Geography 6960 Seminar in Urban Geography:

Instructor: Dr. Dennis Wei, Professor Office: OSH 333

Class: Wednesday 2 pm-5 pm, Spring 2011 (OSH215) Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesday 9:30 am-11 am & by appointment Phone: 585-0545(O) or 581-8218 (Geog)

Brief Description: This course provides a broad overview of important work in urban geography and
urban studies; it focuses on urban and development theory and policy, including globalization and cities,
urban systems, urban economic development, housing and urban land use, migration and urbanization,
neighborhood transition, and spatial structure.

Require Texts:
1. Supplemental Readings: E-Reserve at the Library

References:
1. LeGates, R.T., and Stout, F. (eds.) 2007. The City Reader (4th edition). New York: Routledge.
2. Brenner, N., and Keil, R. (eds.) 2006. The Global Cities Reader. New York: Routledge.

Course Evaluation: Your grade will be based on attendance, assignments (reading reflections, a
mid-term literature review or research proposal) and the final project. Assignments are due at the
beginning of class on the due date and are expected on time. Your final grade will be computed as
follows: (1) Participation: 20%, (2) Assignments: 40%, (3) Final Project: 40%. This class uses letter
grads.

Course Outline & Readings:

Week 1/January 12 Introduction
1. Urban Geography. 2009. In Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Pratt, G., and Watts, M. (eds.), Dictionary
of Human Geography (5th edition), pp.784-788.Oxford: Blackwell.
2. Pacione, M. 2009. Urban Geography: From Global to Local. In Urban Geography: A global
Perspective (3rd edition), pp.3-17. New York: Routledge.

Week 2/January 19 Urban Geography and Urban Theories

1. Hall, P. 2001. The City of Theory. In LeGates, R.T., and Stout, F. (eds.), The City Reader (4th
edition), pp.354-365. New York: Routledge.
2. Plummer, P. 2002.The Modeling Tradition. In Sheppard, E., and Barnes, T.J. (eds.), A Companion
to Economic Geography, pp. 27-40.Malden: Blackwell.
3. Scott, A. and M. Storper. 2003. Regions, globalization, development. Regional Studies 37(6/7):
579-593.
4. Dear, M. 2002. Los Angeles and the Chicago School: invitation to a debate. City & Community
1(1): 5-32.
5. Markusen, A. 1999. Fuzzy concepts, scanty evidence, policy distance. Regional Studies 33(9):
869-884.
6. Vicino, T.J., Hanlon, B., and Short, J.R. 2007. Megalopolis 50 years on: the transformation of a
city region. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 31(2): 34467.
7. Lin, G.C.S. and Wei, Y.H.D. 2002. China's restless urban landscapes 1: new challenges for
theoretical reconstruction. Environment and Planning A 34(9): 1535-1544.
8. Wei, Y.H.D. 2007. Regional development in China: transitional institutions, embedded globalization,
and hybrid economies. Eurasian Geography and Economics 48(1): 16-36.

Week 3 /January 26 Development, Inequality, Policy/Planning

1. Simon, D. 1990.The Question of Regions. In D. Simon (ed.) Third World Regional Development:
A Reappraisal, pp. 3-23. London: Paul Chapman.
2. Markusen, A. 1996. Sticky places in slippery space. Economic Geography 72(3): 293-313. ,
3. Sternberg, R. 1996. Regional growth theories and high-tech regions. International Journal of
Urban and Regional Research 20(3): 518-38.
4. Wei, Y.D. 1999. Regional inequality in China. Progress in Human Geography 23(1): 48-58.
5. Wei, Y.H.D., and Fan, C.C. 2000. Regional inequality in China: a case study of Jiangsu Province.
Professional Geographer 52(3): 455-469.
6. Yu, D.L., and Wei, Y.H.D. 2003. Analyzing regional inequality in China in a GIS environment.
Eurasian Geography and Economics 44(7): 514-534.
7. Li, Y.R., and Wei, Y.H.D. 2010. The spatial-temporal hierarchy of regional inequality of China.
Applied Geography 30: 303-316.
8. He, C.F., Wei, Y.H.D., and Xie, X.Z. 2008. Globalization, institutional change, and industrial
location: economic transition and industrial concentration in China. Regional Studies 42(7):
923-945.
9. Wei, Y.H.D., W.M. Li, and C.B. Wang. 2007. Restructuring industrial districts, scaling up
regional development: a study of the Wenzhou model, China. Economic Geography 83(4):
421444.

