CITIES AND GLOBALIZATION

• Acquiring knowledge: the students will acquire theoretical-methodological skills in the field of urban geography to interpret and deconstruct global forces occurring in urban contexts;
• Applying knowledge and understanding: the students will be able to apply concepts and methods from urban geography to examine real cases, recognizing how globalization processes materialize in cities and how local contexts shape, mediate, or resist them.
• Making judgments: the students will be able to critically evaluate the complex tangle of global/local forces occurring in cities;
• Developing Communication skills: the students will be able to transfer to others, with a full command of technical language, information and assessments about the relationship between cities and globalization;
• Learning skills: at the end of the course students will have gained the necessary knowledge to deepen and integrate theoretical concepts with practical skills for a critical analysis of globalization dynamics that influence and/or emerge from urban contexts.

Textbook: Rossi U., Vanolo A., Urban Political Geographies. A Global Perspective. London: Sage.

Sample list of academic articles

-              United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Urbanization Prospects 2018: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/421).

-              Yeong-Hyun Kim (2008) ‘Global and Local’. In T. Hall et al. (Eds)(2008) ‘The Sage Companion to the city’ , London: Sage, pp. 123-137.

-              DUPONT, V. D.N. (2011), The Dream of Delhi as a Global City. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35: 533–554. 

-              S. González The role of the Guggenheim Museum in the development of urban entrepreneurial practices in Bilbao International Journal of Iberian Studies, Volume 16, Number 3, 1 December 2004, pp. 177-186(10)

-        Brokalaki, Z., & Comunian, R. (2021). Beyond the hype: Art and the city in economic crisis. City, 25(3–4), 396–418.

-              D. Harvey “From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism” Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography Vol. 71, No. 1, The Roots of Geographical Change: 1973 to the Present (1989), pp. 3-17

-              Ola Söderström, Till Paasche & Francisco Klauser (2014) Smart cities as

corporate storytelling, City, 18:3, 307-320.

-              M. Kaika and L. Ruggiero (2013) Land Financialization as a ‘lived’ process: The transformation of Milan’s Bicocca by Pirelli European Urban and Regional Studies.

-              Peck, J. and Tickell, A. 2002. ‘Neo‐liberalising space’. Antipode, 34(3): 380–404.

-              C. Hamnett (2003), Gentrification, postindustrialism and industrial and occupational restructuring in global cities, from: A companion to the city. Acompanion to the city. Author(s). Gary Bridge, Sophie Watson.

-              Hayes, M., & Zaban, H. (2020). Transnational gentrification: The crossroads of transnational mobility and urban research. Urban Studies, 57(15), 3009-3024.

-              Kaika Maria and Swyngedouw Erik. 2014. “Urban Political Ecology: Great Promises, Deadlock, … and New Beginnings?”, Documents d’Análisi Geográfica (Barcelona, UAB), 60(3): 459- 481.

-              Tzaninis, Y., Mandler, T., Kaika, M., & Keil, R. (2021). Moving urban political ecology

                  beyond the ‘urbanization of nature’. Progress in Human Geography, 45(2), 229-252

Assessment method

·      Type of assessment: oral exam

·      Structure: 3 open questions, 45 minutes

·      Components and weight:  single exam 100%

·      Assessment criteria: grading follows the programme’s shared grading grid below (18–30 and lode), based on knowledge of the topics, capacity to apply and discuss them critically, and clarity of exposition.

·      Attending / non-attending students: attendance is compulsory at Glopem; students admitted as non-attending under the late-visa exemption will be assessed on the basis of a full oral exam on all readings

·      Language: English.

Learning assessment may also be carried out on-line, should the conditions require it.

To ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students can also contact the CInAP (Centro per l’integrazione Attiva e Partecipata – Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA) referring teacher within their department (https://www.cinap.unict.it/content/referenti).

Shared grading grid – paste this at the end of the assessment section. It is the same for every Glopem course, already in English (meant especially for international students); adopted by the CdS on 25/09/2025. Add course-specific criteria above if relevant, but do not change the bands.

In Italy, grades for individual courses range from 18 (minimum pass) to 30 (maximum). The highest grade may be awarded with lode (cum laude, distinction) for outstanding performance. The scale is not directly convertible to percentages or GPA, but it is roughly comparable to “sufficient–excellent” ranges used internationally.

What are the different interpretations of the ‘global city’?

What are the main critiques to the concept of 'global city' elaborated by the sociologist Saskia Sassen?

What is a global urban hierarchy? What criteria would you use to rank cities in an urban hierarchy?

What is the difference between a global city and megacity?

What are the main characteristics of neoliberal urban restructuring?

What is meant by 'urban entrepreneurialism’?

What is meant by 'global urban competition'?

Do cities really compete between each other?

Can culture and technologies be considered as engines of urban economic growth?

What is ‘transnational gentrification’? Can this be considered as a new form of colonialism?

What is the relationship between cities and the environment/cities and nature?

Can you explain the concept of ‘extended urbanization’?