Course Coordinator

A/Prof. Yan Tan

Office:  G32, Napier (Napier ground floor)

Ph: 08 8313 3976

Email: yan.tan@adelaide.edu.au

The course consists of a one hour lecture and a two hour workshop each week.

Students are required to attend and participate in the seminars and workshops.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Critically analyse urbanisation processes and their contribution to economic growth and human wellbeing;

2. Develop an understanding of cities and the role of urban processes in shaping population distribution, economic restructuring, and society;

3. Understand how and why different forms of urbanisation in developed and developing countries have developed, and their implications for population distribution, economy, society and environment;

4. Develop conceptual thinking on the complex interactions between climate (environmental) risks, urbanisation and human mobility;

5. Critically analyse the relationship between urban planning, property development and urban growth;

6. Communicate both orally and in written form the key aspects of urbanisation processes.

7. Familiarise major sources of literature and data/information on urbanisation studies.

There is no required textbook for the course. All readings will be provided online via MyUni.

The following lists of journals and books are far from being comprehensive but provide some helpful reference points:

Journals

Cities
Planning Theory and Practice
Regional Studies
Urban Planning and Research
Urban Studies

Online books in the library

Birch, EL & Wachter, SM 2011, Global Urbanization, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Fox, S & Goodfellow, T 2016, Cities and development, Second edition., Routledge, London, [England] 
Horn, P, Alfaro d’Alencon, P & Duarte Cardoso, AC 2018, Emerging Urban Spaces A Planetary Perspective, 1st ed. 2018., Springer International Publishing, Cham.
Jonas, AEG, McCann, E & Thomas, ME 2015, Urban geography : a critical introduction, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, West Sussex.
Schwanen, T, Schwanen, T & Kempen, R van 2019, Handbook of urban geography, Edward Elgar Pub., Northampton, MA.

MyUni/Canvas

MyUni/Canvas is a critical learning tool and means of communication and knowledge exchange in this course. Learning materials are
available for each week in preparation for our workshop. Other course material (e.g. readings, assessment information) and many features of MyUni/Canvas (e.g. announcements and the discussion board) will help students to organise and manage their study.
 
Students need to regularly check the MyUni/Canvas website, and use MyUni/Canvas for the different assignments (for information and submission).
 
To reach the MyUni website for the course follow the links from the University of Adelaide's Homepage http://www.adelaide.edu.au or go
straight to  https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/. You will need to enter your username and password to enter the MyUni website. If you
have difficulty accessing MyUni contact the Help Desk at 830 33335 or send an e-mail to myuni.help@adelaide.edu.au (See http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni; http://www.adelaide.edu.au/its/help/contact_details/).

The teaching in this course is based on student-centred learning principles and strategies. Students are seen as partners in the learning journey. The course employs a blended approach to teaching and learning: face-to-face interactions in class are supplemented by effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the online teaching and learning environment of MyUni/Canvas. Students have material and learning activities on MyUni/Canvas which need to be done before the workshops so that the workshops can be very
active and participatory. The interactive and collaborative teaching and learning thus takes place inside and outside the classroom. Students learn problem-solving skills and work collaboratively in workshops.

The times suggested here are guidelines for students to achieve the course requirements and to successfully complete the course. You will need to allocate appropriate time for your study (contact and non-contact time). University policies suggest for a 3-unit course that there should be a minimum workload of 156 hours of learning activities in the semester:

·        Structured learning/contact time (lectures/workshops): 3 hours per week
·        Reading and preparation: 4 hours per week
·        Preparation for assignments: 3 hours per week
·        MyUni/Canvas: 3 hours per week

An indicative summary of course foci, the final Learning Acitivities Summary will be provided via MyUni prior to start of semester.