Week 4/February 2 Globalization, States, and Cities

1. P. Dicken. 2003. Global Shift (4th edition). Chapter 1(A New Geo-Economy), pp. 7-31; Chapter 3
(The Changing Global Economic Map), pp.32-82; Chapter 6 (Doing Things Differently:
Variations in State Economic Policies), pp.164-197. New York: Guilford Press.
2. Short, J. R., and Kim, Y.H. 1999. Globalization and the City. Chapter 1 (Going global), pp. 3-12;
Chapter 2 (Economic globalization), pp.15-23. New York: Wesley Longman.
3. Cohen, R. B. 1981. The New International Division of Labor, Multinational Corporations and
Urban Hierarchy, In Dear, M., and Scott, A. J. (eds.), Urbanization and Urban Planning in
Capitalist Society, pp. 287-315. London: Routledge.
4. Amin, A., and Thrift, N. 1992. Neo-Marshallian nodes in global networks. International Journal
of Urban and Regional Research 16(4): 571-587.
5. Grant, R., and Nijman, J. 2002. Globalization and the corporate geography of cities in the
less-developed world. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 92: 320-40.
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6. Wei, Y. H. D., Li, W. M., Leung, C. K., and Pan, R. 2008. Institutions, location, and network of
multinational enterprises in China. Urban Geography 29 (7): 639-661.
7. Wei, Y. H. D., Luo, J., and Zhou, Q. 2010. Location decisions and network configurations of
foreign investment in Urban China. The Professional Geographer 62 (2): 1-20.
8. Lin, G.C.S., Wang, C.C., Zhou, Y., Sun, Y.F., and Y.H.D. Wei. 2011. Placing Technological
Innovation in Globalizing China: Production Linkage, Knowledge Exchange, and Innovative
Performance of the ICT Industry in a Developing Economy. Urban Studies In Press

Week 5/February 9 World/Global Cities I

1. Friedmann, J., and Wolff, G. 1982. World city formation: an agenda for research and action.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 6(3): 309-344.
2. Friedmann, J. 1986. The world city hypothesis. Development and Change 17(1): 69-83.
3. Friedmann, J. 1995. Where We Stand: A Decade of World City Research. In Knox, P.L. & Taylor,
P.J (eds.), World Cities in a World System, pp. 21-47.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Sassen, S. 1995. On Concentration and Centralization in the Global City. In Knox, P.L. & Taylor,
P.J (eds.), World Cities in a World System, pp. 63-75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Abu-Lughod, J.L. 1995. Comparing Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. In Knox, P.L. & Taylor,
P.J (eds.), World Cities in a World System, pp. 171-191. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Sassen, S. 2002. Locating cities on global circuits. Environment and Urbanization 14(1): 13-30.
7. Short, J. R., and Kim, Y.H .1999. Globalization and the City. Chapter 4 (World Cities), pp. 54-79.
New York: Wesley Longman.
8. Nijman, J. 2000. The paradigmatic city. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
90(1):135145.
9. Short, J., Kim, Y., Kuus, M., and Wells, H. 1996. The dirty little secret of world cities research.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 20(4): 697-717.

