In dialogue with the annual theme, this seminar engages with critical urban discourses on planetary changes, contested values, urban ecologisation and more. Building on the Transformations I module, we mobilize theoretical and historical knowledges and approaches from the field of urban studies. Based mainly on the academic disciplines of critical urban geography, architecture, planning theory, and urban sociology, the module has three key aims. 

First, it gives students from different undergraduate studies a collective background to navigate the interdisciplinary academic field of urban studies. The close reading, written reflection and commenting of key texts in the seminar allows students to advance their understanding of urban theories and concepts. In addition, presentations on key projects in urban development allow to mobilize conceptual debates for critical reflection. The second aim of the module is to support students in developing their academic reading and writing skills. This refers not only to reading and analysing academic texts. Students will prepare position papers and a final essay. The third aim of the module is rather an aspiration: to make theoretical thinking part of the toolbox for students of urban design beyond the theory class. It is set out to collectively recognise that urban transformations are always led by assumptions around what ‘the good city’ is.