From their very beginnings cities have been sites of social tension, exploitation and emancipatory movements. This remains the same today, with a host of contemporary processes giving rise to new questions of justice and, at the same time, resurrecting some age-old issues. Indeed, cities today face unprecedented challenges. Migration, rapid urbanization, growing inequality, authoritarian governments, racial tensions, terrorism, climate change, and the list goes on. These issues are also transformed by processes of globalization, whereby the connections and networks between cities separated by vast physical distances have intensified, leading to complex urban relationships that have required new theoretical understandings.

The module investigates cities and social justice from a geographical perspective.  The concept of justice is itself sprawling, its complicated lineaments a persistent source of intense philosophical debate. At its core, justice refers to the standards used in assessing what is fair; measuring social justice is assessing what is fair, good or moral across society, especially the distribution of benefits and burdens between different population groupings. Definitions of a just society are necessarily wide-ranging, incorporating a variety of cross-cutting tensions between individual versus societal norms, and between universalism and group difference. These musings on social justice are not simply an academic exercise; they are also reflected in the real world, from segregation and polarization to homelessness, environmental racism and violence.

1. Critically engage with the nature and purpose of geographical knowledge
2. Understand different notions of justice with whom geography and geographers could engage
3. Critically engage with the real-world implications of justice and injustice in urban space
4. Critically examine how these debates play out in real life examples

The module will be delivered through lectures and seminars, in-person and on campus unless mitigating circumstances arise. Seminars will enable small group discussion about key issues relevant to the module. Students are expected to engage with additional module content on Learning Central e.g. readings or other material, to prepare for lectures and seminars, and to supplement and deepen taught components.

1. Ability to mobilise and present theoretically informed arguments and relate them to empirical material
2. Ability to understand and communicate clearly issues related to the diversity of cognitive and normative perspectives of people in different societies and cultures, and those of policy makers, and institutions
3. Ability to verbally analyse and summarize key readings in the social justice literature, skills that also constitute employability skills. 

A blend of coursework and portfolio assessment

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment takes place throughout the module.  There are learning checks in every lecture and the workshops which support the assessments provide an opportunity for peer to peer and tutor feedback.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Re-assessment

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with University regulations. https://intranet.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/teaching-and-supporting-students/teaching-support/academic-regulations. You will only be reassessed on the components of the module in which you have failed. The format of the reassessment will be the same as the original assessment and will take place in the Summer re-sit period.

The following topics may be covered:

• Defining justice, injustice, social justice
• Four approaches to social justice: Liberal approaches (Rawls), radical approaches (Harvey, Iris-Young), planning approaches (Fainstein), spatial approaches (Soja)
• Case studies of in/justice: the ghetto; environmental racism; homelessness; resilience/remaking/resistance; care; food justice and food banks