Social justice and transition in the urban context

URB-403 / 3 crédits

Enseignant: Pattaroni Luca Giovanni

Langue: Anglais

Summary

This course examines how justice emerges through the material, spatial and institutional organization of urban transition. Combining political philosophy and urban sociology, it explores how infrastructures, housing and planning shape inequalities, responsibility and urban coexistence.

Content

The course is organized around four successive movements.

It begins by examining urban transition through the notions of ecological dependency, material limits and obligations toward the Earth before introducing major debates on justice and the spatial dimensions of social justice. It then investigates how capitalism, extraction and financialized urbanization produce unequal urban conditions and conflicts over housing, land and infrastructures.

The second part focuses on the material and institutional arrangements through which urban politics is enacted, examining planning, infrastructures, commoning practices and urban controversies. Finally, the course turns to care, maintenance, housing, hospitality and responsibility as ways of rethinking justice from within everyday urban life and socio-ecological transition.

Throughout the semester, theoretical perspectives are discussed in relation to contemporary urban transformations and empirical case studies, with particular attention to the transition of the built environment.

PROVISIONAL SYNOPSIS

Part I – From Transition to Dependency

1. Is Urban Transition Necessarily Just?

2. Justice Beyond Distribution: Space, Difference and the City

3. Dependency, Earth and the Living World

Part II – Justice under Strain

4. Capitalism, Extraction and Planetary Urbanization

5. Housing, Financialization and Urban Inequalities

6. Conflict, Participation and the Right to the City

Part III – Enacting the Political

7. Infrastructures and the Common Good

8. Commons, Repair and Urban Alternatives

9. Planning Urban Transition

Part IV – Reworking Justice

10. Care, Milieu and Political Ecology

11. Housing, Hospitality and Coexistence

12. Responsibility and Urban Futures

13. Towards Just Urban Futures

 

Learning Prerequisites

Recommended courses

Science and technology in urban transformation

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Define key concepts related to justice, urban transition and socio-ecological transformation.
  • Analyze urban situations through their social, spatial, material and institutional dimensions.
  • Interpret urban transformations using theories of justice and socio-ecological transition.
  • Interpret socio-ecological transition strategies (equity implications of densification, mobility, energy or yet housing interventions)
  • Critique planning strategies, infrastructures and urban policies with regard to inequality, responsibility and ecological transition.
  • Assess / Evaluate the ethical and political responsibilities of architects, planners and engineers in shaping more just urban futures.

Teaching methods

  • Interactive lectures
  • Guided discussions of compulsory readings
  • Case study analysis
  • Role-playing and debate simulations
  • Student presentations
  • Short field-based observations and collective discussion

Expected student activities

  • Active participation in class discussions, debates and role-playing exercises
  • Critical reading of compulsory texts
  • Oral presentation of assigned readings
  • Preparation for the final oral examination

 

 

Assessment methods

In-class participation

30%

Active involvement in discussions, debates, exercises, and group work. Students are expected to engage critically with readings, contribute to group activities, and participate constructively in class.

Final written exam

70% Individual exam at the end of the course (1 hour), based on key concepts, case study analysis, and application of justice frameworks to urban scenarios.

Resources

Moodle Link

Dans les plans d'études

  • Semestre: Printemps
  • Nombre de places: 25
  • Forme de l'examen: Oral (session d'été)
  • Matière examinée: Social justice and transition in the urban context
  • Cours: 2 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Exercices: 1 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Type: obligatoire
  • Semestre: Printemps
  • Nombre de places: 25
  • Forme de l'examen: Oral (session d'été)
  • Matière examinée: Social justice and transition in the urban context
  • Cours: 2 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Exercices: 1 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Type: obligatoire
  • Semestre: Printemps
  • Nombre de places: 25
  • Forme de l'examen: Oral (session d'été)
  • Matière examinée: Social justice and transition in the urban context
  • Cours: 2 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Exercices: 1 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Type: optionnel
  • Semestre: Printemps
  • Nombre de places: 25
  • Forme de l'examen: Oral (session d'été)
  • Matière examinée: Social justice and transition in the urban context
  • Cours: 2 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Exercices: 1 Heure(s) hebdo x 14 semaines
  • Type: optionnel

Semaine de référence

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