SEES0090: Cities in Eastern Europe (21-22)

During the 20th and 21st century, Eastern European cities have been characterized by radical upheavals and reconfigurations: most dramatically, by wartime annihilations of human beings and built fabrics; and most lastingly, by the attempt to build and to unbuild something known as the 'socialist city'. This course will explore the urban experience of Eastern Europe through the prism of socialism and post-socialism. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the following key questions: What was the ‘socialist city’, both in the imaginations of its ideologues and in ‘actually-existing’ form? How did the socialist city differ from the pre-socialist city, and how did it unravel following the crumbling of the regimes, which conceived and built it? How do the forms, aesthetics and political economies of socialist urbanism continue to linger, persist and reproduce themselves today? Sessions will take place on Friday afternoon, between 4pm-6pm. The first hour will take the form of an online lecture (broken up into three shorter sections and punctuated by short group work activities); the second hour will be devoted to student presentations (see below) and free-flowing discussion of the readings and topic. Assessment will be by means of one 2,500 word essay (BA); and one 3,500 word essay (MA), due on 11th May 2020. Student presentations Each week, one student will be asked to give a ten-minute presentation on a topic of their choice. On the first session following reading week, students will also be asked to submit a submit an 800-word “review” of a book, film, city or building. Although this review will not be assessed, submission is compulsory and feedback will be provided.