Urban Studies at the University of British Columbia

For the first time in human history, a majority of people in the world live in urban areas. Over the next quarter-century, the global urban population is projected to grow from three billion to five billion – advancing at an annual rate almost twenty times faster than rural areas. For the foreseeable future, metropolitan areas will account for an increasing share of global population growth and economic activity.

Statistical statements like this often pervade popular discussion of urban issues. At times the barrage of rankings and indicators is overwhelming. Yet despite the proliferation of categories and quantities, the problems and possibilities of cities and urban life are often ignored or sidelined. As social and cultural theorist David Harvey asks, “why is it that the urban so frequently disappears from our discussions of broader political-economic processes and trends? … The urban rarely appears as a salient category in our analyses. The crucial categories seem to be those of modernization, modernity, post-modernity, capitalist, and industrial society. So what has happened to the category ‘urban’?” [1]

Urban Studies is the interdisciplinary effort to answer this question, and to disentangle the paradoxical invisibility and centrality of cities in human affairs. At the University of British Columbia, Urban Studies was launched in 1971, and is supported by faculty in Geography, Art History, Sociology, History, Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, the School of Architecture, and the School of Community and Regional Planning. Although not a degree program, Urban Studies at UBC allows students to pursue urban-oriented electives as part of their chosen majors.

As the roster of “millionaire” cities – places with at least a million inhabitants – continues to grow, attending to the economic, cultural, and social issues of the world’s “urban future” has assumed an integral place on the policy agenda. Academics and activists alike have sought to identify and respond to specific urban social justice questions, creating a networked and international community of urbanists.

One way of mapping this community is to skim through the institutional members of the Urban Affairs Association, the international organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service providers [2]. Members include the University of Toronto (the Center for Urban and Community Studies), the University of Glasgow (the School of Urban Studies), Central European University, El Colegio de Mexico (the Center for Demographic and Urban Development Studies), Harvard (the Graduate School of Design), Penn, UNC-Chapel Hill, Temple, Cornell, Clemson, SUNY-Buffalo, Rutgers, Minnesota, Delaware, and UCLA.

Urban Studies is a vibrant and growing area of graduate and undergraduate study at many universities. Simon Fraser University recently launched a Master of Urban Studies degree. Enrollment in Stanford University ’s Urban Studies Program doubled in only three years [3]. An Urban Studies Major at the University of California Berkeley is the first new degree program offered by the College of Environmental Design in thirty-six years [4]. At Yale, a grassroots campaign of students mobilized to demand a Urban Studies Major that would combine and strengthen the institution’s existing urban programs (an architecture major with an urban studies track, and an American Studies major with an urban studies focus) [5]. In a climate of widespread budget cuts, the University of Southern California’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences recently embarked on a $100-million effort to hire scores of “world-class” senior faculty members – and Urban Studies was one of only three target hiring areas [6].

References

[1] David Harvey (1997). “Contested Cities: Social Process and Spatial Form.” In Nick Jewson and Susanne MacGregor, editors, Transforming Cities. London and New York : Routledge.

[2] Urban Affairs Association (2005). “Institutional Members of the Urban Affairs Association.” http://www.udel.edu/uaa/instmems.html

[3] Jessica Daniel (2003). “Stanford Urban Studies Shows Increased Enrollment.” The Stanford Daily, October 23.

[4] Mark McLaughlin (2002). “UC-Berkeley Introduces New Urban Studies Major.” The Daily Californian, August 13. Ananya Roy, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, offers an eloquent summary of the mission of this interdisciplinary area of inquiry: “Above all, the intent of the major is to produce urban citizens willing and able to imagine an alternative world order through innovative forms of social praxis.”

[5] Michael Schamy (1999). “Creation of Urban Studies Major Still Up in Air.” Yale Daily News, November 19.

[6] Piper Fogg (2002). “ U. of Southern California Will Add 100 to its Faculty.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 4.

"In the ideal democratic city, the walls have fallen. Across the divides of difference, people connect; they agree to differ. Collective memory is organized into a then and now that celebrates the present as a collective achievement. The vision is one of tolerance and diversity, shared values and complexity -- not all for one, but the many for the all. ... Socioeconomic polarities are minimized, and injustice, oppression, and exploitation are muffled. In this imagined city, frictions are not dispelled, failures are frequent, and disagreements are impassioned. The city of our imagination is not utopia." Sophie Body-Gendrot and Robert A. Beauregard (1999). "Imagined Cities, Engaged Citizens." In Beauregard and Body-Gendrot, editors, The Urban Moment: Cosmopolitan Essays on the Late-20th Century City. Urban Affairs Annual Review 49, pp. 3-22, quote from pp. 14-15.

Seminar in Urban Studies, April 2008

Seminar in Urban Studies, April 2007

Seminar in Urban Studies, April 2006

Upcoming Events

Indonesia's Urban Future: Directing Urban Change

March 4-6, 2009

Conference Room, C.K. Choi Building

Conference Agenda

Co-Sponsored by the Centre for Southeast Asian Research, the Urban Studies Program and the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia at Vancouver

Ten years have passed since the fall of the New Order and a sense of hope and concern has developed in regard to how things have changed since 1998. Starting from the idea that the city is an “act of will,” this workshop aims to contribute to an understanding of the post-Suharto era in at least two ways: by focusing on the attempts of social groups to represent and transform the city, and by examining the role such attempts play in the formation of social identities. What kinds of visionary ideas, influential programs and activism have been set in motion for the city? According to what rationalities are they put into play? Who was enabled and disabled by the urban programs? This workshop brings together prominent urban scholars from Indonesia, Canada and the US in the purpose of sharing ideas and perspectives, and working toward articulating an understanding of what the future holds for the continuing urbanization of Indonesia.

The Amacon-Beasley Scholar-in-Residence

Thomas J. Campanella

Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

March 9-13, 2009

SCARP students Chris Wenman, Adam Cooper and James White and others will be organizing a one-day symposium on Friday March 13 for students, academics, practitioners and other interested community members (details forthcoming) in which Tom will be the keynote speaker. Tom will also be giving a lecture in the SCARP lecture series. Dr. Campanella is a noted historian and theorist on urbanism. His most recent books are: The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008) and (co-edited with Lawrence J. Vale), The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Co-Sponsored by the School of Community and Regional Planning, the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and the Urban Studies Program.