Cornell University
College of Architecture, Art and Planning
Department of City and Regional Planning
CRP 1101, The Global City
Spring Semester, 2015
Instructor:
Office hours:
Office location:
Victoria A. Beard
Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30
200 W. Sibley Hall
Course time:
Course location:
Email:
Tu/Th 10:10 to 11:25
Milstein Hall 101
vab57@cornell.edu
Teaching assistant:
Office hours:
Office location:
Email:
Amir Mohamed
Thursdays, 2:30-4:30
Temple of Zeus
am2456@cornell.edu
Teaching assistant:
Office hours:
Office location:
Email:
Andrea Restrepo-Mieth
Mondays, 12:30-2:30
321 W. Sibley Hall
ar866@cornell.edu
Images: (1) Discovery of America: Vespucci Landing in America, Jan van der Straet (ca. 1587-1589), (2)
Congresso Nacional, Oscar Niemeyer (1958-1960), (3) Kolkata, India, Ami Vitale (2007).
Course Description
The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the urbanization process and cities in
the global South. The course looks at these issues from four perspectives. First, it
examines the demographic and historical processes that create cities. It also introduces
theories of modernization and globalization. The second part of the course investigates
some of the most powerful forces and trends shaping cities in the global South: capital
accumulation, migration and transnationalism, and social movements. The third part of
the course examines the structures and agents that respond to these forces: the state,
planners, policy makers, civil society and communities. The course concludes with an
exploration of some of the most perplexing problems facing cities: poverty and
inequality, access to shelter and services, violence and security, and environmental
degradation.
Course Format and Expectations
The course is taught as a lecture with some time allocated for group presentations
towards the end of the semester. The required readings should be completed before the
first class meeting each week to facilitate a deeper understanding of the lectures and an
informed discussion in class and in the weekly discussion sessions.
Discussion Sessions
The teaching assistants will lead weekly discussion sessions. These sessions are designed
to help answer your questions and to provide a forum to probe topics more deeply. You
should also use these sessions to obtain help with the research paper, the in-class
presentation and the exams. Attendance is not required and you are welcome to attend
any of the four sessions. All discussion sessions are on Fridays in W. Sibley Hall, room
115 from: 9:05 to 9:55, 10:10 to 11:00, 11:15 to 12:05 and 12:20 to 1:10.
Learning Objectives
Students will gain a broad understanding of cities and urbanization processes in the
global South. Students will learn how to critically analyze the forces, structures and
agents that build, manage, plan, govern and shape cities. In the last part of the course,
students will interrogate some of the most pressing issues facing cities. Course
assignments are designed to develop research, writing, presentation and critical thinking
skills, as well as collaborative working skills.
Required Readings and Course Materials
There are two books required for the course. The books are available in paperback on
Amazon.com:
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity. New York: Random House.
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge.
Besides these two books, all other required readings are posted on Blackboard
(http://blackboard.cornell.edu/).
Evaluation and Grades
Your grade is based on three areas of evaluation: (1) a midterm exam, (2) a research
assignment, and (3) a final exam.
Course Grade
Areas of evaluation
Midterm exam
Research assignment
Final exam
Percentage of grade
Date
30%
Thursday, March 5th
30%
Thursday, April 16th
40%
TBD
The midterm will be given in class on March 5th in week 7. The midterm and final exams
will consist of multiple choice questions, short answers and essay responses. More detail
about the format of the midterm and final exam will be provided in class and in the
weekly discussions sessions. You will receive 3 grades for the research assignment: (1)
10% for your individual contribution to the group research paper, (2) 10% for the quality
and overall cohesiveness of the group research paper, and (3) 10% for the quality of your
group’s in-class presentation.
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Description of the Research, Writing and Presentation Assignment
You will work with a group of 4 students on a research paper about a city in the global
South. The selection of your group’s city needs to be approved by the instructor.
Each student will write an individual section of the paper, not to exceed 10 pages on a
specific aspect of the course (i.e., historical perspective, planning, poverty, migration,
governance, shelter).
As a group you will write the introduction and conclusion of your paper. You are
responsible for peer-editing each other’s sections to make sure that all the sections
contribute to a cohesive whole. Part of your grade for this assignment (10%) is based on
the overall quality of the final product.
You should discuss an outline as well as other aspects of your paper with the teaching
assistants during weekly discussion sessions and office hours. Additional information and
guidance about the written assignment and the presentation will be provided in-class and
during the weekly discussion sessions.
Research reports are not to exceed 45 pages double-spaced, with one-inch margins, pages
must be consecutively numbered and the report must be bound or stapled. Your reference
list should follow APA citation style. During the semester your group will be asked to
make a brief, in-class presentation.
Resources
It is recommended that you take a tour of the Cornell Library system, and you meet with
a librarian to discuss your research topic. The teaching assistants are available to help you
with your research topic as well as your writing. For additional help with writing, please
take advantage of the Knight Institute and their walk-in service available on campus. A
useful resource for questions about how to reference research materials is the Purdue
University’s OWL (Online Writing Lab), https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
Academic Integrity
Each student in the course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of
Academic Integrity. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the code,
(http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html). Any work submitted by a student in the
course should be the student’s own, original work. For this course, collaboration is
allowed for group assignments as specified by the instructor and in the syllabus.
