The aim of this course is to supplement the exposure of MSc Urban Studies students to key theoretical discourses in urban studies with a critical examination...

The aim of this course is to supplement the exposure of MSc Urban Studies students to key theoretical discourses in urban studies with a critical examination of the same challenges from a practice-based perspective. Using London in particular as a laboratory, seminars with invited speakers will seek to identify a potential working interfaces between theory and practice.

The module will focus on re-interpreting the conventional synergies between critical theory and urban practice. Themes to be explored might include different approaches to policy making and specific challenges facing local government; the complexities of political coalition building around contested areas of public policy; the role of visual methodologies such as photography and film making in the exploration of urban issues; ethics, commitment and professional practice; and different approaches to urban writing (ranging from journalism to ethnographies and literature).

The sessions will feature outside speakers directly engaged in practice and we will build on our existing professional links at the UCL Urban Laboratory.

This module aims to equip students with the advanced analytical skills, concepts and theories essential for the study of the multifaceted role of creativity in...

This module aims to equip students with the advanced analytical skills, concepts and theories essential for the study of the multifaceted role of creativity in contemporary cities; and to give students the opportunity to apply this advanced learning to policy and planning debates.

To consider key approaches that theorise the relationship between culture and economy in urban change.
	To emphasise the actors, institutions and social milieus involved in fostering, identifying and promoting urban creativity.
	To explore the role of cultural landscapes in mediating new forms of urban creativity.
	To introduce greater geographical diversity to the study of creative cities, with a focus on the everyday as well as the iconic, the suburban in addition to the inner-city, and potential sources of learning from cities in the global South.
This module explores how and why the idea of the Creative City has come to play a key role in theorizing and planning contemporary urban development. We will consider different ways that culture has been conceived in understandings of recent urban change, and we will explore how a premium is increasingly placed on practices and activities associated with creativity in urban regeneration policies. An emphasis throughout will be placed on analyzing creative cities as distinctive social and political formations. Historical and contemporary examples will be investigated ranging from London, Paris and New York to Buenos Aires and Mumbai. This broad comparative frame combined with a wide interdisciplinary scope will enable new and important critical perspectives to be developed on the current role of creativity and culture in urban policy-making.

The course is taught through a series of lectures, field-visits and group discussions and presentations.