URBAN AND TERRITORIAL SOCIOLOGY
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2020/2021
- Teacher
- ALFREDO ALIETTI
- Credits
- 8
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- SPS/10
Training objectives
- The aims of the course are the following:
- knowledge of the main theories and tools of analysis concerning the study of territorial issue and the socio-historical development of the cities;
- understanding of key sociological concepts related to the social, economic, political and cultural analysis of territory and the urban contexts;
- ability to learn and to link with each other sociological concepts in a critical and reflective view;
- ability to apply the theoretical knowledge and the methodologies of social analysis in the understanding of territorial changes and planning of urban policies;
- ability to collect information, data and to communicate on the different urban and territorial realities;
- ability to debate and dialogue with different public actors, social groups and civil society on urban and territorial issues. Prerequisites
- The essential prerequesites are the following:
- knowledge of main authors and different sociological theories, classical and contemporary;
- knowledge of basic sociological concepts related to social change and socio-economic processes.
Course programme
- The contents of the course are directed to transmit the fundamental basis of urban sociology in a theoretical, historical and empirical perspective and to discuss the current urban issues.
The main topics presented during the course are the following:
- The sociological tradition and the study of city (Marx, Durkheim, Weber)
- The urban experience as experience of modernity (Simmel, Wirth, Benjamin)
- The Chicago school and the birth of urban sociology
- The industrial city and processes of urbanization
- The transition from industrial to post-industrial city
- Globalization, urban changes and global cities
- Socio-economic inequality and the socio-spatial structure of urban society
- The current Megapolis and the urban poverty in the South of the World
- Social fragmentation of the cities: ghettos, ethnic enclaves and gated communities
- Migration and interethnic cohabitation in the urban contexts
- Urban policies and development of current cities
- Methods and tools for analysing urban and territorial issues Didactic methods
- The course take advantage of a shared teaching and opened to the discussion with the students. The aim is to promote a critical reflection among students and to assess the level of learning achieved.
The teaching tools used are different and aimed to extend the possible sources of knowledge:
- use of power point relevant to topics of the course;
- use of video, photos and iconographic material pertinent to socio-territorial patterns in their historical development and relationship among differences in the urban context;
- reading and discussions of data, analysis, researches on processes of territorial and cities changes around the world realized by international and national institutions and agencies;
- organization of seminar/conference with scholars, experts from civil society in order to discuss specific themes;
- organization of visits and meeting outside in the territorial areas and/or neighbourhoods of particular interest;
- in depth analysis of urban imagery by the reading of novels of national and international writers.
The educational material (power point, articles) is available on web-site of the professor. Learning assessment procedures
- The assessment of learning ability are organized on two levels. The first, at informal level, is focused to the involvement of students during the lessons by shared discussion on specific topics. The second, at formal level, is the final exam is in written form on the basis of three open questions within 90 minutes. The open questions related to course and to exam book are realized in order to assess learning ability, ability to think critically and level of knowledge of the subject.
For COVID 19 the final examination can change. In this case, the examination will be by test on line. Reference texts
- John J. Macionis, Vincent Parillo, Prospettive Urbane. Un approccio sociologico e multidisciplinare, Pearson, 2014.