Week 1 What is urbanisation? Course overview and key concepts
Week 2 Why do we move to cities? History and drivers of urbanisation
Week 3 What are some different ways that we can think about urbanisation?
Week 4 Do we have equal citizenship in the city? Equality and rights
Week 5 What does urbanisation mean for our health?
Week 6 Urban systems: Housing

Mid-semester break

Week 7 Urban systems: Gentrification and revitalisation
Week 8 Urban systems: Green spaces
Week 9 Urban systems: Climate change and environment risk
Week 10 What will our future cities look like?
Week 11 Presentation tips and techniques
Week 12 No seminar (consultation by appointment)

None

1. Workbooks: Understanding Urbanisation 30%

2. Report: Urbanisation in my city 30%

3. Narrated slideshow: Future cities 30%

4. Attendance and participation 10%

To be able to pass the course you must complete and submit for assessment all assessment requirements described in the course profile.

The Harvard (author-date) referencing system must be used for the written assignments. Your work needs to include references.

1. Workbooks: Understanding Urbanisation: (30%)

This assignment is designed to consolidate and test your understanding of the key urbanisation concepts presented in the first four weeks of the course. The seminars, workshop activities and readings will prepare you for this assignment. The assignment is due at the end of the fourth week, however I encourage you to complete the individual tasks in the corresponding week of the course.

Assessment criteria:
• Demonstrated understanding of the key concepts and ideas of urbanisation
• Demonstrated capacity to develop a position or argument
• Demonstrated understanding of how to access, synthesise and present information
• Clarity of written expression (grammar, punctuation, structure, flow, narrative)
• The quality sources referenced (e.g. peer-reviewed academic literature)

2. Report: Urbanisation in my city (30%)

For this assignment you will be asked to choose a case study city to more closely examine urbanisation processes and their relation to the population’s health and wellbeing. You can choose the city that you grew up in (or near) or somewhere else. The assignment is designed so that you can demonstrate your understanding of the impacts of urbanisation and attendant implications for health and wellbeing.

Assessment criteria:
• Demonstrated understanding and capacity to analyse and synthesise information about urbanisation processes in your chosen city
• Cohesiveness of themes and ideas throughout the report
• Strength and appropriateness of the three case studies on health and wellbeing
• Clarity of written expression (grammar, punctuation, structure, flow, narrative)
• Appropriate use of tables/graphs/figures and sources

3. Narrated slideshow: Future cities (30%)

Assignment 3 draws together your understanding of global urbanisation processes to envision what our future cities might be like. Choosing one of the world’s 34 megacities, research an urban system and present possible future scenarios supported by scholarly evidence. For example, you might consider the future of one of the areas that we have discussed as a group (i.e. housing, gentrification/revitalisation, green space, climate change/environmental risk) or one that we have not touched on in-depth (e.g. transportation, critical infrastructure, public space, private development, governance). Think about the most pressing challenges to your chosen megacity and how your chosen urban system might respond or be shaped to provide better lives for urban citizens.

Assessment criteria:
• Demonstrated understanding of urbanisation processes
• Ability to translate and envision urbanisation processes in future cities
• Demonstrated understanding of how government policies shape cities
• Evidence of research and citation of appropriate literature
• Clarity of presentation (language, slide layout, grammar, flow)

4. Attendance and participation (10%)

All students are required to attend and participate in the workshops (or equivalent engagement via MyUni for remote students) and contribute to weekly discussion boards. Students’ attendance and participation will assessed by their contribution to workshop exercises and submissions to the discussion boards.

Submissions

All assignments should be submitted online via MyUni/Canvas on or before the due date under assignments.

 
Extensions

Extensions can only be sought under the provisions of the Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy or the Reasonable Adjustments for Teaching and Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy.

 
Faculty of Arts Late Assignment Policy

Assignments submitted after then without reasonable (evidence) cause could be subject to penalties. For work that is late without formal extension, 2 percentage points will be deducted from the mark for every day the work is late to a maximum of 7 days (including weekends and public holidays).

For example, an assignment that is 3 days late: raw score of 80% - 6 marks lateness deduction = 74% final mark.

For work with a formal extension, these penalties will apply from the extended due date.