HST3301: Cities
20 credits (semester 1)
Module Leader: Dr Julia Hillner
| Comparative Option Description |
The Comparative Option is a new type of 20-credit, one semester module at level 3. Comparative Options take major historical themes and explore these across a broad time-frame and in a variety of different cultural and geographic settings. Each comparative option is taught by a team of lecturers whose own research relates to aspects of the topic under discussion, and they are designed to involve students and the teaching staff in a dialogue about how we approach key questions in the study of past societies. The topics selected for the modules all represent areas of lively, current historiographical debate and offer opportunities to respond to interpretations and theories emerging in other disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, geography and political science. For this reason they will appeal especially to students with an interest in thinking across disciplines in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, including those studying for dual degrees. All of the comparative options raise issues with strong resonances in our contemporary culture.
Comparative Options have been created to complement the more specialised work at Level Three, looking beyond the detailed focus on one specific place and time to ask more conceptual questions and allow for the space to engage with significant themes that run across many of the periods that we tend to study in isolation. How can we compare historical experiences separated in time and space? Can we gain insights into understanding one period by knowing how similar challenges were met in a very different historical context? Do we learn more from what periods have in common, or from the differences that emerge?
The modules are taught through a series of lectures and ninety-minute seminars, placing an emphasis on collaborative learning and the encouragement of active student participation in researching and presenting material in class. The assessment for comparative options is a mixture of coursework and marks for oral performance in the seminars.
| Pre-requisites |
A pass in at least two history modules at level two.
| Module Summary |
Cities have long been regarded as an emblem of modernity: urban `progress´ is typically contrasted to rural `tradition´. To be a `citizen´, the inhabitant of a city, was to be `civilized´; yet cities were also acknowledged pits of vice and moral dissolution. Cities were idealized as centres for the free operation of capitalist markets and social mobility, where anything could be bought and sold, where people could remake themselves. Yet this dynamism was at the same time balanced by the potential for social disintegration. In modern times, cities became objects of symbols of group identity, utopian spatial planning, urban redesign, and theatres of conflict and contestation. Much of the history of cities concerns the management of these contrasting forces.
In this module we examine the development of thinking about cities in a variety of disciplines (history, sociology, geography, architecture, urban planning) and the application of these ideas to cities themselves.
The module is designed as a framework for comparative study: lectures outlining general theories will be complemented by student case studies of individual cities. Throughout, our aim will be to bring theory into relation with historical examples, which may be drawn from across a broad temporal and geographical range.
| Teaching |
The module is taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. The lectures introduce the themes covered in the course and provide the necessary background and framework for exploring the subject. The 90-minute seminars provide opportunities for students to develop their ideas and discuss their reading for the module, and allow scope for students to gain experience in collaborative learning and in developing and articulating historical arguments.
| Week | Lecture |
| 1 | What is a City? The Pre-Modern City. |
| 2 | The Modern City |
| 3 | Sacred Centres |
| 4 | Cities and Markets |
| 5 | Political Centres |
| 6 | Communities and Mobility |
| 7 | Urban Space |
| 8 | City and Country |
| 9 | The Colonial City |
| 10 | Ideal Cities |
| Assessment |
The module is assessed by a combination of written coursework (83%) and marks for oral participation in seminars (17%). Students write two essays: an essay of 2000 words (33%) and one of 3000 words (50%).
Hand-in dates of the comparative option essays are as follows:
Essay 1: TBC
Essay 2: TBC
Assessment 1
Deadline for submission of hard and electronic copy: TBC. The first essay should be 2,000 words long (the word count includes footnotes but not the bibliography). The word count should be declared on the cover sheet.
It is paramount that you hand-in your essay to the basket in person located on the ground floor in Jessop West.
Assessment 2
Deadline: TBC
Word limit: 3,000 words (including footnotes, not including bibliography)
This essay accounts for 50% of the mark for the module.
Format: Word-processed, with footnotes and bibliography, the separate sheets of paper stapled together. You only need one copy. A cover sheet for this assessment is provided on MOLE this should be printed out and completed with your registration number, the date of submission, the name of your seminar tutor and the essay title. It should then be attached to the front of your essay before submission. Your feedback will be returned to you (via your seminar tutor or the course coordinator) in the second semester so that you can benefit from the comments of the marker.
It is paramount that you hand-in your essay to the basket in person located on the ground floor in Jessop West.
