Urban Planning 235A: Urbanization in the Developing World

Quarter: Fall 2014
Instructor: Stephen Commins Stephen Commins

The purpose of this course is to put emerging development debates in perspective through assessing the debates about globalization and national development with a focus on urbanization, thus providing an emphasis on urban systems and dynamics within what different viewpoints commonly term “globalization”. The course provides an overview of how economic, political and social factors affect socio-economic change in urban contexts, and how thinking about planning for development has changed in the past several decades. It assesses processes around urbanization, urban governance, delivery of urban services, and the contentious politics of public participation and accountability systems.