Title:                   Shelter strategies in the South (lecture series in English language)
Lecturer:             Prof. Dr. Kosta Mathéy  & guests

Time/ Location:  Tuesdays -  11.40-13.20h ,  "kleiner Hörsaal' 91

Start:                   23.Oct. 2007
 

Details: For the majority of people in the world, housing is an ever lasting battle to obtain, improve and defend a roof over one's head. The lecture series will highlight people's efforts and policy options in different global settings and for specific target groups. Being an interdisciplinary topic the lecture series is targeted to students of all faculties aiming at a comprehensive vision of urban and rural shelter issues.
Topics to be discussed in the lecture include, for example, the following:
• House, Form & Culture
• Emergency housing
• Self-Help housing – helping some to help themselves
• Participatory design
• Housing typologies in the South
• Slum and Squatter Upgrading
• Land for housing
• Case study: housing policies & practices in Cuba
• Gender & housing
• Housing finance
• Children & Housing
• Case studies from Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, Egypt

Participants requiring a mark for the attendance of the lecture series may do the exercise (replacing the exam) at the end of the semester.
 

Topic:          Socio-economic and cultural challenges to urban Development
Lecturer:      Invited lecturers (Ringvorlesung).
Language:   English
Time:           Wednesdays 16:15-17:45
Room:          PAR seminar room
Credits:        2 CP,

The subject of this lecture series is to review the processes of economic, political, social and cultural transformation that are currently occurring in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The objective is to gain an understanding of the historical and contemporary contexts in which diverse societies and people act and, in turn, are influenced by forces in our interdependent world.
Today’s cities are fundamentally shaped by inequality and conflict, as different social groups mobilize political and economic resources in an effort to improve their individual socio-economic circumstances. Rapid globalization and the rise of the information economy, however, are resulting in rapidly changing patterns of employment, economic opportunities and political power. Understanding these changes, how they differ in different locations, and how they are affecting patterns of inequality and economic opportunity, is both critical for understanding patterns of urbanization, and essential for promoting more equitable, livable, and sustainable cities.
Through an integrated approach that links theory and case studies, we will examine the following issues which are central to the study of comparative social change and development:

• The nature of urban sociology
• Concepts of modernization and development
• Poverty and Migration
• AIDS and other epidemics affecting urbanization
• Socio-spatial segregation
• Policy and polity, governance
• Privatization policies
• The informal sector
• Community initiatives
• NGOs, CBOs and foreign aid
• Urban social movements
• Minorities and cultural identities