Creative Industries and Urban Change

2018/2019

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

4

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Department of Sociology

Course type:

Elective course

When:

3 year, 4 module

Instructor

Kuleva, Margarita

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Drawing from classical and contemporary literature on urban studies, social and political sciences, cultural sociology and geography, the course offers an overview of cultural institutions, policies and practices as a tool for urban change and development. A special emphasis is made on creative city politics and its recent criticism.

Learning Objectives

• improve skills in evaluation and development of tools and techniques of urban politics.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• As a result of the course seminar, students will be able to understand and critically discuss topics related to culture and urban development

Course Contents

• Introduction to critical cultural studies
  Basic in sociology of culture and critical cultural studies. How to apply political and social theory to culture. Marx, Adorno, CCCS, Becker, Bourdieu.
• Creative industries as city politics
  A critical history of ‘policies of creativity’ in the UK and US. The cases of Barcelona and Bilbao. Russian context. Creative city, creative industries, creative class.
• Creativity and Identity
  City branding. Fashion and cultural capitals. Local identities and global markets. Bottom-up and top-down approaches.
• Resilience studies and critique of advanced capitalism
  Critiques of creative industries. Creative labour studies. Gentrification. Art and politics: activist projects in London and Berlin.

Assessment Elements

• Class participation
• Essay
  Both mid-term essay and final exam should have IMRaD structure (Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion). Essays can both based on empirical material or theoretical. At least three source from the course content should be used. The mid-term essay is up to 2500 words, final exam – 6000 words.
• Oral exam
  Both mid-term essay and final exam should have IMRaD structure (Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion). Essays can both based on empirical material or theoretical. At least three source from the course content should be used. The mid-term essay is up to 2500 words, final exam – 6000 words.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.35 * Class participation + 0.35 * Essay + 0.3 * Oral exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• McRobbie, A. (2015). Be Creative : Making a Living in the New Culture Industries. Chicester: Polity. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1158829

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Andersson, D. E. A. Å. E. M. C. (2011). Handbook of Creative Cities. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=387859
• Florida, R. L. (2014). The Rise of the Creative Class——Revisited : Revised and Expanded. New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1016104
• Gerhard, U., Hoelscher, M., & Wilson, D. (2016). Inequalities in Creative Cities : Issues, Approaches, Comparisons. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1338440