GES2750

Cities and communities

Associate Professor Kevin O'Connor

8 points
* 3 hours per week (1-hour lecture, 1-hour tutorial)
* Two half-day field trips
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in geography, or permission of the head of department

Objectives To provide students with familiarity with relevant theoretical approaches to modern city and community development, an understanding of the dynamics of change affecting areas and their outcomes, and a critical facility to interpret and assess trends and problems for the purposes of policy and planning.

Synopsis The nature and development of cities and communities reflects a variety of external forces. Economic growth and restructuring, changes in the size and composition of the population, shifts in social and cultural mores and the need to encourage more sustainable development influence developmental trends and shape outcomes. In response, policies to promote more competitive, more livable, and more sustainable cities have been articulated, and in turn these engender further change. The result is that cities and communities are becoming more diverse, as revealed through the nature and location of economic functions, social and spatial polarisation, alienation, and the potential for growing conflict over the distribution of resources. This subject will encourage students to critically examine the communities within which they live, to understand the factors which create and differentiate comminutes in terms of particular social, economic, and demographic characteristics, and to appreciate the way in which a variety of forces for change have quite different impacts on individual communities. A particular emphasis will be placed on the restructuring of society and space in terms of work, social relationships, leisure, and lifestyle. A number of key issues will be examined through field work and the analysis of small area census data.

Assessment: Written: (2 500 words): 30%
* Literature review (500 words): 10%
* Field report (1000 words): 30%
* Examination (2 hours): 30%

Recommended texts

Australian Urban and Regional Development Review 1995 Urban Australia: Trends and prospects AGPS, 1995
Dear M and Wolch J (eds) The power of geography Unwin Hyman, 1989
Forester C Australian cities: Continuity and change OUP, 1995
Gibson K and Watson S Metropolis now: Planning and the urban in contemporary Australia Pluto, 1994
Harvey D The condition of post modernity Blackwell, 1989
Jacobs J The edge of empire Routledge, 1996
Johnson L Suburban dreaming: An interdisciplinary approach to Australian cities Deakin U P, 1994
Knox P L (ed.) The restless urban landscape Prentice-Hall, 1993
Knox P Urban social geography: An introduction 3rd edn, Longman, 1995