Sociology I

Abstract

Sociology I investigates the relation between social developments and the production of the built environment from a macro-sociological point of view. It examines central aspects of social change, historical and contemporary forms of urbanization, and typical examples of models of urbanization.

Objective

This series of lectures should enable students to comprehend architecture in its social context.

Content

Sociology I deals with the macro-sociological point of view, and investigates the relation between social developments and the production of the built environment. In the first part central aspects of social change are examined, –in particular the transition from Fordism to Neoliberalism and the interlinked processes of globalization and regionalization. The second part deals with historical and current forms of urbanization. Among other aspects, it focuses on the changed significance of the urban-rural contradiction, the processes of suburbanization, periurbanization, and planetary urbanization; the formation of global cities and metropolitan regions; the development of new urban configurations in centres (gentrification) and in urban peripheries (edge city, exopolis, new urban intensity). In the third part these general processes are illustrated by typical models of urbanization: Manchester, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris and Zürich.

Resources