Week 6/February 16 World/Global Cities II

1. Scott, A.J., Agnew, J., Soja, E.W., and Storper, M. 2001. Global City-Regions. In Scott, A. J. (ed.),
Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, pp. 11-32. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Hall, P. 2001. Global City-Regions in the Twenty-First Century. In Scott, A. J. (ed.), Global
City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, pp. 59-77. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Sassen, S. 2001. Global Cities and Global City-Regions: A Comparison. In Scott, A. J. (ed.),
Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, pp. 78-95. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Godfrey, B. J., and Zhou, Y. 1999. Ranking world cities: multinational corporations and the
global urban hierarchy. Urban Geography 20(3): 268-81.
5. Hill, R.C. and Kim, J. 2000. Global cities and developmental states: New York, Tokyo, and Seoul.
Urban Studies 37(12): 2167-2195.
6. Olds K. and Yeung, H.W.C. 2004. Pathways to global city formation: a view from the
developmental city-state of Singapore. Review of International Political Economy 11(3):
489-521.
7. Wu, F.L. 2000. Global and local dimensions of place-making: remaking Shanghai as a world city.
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 Urban Studies 37(8): 1359-1377.
8. Yusuf, S., and Wu, W. 2002. Pathways to a world city: Shanghai rising in an era of globalisation.
Urban Studies 39(7): 1213-1240.
9. Zhou, Y., Sun, Y.F., Wei, Y.H.D., and Lin, G.C.S. 2011.De-centering Spatial FixPatterns of
Territorialization and Regional Technological Dynamism of ICT Hubs in China. Journal of
Economic Geography DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lbp065
10. Wei, Y. H. D. and Yu, D. L. 2006. State policy and the globalization of Beijing: emerging themes.
Habitat International 30:377-395

Week 7/February 23 Global Urban Systems and Networks

1. Smith, D.A., and Timberlake, M. 1995. Cities in Global Matrices. In Knox, P.L. & Taylor, P.J
(eds.), World Cities in a World System, pp.79-97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Short, J. R., and Kim, Y.H .1999. Globalization and the City. Chapter 3 (Global Urban System),
pp.24-52. New York: Wesley Longman.
3. Beaverstock, J.V., Smith, R.G., and Taylor, P.J. 2000. World-city network: a new metageography?
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(1): 123-134.
4. Taylor, P. J., Catalano, G., and Walker, D. 2002. Measurement of the world city network. Urban
Studies 39: 2367-2376.
5. Derudder, B., Taylor, P., Ni, P.F., De Vos, A., Hoyler, M., Hanssens, H., Bassens, D., Huang, J.,
Witlox, F., and Yang, X. 2010. Pathways of change: shifting connectivities in the world city
network, 2000-08. Urban Studies 47(9): 1861-1877.
6. Alderson, A. S. and Beckfield, J. 2004. Power and position in the world city system. American
Journal of Sociology 109:811-851.
7. Wei, Y.H.D., Li, J., and Ning, Y.M. 2010. Corporate Networks, Value Chains, and Spatial
Organization: A Study of the Computer Industry in China. Urban Geography 31(8):1118-1140.
8. Wei, Y.H.D., Zhou, Y., Sun, Y.F., and Lin, G.C.S. 2011. Production and R&D Networks of
Foreign Ventures in China: Implications for Technological Dynamism and Regional Development.
Applied Geography DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.06.008.

Week 8/March 2 Urban Economic Development and Restructuring

1. Bovaird, T. 1993. Analysing urban economic development. Urban Studies 30(4/5): 631-58.
2. Savage, M. and Warde, A. 1993. Cities and Uneven Economic Development. In LeGates, R.T.,
and Stout, F. (eds.), The City Reader (2nd edition), pp. 264-277. New York: Routledge
3. Soja, E. 1991. Poles Apart: Urban Restructuring in New York and Los Angeles. In Mollenkopf,
J.H., and Castells, M. (eds.), Dual City: Restructuring New York, pp.361-376. New York: Russell
Sage.
4. Ingram, G.K. 1998. Patterns of metropolitan development: what have we learned? Urban Studies
35(7): 1019-35.
5. Sunley, P. 2000. Urban and Regional Growth. In Sheppard, E., and Barnes, T.J. (eds.), A
Companion to Economic Geography, pp. 187-201. Malden: Blackwell.
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6. World Bank. 1999. Chapter 6 (Dynamic Cities as Engines of Growth). In Entering the 21st
Century: World Development Report 1999-2000, pp.126-139. New York: Oxford University
Press.
7. Logan, J.R. and Molotch, H.L. 1987. The City as a Growth Machine. In Fainstein, S., and
Campbell, S. (eds.), Readings in Urban Theory, pp.199-238.Malden: Blackwell
8. Amin, A. 1999. An institutionalist perspective on regional economic development. International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research 23(2): 365-78.
9. Wei, Y.H.D., Lu, Y.Q., and Chen, W. 2009. Globalizing regional development in Sunan, China:
does Suzhou Industrial Park fit a Neo-Marshallian district model? Regional Studies 43(3):
409-427.

Week 9/March 9 Migration, Urbanization and the City

1. Gugler, J. 1992. The Urban-Rural Interface and Migration. In Gilbert, A., and Gugler, J. (eds.),
Cities, Poverty and Development: Urbanization in the Third World (2nd edition), pp.62-86. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
2. Moon, B. 1995. Paradigms in migration research. Progress in Human Geography 19(4): 504-524.
3. Massey, D., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., and Taylor, J.E. 1994. An evaluation
of international migration theory: the North America case. International Migration Review 20(4):
699-751.
4. Kasarda, J.D., and Crenshaw, E.M. 1991. Third world urbanization. Annual Review of Sociology
17: 467-501.
5. Kelly P.F. 1999. Everyday urbanization: the social dynamics of development in Manila's
extended metropolitan region. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 23(2):
283-303.
6. Clark, W.A.V. 2008. Geography, space, and science: perspectives from studies of migration and
geographical sorting. Geographical Analysis 40(3): 258-275.
7. Fan. C.C. 1996. Eonomic opportunities and internal migration: a case study of Guangdong
Province, China. Professional Geographer 48(1): 28-45

Week 10/March 16 Urban Land Use, Housing and Spatial Structure

1. Lopez, R and Patricia, H. 2003. Sprawl in the 1990s: measurement, distribution, and trends.
Urban Affairs Review 38(3): 325-355
2. Shen, Q. and Zhang, F. 2007. Land-use changes in a pro-smart-growth state: Maryland, USA.
Environment and Planning A 39:1457-1477
3. Kasanko, M., Barredo, J. I., Lavalle, C., McCormick, N., Demicheli, L., Sagris, V., and Brezger,
A. 2006. Are European cities becoming dispersed? A comparative analysis of 15 European urban
areas. Landscape and Urban Planning 77(1-2): 111130
4. Giuliano, G. 1989. New directions for understanding transportation and land use. Environment
and Planning A 21: 145-159.
5. Smith, N. 1986. Gentrification, the Frontier, and the Restructuring of Urban Space. In Smith, N.,
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 and Williams, P. (eds.), Gentrification of the City, pp.15-34. London: Allen & Unwin.
6. Knox, P. 1991. The restless urban landscape: economic and sociocultural change and the
transformation of metropolitan Washington, D.C. Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 81(2): 181-209
7. Yu, D.L., Wei, Y.H.D., and Wu, C.S. 2007. Modeling spatial dimensions of housing prices in
Milwaukee: GIS based approaches. Environment and Planning B 34(6): 1085-1102.
8. Luo, J., and Wei, Y.H.D. 2009. Modeling spatial variations of urban growth patterns in Chinese
cities: the case of Nanjing. Landscape and Urban Planning 91(2): 51-64.

