Urban Studies

The course has two sections, with the first section focusing on urbanization, urban form and structure, urban biodiversity and conservation, and the second section focusing on urban hydrology, urban rivers, urban river restoration and both terrestrial and aquatic pollution.  The lecture series ends with a field trip to an urban river site in London.

This course discusses a number of economic, social and environmental challenges that exert massive demands on the urban environment. The critical urban issues, focused on the built environment, include public housing, urban transportation, sustainable development, building conservation and resource management. The course is oriented towards public policies and urban management based on an interdisciplinary approach which includes urban planning, laws and regulations, land management, stakeholder engagement, technology and governance. 

The course deals with themes of Lyon's urban history (by urbanization, space, public squares, housing, architecture, places of worship, trade and commerce, the ways of life of the inhabitants and their relationship with the Rhône and Saône rivers). Comparisons are made with other cities. Finally, the course covers the city’s cultural institutions in charge of transmitting memory and urban heritage (museums, archives, etc.) and includes field study sessions. Through the approach of social history, the course presents the two-thousand-year history of the city, from its origins to the present day, with emphasis on certain particularly decisive moments in the construction of space, the transformations of urban activities, and ways of life.

This course has three main components. First, it discusses a coherent analytical framework for understanding some of the key ideas and issues informing the debate about the environment and about sustainability today. It examines the principles and practices of sustainable development in the context of urban development. More than half of the world's population are already living in cities and by the middle of this century that figure will rise to more than 65 percent. With rapid urbanization, cities face environmental, economic, and social challenges that pose threats to sustainability of urban development. Second, the course investigates the historical conditions for the contemporary debate about sustainability, reviewing the evolution of different approaches towards the environment from the earliest farming societies to present (post-) industrial societies. The course adopts a ‘Big History' approach to see the overall picture, seeking out common themes and patterns that can help to better address the multiplicity of socioeconomic and environmental issues faced today. The third and major part of the course looks at Tuscany and at Florence in particular, on the basis of the fruitful concept of ‘Urban Metabolisms' to focus attention on the interdependence between cities and their environments. Tuscan cities such as Florence and Siena are often considered ideal models of sustainable urban and rural development as well as of landscape preservation. This ‘Under the Tuscan Sun' image of Tuscany is contrasted by an analysis of the more complex historical realities. Students deconstruct these idealized images of the Tuscan space and to rethink the complex relationship between ‘città and contado' (city and countryside) in the Tuscan past and presence. A variety of key thematic issues and sustainability challenges are explored in the context of Tuscan urban environments, including transport, tourism, water, waste, and food issues. A variety of outdoor activities including a daytrip to the Tuscan countryside offers unique opportunities for students to engage with local community.