Time Schedule:
Victoria A. Lawson
GEOG 230
Seattle Campus
Examines global to local interactions of economic, political, and social forces shaping urbanization and development processes across the globe. Provides an introduction to critical development studies, focusing on Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Also examines debates over the causes and geographic patterns of social inequality worldwide.
Class description
Examines the processes driving urban growth in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The course examines urbanization in its international context. These issues and their human impacts are discussed in the context of historical and contemporary changes in the international political-economy. The course begins by reexamining some of the defining debates in development studies; population, migration/immigration dynamics, 'overurbanization', protectionism and free trade. The course culminates with a discussion of the human dimensions of broad political-economic processes examining questions of urban employment, shelter and political action. Major themes include: the cultural context of urban growth, the rapid pace of urbanization, indigenous urban forms, and colonial legacies.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
The course is taught in a lecture format with a weekly lab section. Students engage in activities in section and in graded exercises that encourage students to learn the tools of political-economy analysis, learn the locations of world cities, learn to think through differing arguments about development studies, and learn to present their analysis in a visual poster format. Lab sections are interactive, focused on activities and group-based learning and are a forum to explore lecture material in more depth.
Recommended preparation
The course assumes no prior training, but the following would be useful. Introductory level courses in development studies, international political-economy, and urban or economic geography.
Class assignments and grading
There is a midterm and final, with both multiple choice and short essay questions. In addition, there are a series of map tests and readings quizzes where students are tested on their comprehension of the readings for that section of the course. The map quizzes involve locating cities on regional maps. The readings questions are short answer. There are also a series of credit/no credit exercises that build critical thinking skills -- the work in each of these exercises prepares the student for an in-lab activity.
Midterm = 30% Final = 20% Map quizzes = 30% Credit/no credit exercises = 10% Poster = 10%
