FALL 2007 HONORS COURSES

HONR 209T Cities and the World: Globalization and Urban Development
Monday/Wednesday, 4:30-5:45 p.m.
Dr. Mila Zlatic, Department of Geography

Globalization! An inherited buzz word from the 20th century. Is it really going to change the very texture of life in all of our cities and local communities? How is it going to influence us as citizens of the world? and why? In this class we will investigate both questions.

In remarkably short time, a world of “urban specks” was replaced by a predominantly “urban world.“ Today, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in the cities. Cities, besides being our hometowns, are becoming crucial nodes for the international coordination and servicing of firms, markets, and even whole economies. These cities emerge as strategic places in the global economy. The development of the world urban system and the role of cities across the globe, with a special focus on world cities, will be discussed. The world cities have become strategic sites for the management of the global economy and production of the most advanced services and financial operations. At the same time globalization is becoming a cause of inequality among cities, inequalities visible in the geography and characteristics of urban systems.

We will focus on the new era of de-industrialization of the city and the complicated relationship between globalization and urbanization, urban impact on globalization, and the role of cities in globalization. In order to understand what is happening in Baltimore, New York, or Sydney we must understand that cities are shaped simultaneously by outside forces far beyond their borders, as well as by factors much closer to home. The impact of the global economy on cities and the impact of cities on the global economy will be explored.

Tentative Reading List:
J. Allen and C. Hamnett, (eds.) A Shrinking World? Global Unevenness and Inequality
Manuel Castells, Technopoles of the World: The Making of 21st Century Industrial Complex
David Clark, Urban World/Global City, New York
Saskia Sassen, (2000), Cities in a World Economy
John R. Short and Yeong-Hyun Kim, Globalization and the City
David Smith, Third World Cities in Global Perspective: The Political Economy of Uneven Urbanization

CORE–Behavioral and Social Science [SB]