topic and the sources you expect to use in conducting your research.
• Oral seminar presentations and final papers are scheduled for the final seminar meeting.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic honesty and intellectual integrity are fundamental to the process of learning and to evaluating
academic performance. This is the responsibility of all members of the university, and students share the
responsibility for creating and maintaining an atmosphere of honesty and integrity. If you have any doubt
about what constitutes academic integrity, consult http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/academicintegrity-at-rutgers.
TOPICS AND READINGS:
Week 1 (Jan 26) Introduction
Potter, Robert and Lloyd-Evans, Sally. 1998. Chap 1 The Nature and Scale of Urbanization in the
Developing World; Chap 2 Third World Urbanization and Development: Theoretical Perspectives, in The
City in the Developing World, pp. 3-26.
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Friedmann, John. 2005. Introduction: Becoming Urban in China, in China’s Urban Transition, pp. xiiixxv.
“The Challenge of Slums: the Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003, UN Human Settlements
Programs, (read Key findings and messages, and Prologue) (download from UN Habitat website:
http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=downloads)
“State of the World’s Cities 2012/13: Prosperity of Cities,” 2012, UN-HABITAT (read overview and key
findings) (download from UN HABITAT website:
http://mirror.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3387)
UN Habitat Fact Sheets (2x2 pages) Urbanization Trends and City Size and Spatial Form.
(http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/GRHS09/FS1.pdf;
http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/GRHS09/FS2.pdf)
Week 2 (Feb 2) UN event/visit in New York
Time: approximately 10:00am-3:00pm
Location: United Nations HQ, 42nd St., New York, NY
Part I THEORIZING URBANIZATION
Week 3 (Feb 9) Cities and Globalization
John Friedmann and Goetz Wolff. 2006. World City Formation: An Agenda for Research and Action in
The Global Cities Reader, pp. 57-66.
Sassen, Saskia. 2011. The Global City: Strategic Site/New Frontier, in Readings in Urban Theory, pp. 5572.
Marcuse, Peter and Ronald van Kempen. 2000. Introduction, in Globalizing Cities: A New Spatial Order?
pp. 1-21.
Kim, Yeong-Hyun. Global and Local, in The Sage Companion to the City, pp. 123-137.
Film: City Life
Week 4 (Feb 16) Comparative Planning Culture
Friedmann, John. 2005. "Planning Cultures in Transition," in Bishwaprya Sanyal ed. Comparative
Planning Culture. New York: Routledge.
Robinson, Jennifer. 2006. World cities, or a world of ordinary cities? In Ordinary Cities: Between
Modernity and Development. pp.93-115.
Vidyarthi, Sanjeev. 2010. "Reimagining the American Neighbourhood Unit for India" in Patsy Healey
and Robert Upton eds. Crossing Borders: International Exchange and Planning Practice. New York:
Routledge.
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Guest speaker: Dr. Leslie Shieh
Topic: Does Planning Culture Matter? Why is Vancouver a model?
Part II PATHWAYS TO URBANIZATION
Week 5 (Feb 23) Planning and the Developmental State Model in East Asia
Olds, Kris and Henry Wai-Chung Yeung. 2006. Pathways to Global City Formation: A View from the
Developmental City-State of Singapore, in The Global Cities Reader, pp. 392-399
Yeh, Anthony and Fulong Wu. 1996. The New Land Development Process and Urban Development in
Chinese Cities. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, pp.330-353.
Abramson, Daniel. 2007. The Dialectics of Urban Planning in China. In Wu, Fulong (ed.) China’s
Emerging Cities: The Making of New Urbanism, pp. 66-86. London: Routledge.
Zhang, Li. 2002. Spatiality and Urban Citizenship in Late Socialist China. Public Culture, 14(2), pp.311334.
Week 6 (March 2) Urban-rural Linkages
Price, Marie. Migration and Settlement, in The Sage Companion to the City, pp. 189-209.
McGee, Terry. 2014. The Emergence of Desakota Regions in Asia: Expanding a Hypothesis. In Brenner,
Neil (ed.) Implosions/Explosions, pp. 121-137.
Zhao, Pengjun. 2013. Too Complex to be Managed? New Trends in Peri-Urbanisation and its Planning in
Beijing. Cities, 30, pp.68–76.
Osnos, Evan. 2008. The Wonder Years: Boom times in a Chinese village. The New Yorker.
(http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/31/the-wonder-years)
Guest speaker: Dr. Shenglin Chang
Director, Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, National Taiwan University
Topic: New Rural Development in Taiwan (tentative)
Week 7 (March 9) Megacities and Mega-projects
Sorensen, Andre and Juni Okata. 2011. Introduction to Megacities, in Megacities: Urban Form,
Governance and Sustainability. p. 1-10.
