WRIT 092: URBAN STUDIES

Spring 2022 Courses

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WRIT 092 301

MW 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Argaman

A World of Cities

Fulfills the Writing Requirement

For the first time in human history, more than half of all the people on earth now live in cities. From bursting megacities like Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai, to rising city-states like Dubai and Singapore, to financial powerhouses like London, New York, and Tokyo, the world's economy, politics, and ecological future depend, increasingly, on what happens in cities. In this class, we will investigate this new reality in depth: What makes cities grow and thrive, and what makes them fail? What is causing the world-wide growth of slums, and what, if anything, can be done about it? Will growing cities be an ecological disaster, or a green opportunity? And ultimately, we will ask whether this new wave of urbanization means for humanity's future. Students will improve their analytic and narrative writing abilities, use case studies of individual cities, and focused writing assignments to develop and articulate well-informed opinions about a complex, real-world topic without cut-and-dry answers.

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