Week 11/March 23 Spring Break No Class

Week 12/March 30 Urban Population, Labor Market, and Residential Segregation

1. Gugler, J. 1992. The Urban Labor Market. In Gilbert, A., and Gugler, J. (eds.), Cities, Poverty and
Development: Urbanization in the Third World (2nd edition), pp. 87-113. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
2. Clark, W.A.V. 1987. Urban restructuring from a demographic perspective. Urban Geography
63(2): 103-125.
3. Clark, W.A.V. 1986. Residential segregation in American cities: a review and interpretation.
Population Research and Policy Review 5(2): 95-127.
4. Frey, W.H., and Farley, R. 1996. Latino, Asian, and Black segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas.
Demography 33(1): 35-50.
5. Florida, R. 2003. Cities and the creative class. City & Community 2(1): 3-19
6. Markusen, A. 2006. Urban development and the politics of a creative class: evidence from the
study of artists. Environment and Planning A 38(10): 1921-1940.
7. Storper, M., and Scott, A.J. 2009. Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth. Journal
of Economic Geography 9(2): 147-167
8. Luo, J., and Wei, Y.H.D. 2006. Population distribution and spatial structure in transitional Chinese
cities: a study of Nanjing. Eurasian Geography and Economics 47(5): 585-603.

Week 13/April 6 Neighborhood Transition, Urban Renewal, and Community Development

1. Denton, N.A., and Massey, D.S. 1991. Patterns of neighborhood transition in a multiethnic world.
Demography 28(1): 41-63.
2. Clark, W.A.V. 1993. Neighborhood transitions in multiethnic/racial contexts. Journal of Urban
Affairs 15(2): 161-72.
3. Ross, C., and Leigh, N. G. 2000. Planning, urban revitalization, and the inner city: an exploration of
structural racism. Journal of Planning Literature 14(3): 367-380
4. Blair, J. 2007. Inner-city neighborhoods and metropolitan development. Economic Development
Quarterly 21(3): 263-277.

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5. Porter, M. E. 2000. Locations, Clusters, and Company Strategy. In Clark, G.L., Feldman, M.P.,
and Gertler, M.S. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, pp. 253-274. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
6. Porter, M. 1995. The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City. In LeGates, R.T., and Stout, F.
(eds.), The City Reader (4th edition), pp.274-286. New York: Routledge.
7. Wen, M., Browning, C.R., and Cagney, K.A. 2007. Neighbourhood deprivation, social capital and
regular exercise during adulthood: a multilevel study in Chicago. Urban Studies 44(13):
26512671.

Week 14/April 13 Urban Policy and Planning

1. Kaiser , E.J., and Godschalk, D.R. 1995. Twentieth Century Land Use Planning. In LeGates, R.T.,
and Stout, F. (eds.), The City Reader (4th edition), pp.366-386. New York: Routledge.
2. Teitz, M.B. 1996. American planning in the 1990s: evolution, debate and challenge. Urban
Studies 33(4/5): 649-671.
3. Fainstein, S. 2000. New directions in planning theory. Urban Affairs Review 35(4): 451-478
4. Short, J. R., and Kim, Y.H. 1999. Globalization and the City. Chapter 9 (The Entrepreneurial City),
pp. 117-130. New York: Wesley Longman.
5. Jessop, B and Sum, N.L. 2000. An entrepreneurial city in action: Hong Kong's emerging
strategies in and for (Inter) urban competition. Urban Studies 37(12): 2287-2313.
6. Gillham, O. 2002. Regionalism. In The Limitless City: A Primer on the Urban Sprawl Debate, pp.
211-236. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
7. Ward, P.M. 1995. The Successful Management and Administration of World Cities. In Knox, P.L.
& Taylor, P.J (eds.), World Cities in a World System, pp. 298-314.Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
8. Wei, Y.H.D. 2005. Planning Chinese cities: the limits of transitional institutions. Urban Geography
26(3): 200-221.

Week 15/April 20 Student Presentation and Conclusion

April 27 Classes End

Final Project Due: May 2 6pm

Class Expectations: Students are expected to be in class on time and prepare for class in advance.
Students should adhere to the University of Utahs Student Code of conduct.

Academic Policies: All students are expected to maintain professional behavior in the classroom
setting, according to the Student Code, spelled out in the Student Handbook. Students have specific
rights in the classroom as detailed in Article III of the Code. Please also consult the University of
Utahs Accommodations Policy.
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ADA Accommodations: The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs,
services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class,
reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union
Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for
accommodations. All written information in this course can be made available in alternative format
with prior notification to the Center for Disability Services.