Programa del curso

Spanish City
Professor: Adolfo Garcia.

Course’s description and its goals:
Spain is a country that offers many interesting aspects. One of these aspects is its cities due to constitute an exceptional stage which we can kwon the different cultural influences that Spain has received along of the history, as well as some historical episodes of greater importance. Also, across the cities we can know the life’s way, the social relations and political questions that characterize nowadays the Spanish society. For that, we suggest to learn some theories and sociological concepts that should allow us to bring us over of a more systematic form to the notion of city. Likewise, the classes will be illustrated with examples of some of more known Spanish cities.

The specific objectives:
- To reflect about means the city.
- To know the different sociologist theories about the city.
- To approach to history of city in Spain.
- To have a view about some Spanish cities.
- To compare the Spanish cities with American cities.

Practical contribution of the course:
- Use of concepts and theories about urban process.
- Integration of knowledge from varies disciplines.
- Fomentation of critic thinking.
- Acquisition of knowledge about the diversity of cities and the urban process.
- Dominion of Spanish in expression wrote, told and oral.

Request of the course:
The assistance to class is considered very important, since the explication given will be the base of the exams. As well of tow exams (midterm and final exam), is an obligation the lecture of texts, and the redactions of small research.

Evaluation:
- Participation: 10%
- Reflects: 10%
-Research: 40%
-Exams: 40%

Content of the course:
1. The city and its forms.
Theoretical questions: Max Weber: the market as origin of the city, And. Park: the city like ecosystem; L. Wirth: the city likes way of life.

1.1 The city preindustrial: The Roman legacy, the Renaissance city, the baroque city and the Illustration.

1.2 The city of the 19th century: The Widening. The suburbial and peripheral growth (the case of Barcelona).

1.3 The contemporary city: the process of Spanish urbanization, the new slum and the city - image (the case of Bilbao and Barcelona).

2. The city and its life.
Theoretical questions: (Tönnies: the city as synonymous of the urban thing; Lefebvre: the street and its multiple meanings, Michel de Certeau the city and the practised space ;)

2.1 The public spaces: the square, the avenue, the street (the case of Malaga).

2.2 The urban epicenters: Churches, bars, ultramarine, markets and malls.

2.3 The holiday and its ecosystem: the holy Sevillian week, the Cadiz carnival and the Valencian faults (the case of Valencia).

3. The city and its conflicts:
Theoretical questions: (Castells, M.: The city like product of the way of production; P. Cottino; the city and the "urban homeopathy ").

3.1 The urban revolts: the communal ones, the cantons and the manifestations.

3.2 The old urban movements: the residents associations and the new slums, the social rural structure in the urban world and its connection with other social organizations, (the case of Madrid);

3.3 The newest social movements: the "culture lococentric ", between the comunitarism and the urban thing (the case of Seville).