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Course Outline
Week
Date
Topic
I. Background and Context
Week 1
1/22
Demographic perspective
Week 2
1/29
Historical perspective
Week 3
2/5
Modernization
Week 4
2/12
Globalization
II. Forces and Trends
Week 5
2/19
Capital accumulation
Week 6
2/26
Migration and transnationalism
Week 7
3/5
Social movements
III. Structures and Agents
Week 8
3/12
States and governance
Week 9
3/19
Institutions, planning and policy
Week 10 3/26
Citizens and communities
IV. Perplexing Problems
Week 11 4/9
Poverty and inequality
Week 12 4/16
Shelter and services
Week 13 4/23
Violence and security
Week 14 4/30
The urban environment
Week 15 5/5
Conclusion
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I. Background and Context
Week 1—Demographic perspective
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 1-20.
United Nations. 2014. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights.
New York: United Nations, pp. 1-27.
Ehrlich, Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich. 2009. The Population Bomb Revisited. The
Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development, 1(3): 63-71.
Goldstone, Jack A. 2010. The New Population Bomb: The Four Megatrends that will
Change the World. Foreign Affairs, 89: 31-43.
Week 2—Historical perspective
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 21-47.
McClintock, Anne. 1995. The Lay of the Land: Genealogies of Imperialism. Imperial
Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest, New York:
Routledge, pp. 21-74.
Glover, William J. 2008. A Colonial Spatial Imagination: British Knowledge of the City
and Its Environs. Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imaging a Colonial
City, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 27-58.
Week 3—Modernization
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 48-72.
Scott, James C. 1998. The High Modernist City: An Experiment and a Critique. Seeing
Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have
Failed, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 103-146.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. iv-25.
Week 4—Globalization
Shatkin, Gavin. 2007. Global Cities of the South: Emerging Perspectives on Growth and
Inequality. Cities, 24(1): 1-15.
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Stiglitz, Joseph. October 1, 2001. Thanks for Nothing. The Atlantic.
Friedman, Thomas L. April 3, 2005. The World is Flat, After All. The New York Times
Magazine.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 26-50.
II. Forces and Trends
Week 5—Capital accumulation
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 92-114.
Smith, David A. 1996. Third World Cities in Global Perspective, Boulder: Westview
Press, pp. 1-46.
Harvey, David. 2005. Uneven Geographical Developments. A Brief History of
Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 87-119.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 51-75.
Week 6—Migration and transnationalism
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 73-91.
Sarmiento, Carolina S. and Victoria A. Beard. 2013. Traversing the Border: CommunityBased Planning and Transnational Migrants. Journal of Planning, Education and
Research, 33(3): 336-347.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 76-100.
Week 7—Social movements
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 270-303.
Parnell, Susan and Edgar Pieterse. 2010. The ‘Right To The City’: Institutional
Imperatives of a Developmental State. International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, 34(1): 146–162.
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Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 101-125.
III. Structures and Agents
Week 8—States and governance
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 227-253.
Davis, Mike. 2006. The Treason of the State. Planet of Slums. London: Verso, pp. 50-69.
McGuirk, Justin. 2014. Bogotá: The City as a School. Radical Cities: Across Latin
America in Search of a New Architecture. London: Verso, pp. 207-230.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 126-150.
Week 9—Institutions, planning and policy
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 304-318.
Parnell, Susan and Jennifer Robinson. 2012. (Re)theorizing Cities from the Global South:
Looking Beyond Neoliberalism. Urban Geography, 33(4): 593-617.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 151-175.
Week 10—Citizens and communities
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 254-269.
Beard, Victoria A. 2012. Citizen Planners: From Self-Help to Political Transformation, in
Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning, eds., R. Weber and R. Crane, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, pp. 706-721.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 176-200.
IV. Perplexing Problems
Week 11—Poverty and inequality
Mason, David R. and Victoria A. Beard. 2008. Community-based Planning and Poverty
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Alleviation in Oaxaca, Mexico, Journal of Planning, Education and Research,
27(2): 245-260.
Hong, Sukjong. 2012. Beyond the Horse Dance: Viral vid ‘Gangnam Style’ Critiques
Korea’s Extreme Inequality. Open City, Asian American Writer’s Workshop,
View here http://opencitymag.com/beyond-the-horse-dance-viral-vid-gangnamstyle-critiques-koreas-extreme-inequality/#.UIsib4U-KbJ
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 201-225.
Week 12— Shelter and services
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 115-146, and pp. 176-196.
Davis, Mike. 2006. Slum Ecology. Planet of Slums, London: Verso, pp. 121-150.
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity, New York: Random House, pp. 226-end.
Week 13— Violence and security
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 197-226.
Moser, Caroline O.N. and Cathy Mcilwaine. 2014. Editorial: New Frontiers in twentyfirst century urban conflict and violence. Environment and Urbanization, 26(2):
331-344.
Caldeira, Teresa P.R. 2000. Fortified Enclaves: Building up Walls and Creating New
Private Order. City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo,
Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 256-296.
Week 14—The urban environment
Miraftab, Faranak and Neema Kudva. 2015. Cities of the Global South Reader. London:
Routledge, pp. 149-175.
Vollmer, Derek and Adrienne Grêt-Regamey. 2013. Rivers as Municipal Infrastructure:
demand for Environmental Services in Informal Settlements along an Indonesian
River. Global Environmental Change, 23(6): 1542-1555.
Klein, Naomi. 2014. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. New York:
Simon and Schuster, pp. 1-30.
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