Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE SOC1023

 
TITLE Understanding Space as a Social Product

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Sociology

 
DESCRIPTION The unit is based on Doreen Massey’s three programmatic propositions for a social science of space: first, that space be recognised as the product of interrelations; second, that space be understood as the sphere of the possibility of multiplicity in the sense of contemporaneous plurality; third, that space be recognised as always under construction. It is this interactionist and processual model of space that will underwrite the unit's content. We will first look at the contributions to the topic of a number of scholars including Lefebvre, Foucault, Harvey, Soja, Zumthor, and de Certeau.

Following this largely-theoretical first part, we will then proceed to look at case studies of how an understanding of space as social product is essential to the study and design of houses, neighbourhoods, and cities. The emphasis throughout will be on tangible applications to do with planning.

Study-unit Aims:

The study-unit aims to problematise the popular notion of space as a geometrically-defined given and to encourage students to think critically about a replacement which is more processual and situational. Using the latter model as its essential conceptual infrastructure, the study-unit will then proceed to the various real-life and interpretive applications. The overarching aim of the unit is therefore to equip students with a model of space which is applicable to spatial planning, among other fields.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(1) think about space as a social product, as opposed to a Euclidean given;
(2) analyse some of the processes involved in the making of space;
(3) analyse the contestations involved in and the politics of the production of space;
(4) think about social space as a processual and situational product;
(5) evaluate the significance of case studies in the production of space.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(1) apply the knowledge and understanding framework outlined in C8.1 to specific case studies in the scholarly literature;
(2) apply the processual model of space to real-life contexts;
(3) use the processual model of space to develop solutions for planning problems;
(4) use the processual model of space as a device towards better spatial planning, urban design, and land-use contestations and problems.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main texts:

- Harvey, D. (1989) "The Condition of Postmodernity", Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
- de Certeau, M. (1984) "The Practice of Everyday Life", University of California Press, Berkeley.
- Hubbard, P. (Ed.) (2011) "Key Thinkers on Space and Place", Sage, Los Angeles.
- Lefebvre, H. (1991) "The Production of Space", Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
- Massey, D. (2005) "For Space", Sage, California.
- Soja, E. (2011) "Postmodern Geographies", Verso, London.

Supplementary texts:

- Bachelard, G. (1994) "The Poetics of Space", Beacon Press, Boston.
- Sharr, A. (2006) "Heidegger's Hut", MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Zumthor, P. (2006) "Atmospheres", Birkhäuser, Basel.
- Zumthor, P. (2006) "Thinking Architecture", Birkhäuser, Basel.

In addition to these texts, a reading packet will be made available which will include key articles from the Sage journal "Space and Culture" as well as a number of relevant case studies.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Practicum & Tutorial

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Mark Anthony Falzon

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit