This empirically-led residential field class will critically examine the ways in which Los Angeles has evolved to become a leading global city, and with what consequences to the social geography and order of the city. The module will encourage critical insight into the lessons that can be learned from this unique city from a social geographical perspective. In particular, the aim of the module is to provide students with a detailed understanding of global city theory, which then will be illustrated with on-the-ground instances of inequality, polarization, immigration, social problems, social justice, planning for diversity and public space.

The FSV will be divided into two components: (1) site visits and walking tours involved in the social order of global Los Angeles; and (2) a series of group-based data collection exercises that will involve street photography, observation and surveys, the results of which will be presented in the field and one of which will be written up as an individual piece of coursework.

• Critically engage with geographic issues relating social geography in the context of global cities.

• Apply this knowledge to the case study of Los Angeles.

• Engage directly with specific empirical examples in order to elucidate problems, processes and solutions.

• Present considered and balanced critiques of contemporary processes in global city development.

The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures before the fieldtrip, a week-long field study visit and presentations. Lecture slides and supplementary hand-outs will be made available on Learning Central (e-learning).

Students are expected to engage with compulsory guided reading associated with each topic to supplement and deepen the taught component

• Ability to mobilise theoretically-informed arguments and relate them to empirical material and observations from the fieldtrip
• Researching key processes at play in the field study destination of Los Angeles
• Ability to assess the transferability and scalability of these processes to other places
• Field observation, surveys, visual methods and documentation skills
• Appreciation of the implications, in practice, of norms about respecting cultural and other difference
• Intercultural and professional skills in respect to interaction with individuals from other cultures
• Critical and reflective thinking
• presenting empirical and theoretical material to convey a solid understanding of contemporary issues in global city development

How the module will be assessed

Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the key issues in global city development in the case study of Los Angeles and its social order. This is assessed through active coursework which all students must undertake.

The mode of assessment for this module consists of one written essay assignment, which accounts for 100% of the total module mark, and which will be based on actual fieldwork (in groups) and subsequent analysis and writing-up after the fieldtrip (individually).

Type of assessment

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Essay

100%

Assignment briefs to be provided

4,000 words

Spring

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

Through a combination of lectures, walking tours, personal observations and direct data collection, students will develop a theoretical and empirical knowledge of the social order of the global city in Los Angeles. Examples of specific sites that may be visited during the time spent in Los Angeles include the polarized Downtown core; immigration and revitalization in Koreatown; image management in Hollywood; issues of public space, homelessness and gentrification in Venice; transportation issues in the LA Basin; social capital and enterprise faced with social problems in East Los Angeles; the gaps between vernacular landscapes of the everyday LA and the power landscapes of Bunker Hill, Century City and Beverly Hills; and the issue of access to green space.

Central to this module is the development of students’ ability to engage critically with the case study of Hong Kong through the lens of global city development and transition.

Davis, M. (1990) City of Quartz, New York: Verso.

Deener, A. (2012) Venice: A contested bohemia in Los Angeles, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Keil, R. (1998) Los Angeles, London: Wiley.

Davis, M. (1998) Ecology of fear, New York: Vintage Press.

Davis, M. (2001) Magical urbanism: Latinos reinvent the US big city, New York: Verso.

DeVerteuil, G. (2006) ‘The local state and homeless shelters: Beyond revanchism?’, Cities, 23: 109–120.

DeVerteuil G, (2011a) ‘Evidence of gentrification-induced displacement among social services in London and Los Angeles’, Urban Studies, 48: 1563-1580.

DeVerteuil, G. (2011b) ‘Survive but not thrive? Geographical strategies for avoiding absolute homelessness among immigrant communities’, Social and Cultural Geography, 12(8): 929-945.

DeVerteuil, G. (2011c) ‘From E1 to 90057: The immigrant-serving non-profit sector among London Bangladeshis and Los Angeles Central Americans’, Urban Geography, 32(8): 1129-1147

Hooper, B. (2009) “Los Angeles School of Post-Modern Urbanism”, in the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Robert Kitchin and Nigel Thrift (eds), 293-297. Elsevier Press.

Zukin, S. (1992) ‘The city as a landscape of power: London and New York as global financial capitals’, in L. Budd and S. Whimster (eds) Global finance and urban living, London: Routledge, pp 195-223.