In this course, we will critically examine the ever-changing processes and structural forces that help shape the urban in the Global South.

Both generate creative ways of challenging unequal political and economic order and construct alternative urban spaces that are more inclusive and democratic. Individuals and communities also continuously act on the urban landscape. Formal and informal institutions help shape the urban environment in their own ways, reproducing inequalities and discrimination. However, a combination of broader processes of political, economic, and social nature also play a central role in how cities appear and grow. It is well known that architects, urban planners, and developers play important roles in defining urban growth and development. While a lot of scholars' attention goes to cities in the Global North, most of the future urban growth is expected to take place in the Global South – a conceptual space that combines regions across the world with similar histories of colonialism, imperialism, exploitation and deep inequalities. A majority of the world's population resides, studies, works and plays in urban settlements.

Cities of the global south reader pdf