Political Theory and the City Seminar

The city – as an ideology and in practice – stood at the core of the ideas of many political thinkers, from Plato and the Greek polis to contemporary philosophy and political theory that is written in various places around the world. The city, because of the multiplicity, diversity, and open and non-determinable nature that characterize it, is conceived as the place of the "political": that is, as the main locus where people meet, work and create, on the one hand, but also as a place where tensions, separation and conflict are exposed, on the other. The purpose of the seminar is to trace the city's place in philosophical theories, to investigate the role of planning and urban design in creating political space - and to discuss, while linking the theories to current events, issues of non-equity, social justice, activism and change.