Content
The Module 'Planning Theory B' consists of contributions to a critical and reflective understanding of planning from a primarily socio-political perspective. It pursues an interdisciplinary approach which is meant to promote an exchange between urban and regional planning and urban and regional research, and in particular between planning theory and critical approaches to urban-regional and socio-spatial research, such as urban sociology, economic and political geography, political economy, as well as policy and governance research. The topics of the seminars are regularly updated with regard to current debates in planning theory and in urban and regional research. They deal with politico-economic and institutional conditions, with socio-political (power) relations and with spatial contexts of planning, with emphasis on the role of planning practices and discourses in the strategical-relational construction of socio-spatial settings. This is specified by an additional seminar title identifying the topic selected for each semester.
The choice for Module 'Planning Theory B' will appeal in particular to students who want to develop an expertise in critical urban policy studies.
As a complement to the Seminar 'Planning as Political Process 1', the Project Seminar 'Critical Urban Policy Studies' deals with theories, approaches and methods of critical urban studies. It focusses in particular on developing critical analyses of contemporary trends and emerging issues in urban policy and planning.
The Project Seminar 'Critical Urban Policy Studies' is devoted to elaborating frameworks for understanding and to applying them to the design and conduct of research, to be performed in groups. Each semester, the Project Seminar focuses on selected issues of contemporary relevance for urban policy and planning, and puts these at the centre of in-depth theoretical and empirical analysis.
