URBS 248 - Housing Crises and Activism

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as GEOG 248) This course investigates the political economy of housing in the United States and beyond from a critical theoretical and historical perspective. With an eye toward the pursuit of housing justice, we examine the diverse causes and possible remedies of inequitable housing markets, segmentation by race and class, residential displacement, and conditions of housing insecurity. Through readings, lectures, discussions, and projects, we focus on issues central to the study of housing: the politics of land and property; real-estate development and speculation; financialization and property markets; gentrification and dispossession; land-use planning and housing policy; community and housing activism, and others. We analyze specific housing movements and tenant campaigns to connect these broad themes and processes to the particularities of time and place. The class aims to provide a robust analytical framework to better understand the uneven political economies, social relations, and geographies of housing.

Prerequisite(s): A previous course in Geography or Urban Studies.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS