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This upper-level seminar taught in English will examine the socioeconomic, political, and cultural facets of urbanization processes in China. Its goal is to introduce students to key themes and concepts in urban studies and help them develop analytical skills that are critical for examining urbanization and its lived experiences in the People’s Republic. The seminar will also engage with studies conducted in other regions of the world to encourage a comparative approach to urbanization processes.

Students will be invited to examine critical urban issues, ranging from land politics, urban planning and governance to citizen rights, urban space, and urban culture. Two sets of readings will be introduced: classic writings in the field of urban anthropology, geography, and sociology, as well as empirical studies focused on China. After an overview of China’s quest for modernity and its urban transformation since the Republican period, the seminar examines China’s unprecedented urban development in the post-reform era through interdisciplinary lens. Readings and in-class discussions will be supplemented by a fieldtrip in Hong Kong, which will be an opportunity for students to apply the concepts and theoretical framework the have been studying to their lived urban surroundings.

Week 1 Introduction: Urbanization and the Chinese experience

Week 2 Understanding the urban

Week 3 Modernity and urban transformation

Week 4 Urban development and infrastructure

Week 5 Urban governance

Week 6 Urbanization under global capitalism

Week 7 Citizenship and the right to the city

Week 8 Urban space and sociality

Week 9 Fieldtrip and individual consultations

Week 10 Cultivating urban selfhood

Week 11 Sex, gender, and the city

Week 12 Viral cities. The urban and the COVID-19 pandemic

Week 13 Case Study Presentation & Course Wrap-Up

Class Participation: 20%
In-class Quizzes 15%
Fieldtrip & Mapping Exercise: 10%
Case Study Project: 55%

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.