Understanding cities
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| 6 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-course assessment | No residential school |
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Summary
For the first time in human history, more than half the world’s population will be living in cities. Huge influxes of people are entering cities, often in poor countries with few resources. This challenges not only how cities are to be understood, but also how people are to survive and thrive in cities. This multidisciplinary social science course offers a fresh look at cities as the world attempts to grapple with the problems and possibilities they present.
Course content
The main part of the course is a series of three books that explore the ways in which cities are connected to one another, and the effects that these connections have on the urban problems and potentials in particular cities. After an introductory text of four chapters, there are two main textbooks. Alongside these a course guide suggests pathways through the course. A separate period of study is set aside for viewing the television programmes, which will be delivered on DVDs. These can be exchanged for video cassettes if required. The course ends with an essay, guided by supplementary printed materials and an audio programme.
The course is structured round an exploration of the problems that occur in cities and an appreciation of a city’s place within the social relations that connect cities to one another. These social relations can involve flows of money, people, information, commodities or images. By tracing these flows between and within cities, it is possible to understand not only how certain cities become more or less successful (often in unexpected parts of the world), but also why certain areas within cities become richer while others grow more marginalised and disadvantaged. In short, the course teaches an understanding of cities based on a sense both of the problems that people who live in cities are facing, and of the wider social relationships that determine the future of cities. It makes possible an evaluation of the trajectory of urban fortunes and the scope for political and policy interventions.
The course opens with a sense of the character and importance of the cities we live in, as well as some of the problems that cities face. This book shows that people in cities are confronted by problems of different kinds – from huge increases in population, while the gap widens between rich and poor, to environmental pollution and degradation of urban areas. This raises key questions that hover over the future of cities, such as their social or environmental sustainability. The first book introduces the main lines of argument, structuring the course as a whole, and touches on many topics that are taken up later on.
The second book explores the city as the site at which a multitude of social relationships and ties intersect, giving an idea of the ‘global’ nature of cities, the different times and mixes that they embody, and the resultant intensity and diversity. These arguments may sound abstract, but the book uses detailed examples to guide you through them. It reveals how cities are made up of diverse webs of interconnections, characterised by differences that come together and settle in distinctive ways. The consequences and effects of this coming together of cultures, ideas, materials and the like form an important theme running throughout the chapters, and they are taken up again in the next book.
The third book turns to questions about how urban space is produced by different practices – of people, of groups or of institutions within the city – and considers them in the wider contexts in which people, groups and institutions find themselves. The book begins by showing how wider connections of one kind or another (economic, political, and cultural) produce the social patterning of urban space, and then it sees how power relationships order and disorder that urban space. The chapters look first at the various ways in which cities are divided socially and spatially; then at how people come together to act politically within the city; and finally at how social relationships within and between cities are managed, planned or regulated. The book raises substantial issues to do with urban problems and managing cities.
The series of six television programmes, delivered on DVDs picks up the themes of the three books, presenting case studies from across the world – from New York to Manchester, Sydney to Singapore, Moscow to Mexico City. In particular, the series develops a line of argument about the different ways in which groups in cities place themselves within networks of social relationships. The programmes offer a wealth of examples to illustrate and interpret people’s experiences of living in cities. Local contributors comment on and analyse their own cities and their place in the world. The last assignment is based on the television programmes, so you will need to view them using a DVD player at this time (or a video player if you have exchanged the DVDs for video cassettes).
Finally, there is a course essay with a choice of three themes dealing with economic, social and environmental issues. There is an introduction and a set of materials for each of them. The essay gives you an opportunity to go into a particular issue in more detail, to consolidate the understanding of cities you have gained from the course, and to deal with some of the main problems that cities are facing.
Vocational relevance
The course encourages analysis of contemporary urban problems and potentials in a global context and asks you, on the basis of your study, to develop ideas about the futures of cities. The multidisciplinary nature of the course enables you to draw on a range of approaches to understand today’s urban world, while also emphasising a particular spatial analysis of city problems. An understanding of urban issues and experiences would be useful to support training towards vocational interests and careers associated with cities, such as planning, local government, architecture, surveying, environmental management, teaching, business and politics.
Entry
This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended only for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably with the OU. You will find it helpful to have the kind of social science skills in reading, analysis and writing essays that are developed in our Level 1 course Introducing the social sciences (DD101) (or its predecessor DD100) and in Level 2 courses more generally. The Level 2 geography course Living in a globalised world (DD205) is a recommended predecessor course to DD304. Your regional or national centre will be able to tell you where you can see reference copies. The skills you need include grasping and using abstract ideas, reading and extracting concepts and arguments, developing your own arguments, recognising and assessing different views, and giving accurate references and bibliographies.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Qualifications
DD304 is a compulsory course in our
It is an optional course in our
- BA/BSc (Honours) Social Sciences (B06)
- BA/BSc (Honours) Social Sciences (B06) (with Geography)
- BA/BSc (Honours) International Studies (B11)
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it is equally appropriate to a BA or BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
Although the design of the materials does not present undue difficulties, the course includes maps and diagrams. The course materials are available on audio in DAISY Digital Talking Book format. The written course material is available in comb-bound format. Written transcripts are available for the audio-visual material and the television programmes on DVD are subtitled as well as having a guide that discusses how to use the television programmes. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, DVDs, course website.
You will need
Television, CD player (or audio cassette player), DVD player (or video recorder).
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the course material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it all. But if you unavoidably miss or do badly in an assignment, some courses allow you a ‘substitution score’. In DD304 this rule can apply to one assignment only. You will be given more detailed information when you begin the course.
Professional recognition
This course may help you to gain recognition from a professional body. Ask our Student Registration & Enquiry Service for Recognition leaflet 3.2 Royal Town Planning Institute.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2011 when it will be available for the last time.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
An undergraduate course in Environment, Development and International Studies and Social Sciences.
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