Urban Studies

Depletion of traditional fuel stores has been accompanied by increasing pollution levels. Consequently, motivations to lower carbon-emissions have elevated. To ensure change is achieved on a global scale a multinational agreement was confirmed in 2015 at the Paris climate conference whereby 195 countries agreed a legally binding global climate deal, the first of its kind. Advancements in the field of electrochemical engineering and the infrastructure that will subsequently facilitate such changes are essential in order to reduce dependencies upon traditional carbon-intensive technologies. For instance, battery technology for use in automotive applications will require a robust charging network in order to prevent energy shortages and power blackouts. This course provides insight into each stage of this process, from the chemistry and manufacture of new materials to the organization of the grid and the redesigning of our metropolitan infrastructure. 

This course investigates the global history of city design and urbanism from ancient times to the contemporary period. Through an interdisciplinary course bibliography and readings in key historical texts on urbanism, students will grasp the major historical trends and philosophies of urban emergence and development. Tutorials centred on Edinburgh site visits and training in research and writing will prepare students to perform first-hand research and compose original scholarship on the built environment. The goal of this course is to give students a critical acumen for evaluating the architectural transformation of the urban realm across disparate cultures and far-flung geographies over time, from Antiquity to the present day.

This course examines one of the most complex products of society- the city, with the focus on the city of Tokyo. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to study the phenomenology of Tokyo at the meeting point between the built city and the personal urban experience. The course also looks at the creation and recreation of the city's physical texture, architecture, urban landscape, infrastructures and technology while at the same time, observing it as a social product determined by everyday life and habitual practices, the organization of the immediate surroundings, personal rites and the micro-politics of life in the city. In the same manner, the course looks at buildings and neighborhoods per se, as a material construct guided by geometry and legal code, while also recognizing how the pragmatics of this built environment interrelate with cultural systems such as literature and film, and with culture as a whole. The course also looks at how the city is not merely a reflection or expression of politics, but rather an intricate political apparatus in and of itself, influencing relationships and encouraging change.

This course looks at the history and archaeology of London, from its Roman foundation as Londinium in the 1st century AD, through its collapse and re-foundation as the new settlement of Lundenwic in c. AD 600, its relocation in c. AD900, and its subsequent dramatic development through to its destruction in the Great Fire of AD 1666. The majority of classes take the form of field trips in the London area. Students obtain a solid overview of the development of London from AD50-1700 and a familiarity with the layout of the historical city, its physical remains, monuments, and museum displays. Students are also encouraged to consider the ways in which such remains are uncovered and presented to the public. 

This course examines transport planning and management of transport systems. It covers basic concepts on the interaction between transport and land use as well as with the overall urban context, integrated transport planning process, transport data and modelling, transport economics and finance, travel behavior and travel demand management, public transport planning, and active transport planning.

The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “City as Public Forum” sessions, students are introduced to French history and culture through a series of lectures and site visits. Students discover some of the fascinating ways the core principles of social justice were tested in theory and practice on the streets of Paris in the past and explore how they evolved into the pillars of French society today. The course focuses on just how an ideal society should be forged, where all are free individuals and members of a cohesive community at the same time. Trying to make individuals believe—as religions do—in the primacy of the collective, and in its concomitant goal of protecting human rights, is at the core of social justice in France. From 52 B.C.E to today, France has been an exemplar of how—and how not—to construct a just society. To render these values visible, and therefore legible, to all by adding a physical dimension—whether constructive or destructive—to the usual means of establishing laws or setting policies, is what distinguishes the history of France's capital city of Paris. Those who control Paris—be they monarchs, revolutionaries, or presidents, past and present—believe that erecting all kinds of physical structures will render their values concrete and immutable. The ideal French society did not always necessarily mean a democratic or inclusive one. Since the French Revolution, however, institutionalizing the concept of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” has been France's greatest universal achievement and a source of constant upheaval, eliciting a unique form of secular activism that has led to targeting buildings and monuments that no longer reflect the collective's values. Students discuss how the diverse social actors, who constitute “the French,” continue to thrust their bodies and minds into the physical spaces of the public sphere in the pursuit of social justice. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students learn targeted language skills through situational communication, so they have the opportunity to use everything they learn as they go about their daily activities. Advanced French students will participate in conversation courses on the program’s theme.