The course forms part of the main field of Urban Studies second-cycle level

The purpose of the course is that students should develop specialised knowledge and acquire a picture of the research field of Urban Studies and its development, including its scope and complexity.

The course is structured around two themes that together form a whole:

1. Urban Studies idea and research development in relation to city development.
2. Urban Studies in current national and international research.

The course consists of several integrated elements:

• Introductory presentations, in the form of lectures and seminars on the Urban Studies research field.
• Literature seminars where students are responsible for their own introductory presentations of the literature and subsequent questions and critical discussion.
• Field studies illustrating and concretising important research aspects and enabling students to link these to their own experiences.
• Seminars where students present their own and criticise each other's essays.

Following successful completion of the course students should demonstrate

1. knowledge and understanding of the main field of Urban Studies and its idea and research development
2. the ability to critically, autonomously and creatively identify and formulate issues appropriate to the idea and research development of Urban Studies
3. the ability to perform within the main field of Urban Studies simple assessments informed by relevant disciplinary, social and ethical issues
4. the ability to critically and systematically integrate knowledge in the main field, i.e., knowledge developed historically as well as knowledge achieved by current research

Work formats include, in addition to individual literature studies, essay writing, seminars of various types, including research seminars with presentations by teachers in the field with subsequent questions and critical discussion among students as well as essay seminars.

• Completing written and oral seminar assignments (4 credits) (objectives 1-2) (grading scale UG)
• Active individual participation in seminars and field studies (4 credits) (objectives 1-2) (grading scale UG)
• Written and oral presentation of a minor essay where students autonomously and creatively identify and formulate issues in the main field including criticism of another student's essay 7 credits) (objectives 3 and 4) (grading scale A – E, U)

Course grade is based on written and oral presentation of essay.

• Bridge, G. & Watson, S. (Eds). (2010). The Blackwell City Reader. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
• Clark, P. (2009) European Cities and Towns 400-2000. Oxford University, Oxford.
• Harvey, D. (1989). The Condition of Post-Modernity. An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Blackwell, Oxford.

Articles and other material will be provided electronically.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format.

The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text