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urban political economy

            The course consists of a political economy approach to contemporary change in urban socio-spatial configurations, in Europe and other advanced capitalist contexts. It aims at developing both a critical and empirically grounded approach to urban change.
          

The course combines insights from theories of macro-economic changes and conceptualizations of the role of actors and institutions who actually drive urban change, in different urban contexts. Particular attention is paid i.a. to processes of metropolitanization, dynamics of re- / dis-investment in urban neighbourhoods and the adoption of entrepreneurial frameworks of urban policy-making and governance.

A major purpose of the course is to unpack the all-too-common representations that tend to naturalize, idealize or de-politicize processes of urban change at times of globalization. Rather, cities and urban change are considered here as social and political con-structs shaped by power struggles between social forces under evolving historical circumstances.

teacher

Mathieu Van Criekingen

Mathieu Van Criekingen is a professor of geography and urban studies at IGEAT - Université libre de Bruxelles.

administrative details

5 ECTS / 1st semester
VUB course code: 4014938FNR
ULB course code: GEOG-F428

teacher

Mathieu Van Criekingen

administrative details