
Professor Daniel Purdy
Pennsylvania State University
Images of Urban Space: Perception, Memory, and Politics
This short seminar will discuss central arguments of critical urban theory in order to make these concepts clear and easy to understand in relation to contemporary cinema, photography, and architecture. Our discussion of European theorists will include a brief history of European urban development, with special attention on Paris and Berlin as industrial centers. The class discussion and readings are in English.
April 3 Tuesday, 16:10-18:00, C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
1. Types of Cities, Max Weber, “The City” Economy and Society, pp. 1212-1243 & Rem Koolhaas & Bruce Mau “The Generic City”S,M,L,XLpp. 1248-1264. This class will examine the various types of cities described by sociology and contemporary architecture. We will first review the standard definitions offered by Max Weber, the founder of modern German sociology, and Rem Koolhaas, a contemporary Dutch architect and theorist.
April 4, Wednesday, 16:10-18:00,C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
2. Georg Simmel, “Metropolis and Mental Life” Our discussion will consider the psychological impact of living in modern industrial cities. How are social interactions transformed by population density and sensory intensity? How are human interactions transformed by economic relations?
April 8, Sunday, 16:10-18:00, C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
3. Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Mechanical Reproducibility” –We will discuss this foundational essay to understand the relationship between visual media and the experience of urban spaces. Our discussion will be supported by watching Walter Ruttmann’s 1927 experimental documentary “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City”
April 9, Monday, 16:10-18:00, C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
4. Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, pp. 30-67. Our discussion will define and explain the applications of Lefebvre’s three fundamental approaches to analyzing urban space.These concepts will help us understand the varieties and political functions of urban space.
April 10, Tuesday, 16:10-18:00, C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
5. Michel Foucault “Of Other Spaces” & Michel de Certeau, “Walking in the City” Our discussion of French spatial theory continues by defining a series of spatial practices which isolate urban spaces in order to allow concealed forms of subjectivity to express themselves.
April 11, Wednesday, 16:10-18:00, C308, Shaoyifu Building , Xianlin Campus
6. Empty Spaces, We will consider to ephemeral qualities of urban experience: emptiness and atmosphere. Our discussion will elucidate the aesthetic effects produced by opening up new spaces with the dense construction of the metropolis. Andreas Huyssen, “The Voids of Berlin” &Gernot Boehme, “Urban Atmospheres: Charting New Directions for Architecture and Urban Planning”. Our theoretical discussion will be supported by two sets of images. First the architectural photography of the contemporary Chinese artist , Sze Tsung Leong Photography and second Wim Wenders’ film about Berlin in the 1980s before the Wall fell, “Wings of Desire” (Himmel über Berlin).