SOC 6085 - Cities and Communities

Meets with SOC 4085. This course examines how cities and city life are shaped by social, cultural, political, and economic forces operating at many different levels. It also deals with how diverse groups of residents of particular urban places relate to what their cities are like and how they change. Finally, the course also explores how different urban environments, such neighborhoods, influence the lives of city residents. Topics covered include the emergence of cities in different historical periods, spatial aspects of urban growth, urban power and politics, social diversity and inequality, and various issues currently confronting cities, such as residential segregation by race and class, immigrants, concentrated poverty, affordable housing, homelessness, sprawl, gentrification and urban renewal/displacement, and urbanization in low-income countries of the world.