Urban Sociology

ABOUT THE COURSE: We live in a world that currently faces multiple challenges of enormous magnitude, due to the effects of urbanization. With the rate, scale and shifting geographies of urbanization in the global South, it is important to map both challenges associated with and opportunities offered by cities. Both the challenges and opportunities are of immediate and direct relevance, with much of our urban resources and biodiversity disappearing, increasing poverty and social inequities, damaging pollution levels and landscape transformations. Urban sociology is one of the most prominent branches within the larger domains of sociology which can capture these complexities and help unravel cities as engines of economic development and social optimism. Within this context, this course would offer a mix of theories, concepts and practical cases to students, on how new approaches to think about sustainable urbanization can be framed using epistemological framings.INTENDED AUDIENCE: STUDENTS, CIVIL SERVICE ASPIRANTS, GATE ASPIRANTS, ACADEMICIANS, INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL, WORKING PROFESSIONALS-NGOSINDUSTRY SUPPORT: EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITIES

Week 1: Urbanization as a process Week 2:Contemporary urban India Week 3:Smart Cities and Urban Life Week 4:Violence, disaster, and the City