290109 PS Contemporary Problems in Urban Development (2008S)

The course "Contemporary Problems in Urban Development" will be divided up into three parts. The first part focuses on contemporary issues and strategies of urban development and related policies. US-American and European cities will serve as examples to examine these topics from various perspectives, including disciplines like geography, economics or sociology. Perspectives of urban development will be discussed at different spatial levels and explained by theoretical concepts and empirical evidence. Theoretical concepts discussed in this section will comprise a variety of economic and sociological approaches as well as geographic theories.
The link between theoretical approaches and society is provided in the second part by discussing issues of urban development on-site on selected projects of urban development in the City of Vienna. Applied field work and studies, comprising surveys as well as interviews and discussions with experts of local private and public institutions aim at putting knowledge and skills acquired in this section into practice. Smaller empirical projects organized by the students themselves are foreseen.
In the third part of the course the students will presents their impressions, their results of the empirical work and will summarize the main findings.

The following aims should be reached:
- Gain an overview about the current issues of urban development in North American and Europe;
- Strengthen the ability to analyse and to present specific research questions in an independent way;
- Practice the communicative skills and competences necessary for dealing with planners and politicians.