Ananya Roy. 2011. Re-Forming the Megacity: Calcutta and the Rural-Urban Interface, in Megacities:
Urban Form, Governance and Sustainability. p. 93-109.
Fainstein, Susan. 2008. Mega-projects in New York, London and Amsterdam. International Journal of
Urban and Regional Research, 32(4), pp. 768-784.
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Xue, Charlie, Ying Wang and Luther Tsai. 2013. Building New Towns in China: A Case Study of
Zhengdong New District. Cities, 30. pp. 223-232.
Week 8 (March 23) Urban Informality (1)
Buckley, Robert and Jerry Kalarickal. 2004. Shelter Strategies for the Urban Poor: Idiosyncratic and
Successful, but Hardly Mysterious. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, Transport and Urban Development
Dept., Urban Unit.
Patel, Sheela, Celine d’Cruz and Sundar Burra. 2002. Beyond Evictions in a Global City: PeopleManaged Resettlement in Mumbai,” Environment & Urbanization. 14(1), pp.159-172.
Guest speaker: Teresa Poppelwell
Topic: Meeting the Challenges of Urbanization: Solutions for Informal Settlements
Week 9 (March 30) Urban Informality (2)
Davis, David. 2006. The Urban Climacteric and The Prevalence of Slums, in Planet of Slums, pp. 1-49.
Roy, Ananya. 2009. Why India Cannot Plan Its Cities: Informality, Insurgence and the Idiom of
Urbanization. Planning Theory. 8(1), pp.76-87.
Roy, Ananya. 2005. Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning. Journal of the American
Planning Association, 71(2), pp.147-158.
Guest speaker: Dr. Roberto Rocco
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of
Technology
Topic: Informal Urban Development in Brazil (tentative)
Week 10 (April 6) Infrastructure-led Development
Lang, Robert E. and Dawn Dhavale. “America’s megapolitan areas.” Land Lines 17, no. 3 (2005): 1-4.
Angel, Shlomo. "An arterial grid of dirt roads." Cities 25, no. 3 (2008): 146-162.
Graham, Stephen and Simon Marvin. 2001. Splintering Urbanism. Routledge. pp. 43-66, 94-113, 304-328.
Also watch Bent Flyvbjerg on infrastructure and mega-projects at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEXWULGEvs8
http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/News%20in%20English/2008/TheHarvardCrimson211008.pdf
Part III ISSUES, PLANNING CHALLENGES AND POLICY RESPONSE
Week 11 (April 13) Slums
Gilbert, Alan. "The return of the slum: does language matter?." International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research 31, no. 4 (2007): 697-713.
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Turner, John FC. "Housing in three dimensions: terms of reference for the housing question redefined."
World Development 6, no. 9 (1978): 1135-1145.
Burgess, Rod. "Petty commodity housing or dweller control? A critique of John Turner's views on
housing policy." World Development 6, no. 9 (1978): 1105-1133.
Smolka, Martim. 2003. Informality, Urban Poverty and Land Market Prices. Land Lines (2003): pp. 4-7.
Week 12 (April 20) Property Regimes
de Soto, Hernando. “The mystery of capital.” In The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphed in
the West and Failed Everywhere Else. New York: Basic Books, 2000, pp. 39-67.
Payne, Geoffrey. "Urban land tenure policy options: Titles or rights?" Habitat International 25, no. 3
(2001): 415-429.
Ensminger, Jean (1997) Changing Property rights: Reconciling Formal and Informal Rights to land in
Africa. In (Eds) John N. Drobak and John V.C. Nye, The Frontiers of the New Institutional Economics.
San Diego: Academic Press, 165-196.
Recommended: Huchzermeyer, Marie. "Tenement City: The Emergence of Multi‐storey Districts
Through Large‐scale Private Landlordism in Nairobi." International journal of urban and regional
research 31, no. 4 (2007): 714-732.
Yahya, Saad S. "Community Land Trusts and Other Tenure Innovations in Kenya." In Land, Rights and
Innovation: Improving Tenure Security for the Urban Poor (Urban Management Series). Edited by
Geoffery K. Payne. London: ITDG Publishing, 2002, pp. 233-63.
Week 13 (April 27) Land Assembly
Heller, Michael A., “Block Parties, Sharecroppers and BANANA Republics,” in The gridlock economy:
How too much ownership wrecks markets, stops innovation, and costs lives. Basic Civitas Books, 2008,
pp. 107-117.
Hong, Yu-Hung and Barrie Needham (2007). Analyzing Land Readjustment: Economics, Law and
Collective Action. In Yu-hung Hong and Barrie Needham (Eds) Analyzing Land Readjustment:
Economics, Law and Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Fainstein, Susan (2012) “Land Value Capture and Justice.” In Gregory Ingram and Yu-Hung Hong (Eds)
Land Value Capture and Land Policies. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp. 21-40.
Seminar Wrap-up
Week 14 (May 4) Student presentations