Urban restructuring
Associate Professor Chris Maher
8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton
*
Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in geography, or permission of the head of
department
Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have gained familiarity with relevant theoretical approaches to modern city development; an understanding of the forces underlying urban change; and the critical facility to interpret and assess trends for the purposes of policy and planning.
Synopsis Contemporary cities are being restructured by the introduction of new technologies in the worksite and at home, changing patterns of capital ownership and control, the relocation of jobs within cities and the reshaping of urban work, leisure and household practices. An examination is made of the implications for a number of identifiable groups including women, migrants and the vulnerable. The overarching theories of capitalist development which provide a conceptual backdrop to most restructuring analysis are critically examined in the light of recent debates emerging from areas such as feminism and Marxism. A number of key relationships will be examined in the context of specific case studies of industries and places in modern Australian cities: eg relationships between the `sphere of production' and `sphere of reproduction' in the city; between household processes and processes of industrial restructuring; and between capitalist and non-capitalist urban activities.
Assessment Tutorial and fieldwork report (1500 words): 30%
* Essay
(2500 words): 30%
* Examinations (2 hours): 40%
* A half-day field
exercise will be a compulsory component.
Recommended texts
Fainstein S Gordon I and Harloe M (eds) Divided cities Blackwell, 1992
Gibson K and Watson S (eds) Metropolis now: Planning and the urban in contemporary Australia Pluto, 1994
Law R and Wolch J `Social reproduction in the city: restructuring in time and space' in Knox P (ed.) The restless urban landscape Prentice-Hall, 1993
Marcuse P Is Australia different? Globalisation and the new urban poverty Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Occasional Paper No.3, 1996
O'Loughlin J and Friedrichs J (eds) Social polarisation in post-industrial metropolises de Gruyter, 1996
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