Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course provides an opportunity for students to study one or more urban studies topics that lie beyond the scope of the other courses. This course will normally provide a more research-intensive experience than other graduate urban studies courses.

COURSE DETAILS:

Officially a “socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics,” China is an emerging power undergoing market transformation. In 2010, it outgrew Japan as the second largest economy in the world. It is now poised to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. Yet critical issues associated with growth, such as enlarging regional and social inequality, emerging civil society, and environmental pollution, all pose challenges towards China’s sustainable development. As a country with vast land, a large population, and a rich culture, China offers an interesting case with diversity and complexity for intellectual inquiries for urban researchers.

This course takes an interdisciplinary perspective to understand China’s economy, politics, social development, urbanization, and environment since 1949, against the backdrop of China’s transformation from a socialist entity to a market-oriented economy. The objective of this course is to equip students with systematic knowledge about China’s changing socio-spatial landscape and theoretical toolkits to understand the great transformation of China. This course will use a combination of lecture, class discussion, files, readings student presentations and class project.

Course Themes

· Introduction to China: location, environment and regions

· Understanding economic and industrial reforms: state-led land-centred urbanization

· Spaces of population and migration

· The restructuring of urban space

· Changing lifestyles

· Divided China: regions and provinces, rural and urban

· Spaces of inequality

· Expanding spaces of personal autonomy: state and civil society

· Cultural geography: arts and place identity

· Globalization and its impacts on China’s development

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

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

1. Identify important geographical features of China, gain familiarity with significant geographical patterns of urbanization, population, resources and economic activities, and understand the dynamics and ramifications of China’s reforms.

2. Be introduced to basic concepts and theories in urban studies and public policies, such as cities, regions, urbanization, informal vs. market housing, and housing stratification, which provide a framework for understanding contemporary urban issues.

3. Cultivate skills of critical thinking and build views based on evidence.

4. Lean how to raise a valid research question and develop a research proposal.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: