Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
3 hours100% online
How it works
Global Urban Theory Lab: Extended and Displaced Urbanisation
Explore global urbanisation, learning from African contexts
This course provides an opportunity to learn about and build insights from one of Africa’s most dynamic urban regions, the Gauteng City-region, comprising more than 15 million people. South Africa provides an excellent opportunity to contribute to theory-building about the processes of displaced and extended urbanisation.
Build your understanding of new urbanisation processes
Extended and displaced urbanisation leads to sprawling and fragmented urban regions, as well as new urban settlements emerging in remote regions around the world, often in response to extractive economic activities and infrastructure corridors. South Africa provides an excellent context for exploring these trends - apartheid-era legislation created urban settlements far from jobs and city centres; some are now arguably dynamic centres of autonomous urbanism, but still closely connected to metropolitan regions like Gauteng.
Develop your own insights and contribute to urban theory-building
Explore the case of Johannesburg through bespoke videos, expert interviews and guided reading of academic and policy texts, and draw on your own knowledge and experience of other contexts, to interpret processes of extended and displaced urbanisation. Join in a directed process of developing your own conceptualisations of these new aspects of global urbanisation.
Address governance challenges of displaced urbanisation
Confront the governance hurdles of managing extended urban regions and displaced urbanisation. Explore emergent governance models and planning challenges of displaced and extended urbanisation in the Gauteng region, reflecting on strategies for services and infrastructure management in rapidly expanding urban landscapes.
Syllabus
Week 1
What and Where is Urban?
Welcome
Welcome to the first week of your collaborative online course
Course tools
In this Activity, we want to familiarize you with some tools we'll be using in this course: the Discussion Forum and Padlet.
Vocabularies of Urban Territories
We will be taking a look at a short reading, and start to engage with some of the key debates and concepts we will be exploring in this course. You will also consider how to approach complex academic texts.
Learning from Africa: the case of Johannesburg
In this Activity, we introduce the city of Johannesburg, and consider some of the key themes which we will be exploring in more detail in the next few weeks.
Enrichment Activities and Further Reading
If you have more time, you might like to explore the following enrichment activities.
Week 2
Urban territories: Stretching, shrinking, displaced Johannesburg
Welcome to week 2
A short introduction to week 2
Apartheid urban territories
In this Activity, we explore the continuing implications of apartheid in Johannesburg.
Post-apartheid urban territories
In this Activity, we look at the transformation of the Gauteng city-region since the end of apartheid.
Displaced urbanisation
In this Activity, we explore the idea of ‘displaced urbanisation’ as a kind of urban form.
Displaced urbanisation in other settings
In this Activity, we consider whether displaced urbanisation/urbanism can be seen in other cities.
Enrichment Activities and Further Reading
Explore these additional readings if you have time.
Week 3
Conceptualising urbanisation processes
Welcome to week 3
An introduction to week 3.
Migration shaping urban territories in Johannesburg
In this Activity, we explore how Gauteng has been shaped by different kinds of migration.
Explore an urban territory shaped by mobility: “enclave entrepôt”
In this Activity, we will look at the idea of the “enclave entrepôt”.
Building Urban Concepts: What is an Urbanisation Process?
In this Activity, we build on the reading we’ve done so far to develop our own urban concepts.
Enrichment Activities and Further Reading
Explore these further readings if you have time.
Week 4
Governing Extended Urbanisation
Welcome to week 4
Professor Jennifer Robinson introduces the final week of this course.
Governing extended urbanisation: Collaboration or Competition in the extended urban region?
In this Activity, we explore possible ways of governing the extended city region.
Governing Displaced Urbanisation
In this Activity, we consider how ideas of displaced urbanisation and displaced urbanism might inform governance strategies
Governing the entrepôt enclave
In this Activity, we explore the idea of urban governance and relate it to the work we have already done on the “entrepôt enclave”.
Enrichment Activities and Further Reading
Explore some further readings which develop the ideas we’ve discussed this week.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Develop insights and understanding of contemporary global processes of extended urbanization.
- Explore the urbanizing region of Johannesburg, South Africa, focusing on the history, transformation and present challenges of the Gauteng city-region of which Johannesburg is a part.
- Interpret the global phenomenon of extended and dispersed urbanization, through detailed assessment of evidence relating to the South African example of displaced urbanisation.
- Critique complex and theoretical academic texts, and have opportunities to practice application of skills of reading and analysis.
- Create conceptual insights on urbanization processes relevant to the diversity of urban contexts across the globe, with a particular emphasis on African urban experiences.
- Evaluate information and data on urban processes, and their value in informing public policy and decision-making.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for urban studies students, professionals in urban governance, and anyone interested in urbanisation, particularly in the African context.
It’s ideal for those aiming to understand trends in global urbanisation and urban governance.
Who will you learn with?
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
---|---|---|---|
Choose the best way to learn for you! | $134/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 6 Mar 2025 |
Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$134/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 6 Mar 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. |
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
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- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
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- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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