Politics and Governance of Global Urban Transformations

Course goals

1. To understand the debates and the main conceptualizations of urban transformations  
2. To understand how contemporary urbanism concepts (e.g., net zero cities) are situated in the broader landscape of urban transformations and which urban transformations they can set in motion;
3. To build a broad knowledge base on the concepts and frameworks of governance of urban transformations to formulate policy and planning recommendations for urban transformations;  
4. To critically reflect upon the potential, the politics (who is the solution, whose solution it is and whose interests are represented or not) and the trade-offs of contemporary urban solutions in the context of and the mission of urban transformations building on diverse urban contexts across the globe;  
5. To understand how the concept of “sustainable cities” relates to other visions such as “circular cities’, “low-carbon cities,” “resilient cities,” and“ smart cities”, what are the opportunities and tensions between them.

Content

In this course, we will introduce the main theories and research developments around why, by whom, and how urban transformations are envisaged, driven, coordinated, and planned in variegated contexts worldwide. We will introduce essential writings on urban challenges, build critical thinking on the contestations and politics of urban transformations and reflect on whose interests are advocated and shape urban futures. We will first introduce the foundations of urban governance and politics by building on selected theories and recent scholarship. We will discuss global urban agendas and the roles of city networks and critically reflect on the positioning of cities as global agents in urban transformations. We will further engage with main writings and conceptual frameworks from urban sustainability, sustainability transitions, and governance research to understand why, by whom, and how urban transformative capacities are generated and activated. To bridge the theoretical foundations and debates of global urban transformations with how they can inform and shape future cities, we will engage with selected thematic focus areas lectures. This will include guest lectures from urban planners and human geographers in selected thematic areas and cities to share their experience with the politics and governance of urban transformations.  
 
Examples of thematic foci that this course will cover include:   

• Compact cities
• Net-Zero cities
• Nature-positive cities
• Resilient cities
• Circular cities
• Smart/digital cities
• Just cities