Social Theory and the City
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate seminar connecting classic social theory to urban architecture and space. Readings draw on foundational writings about the public realm, impersonality, crowds and density, surveillance and civility, the imprinting of time on space, spatial justice, and the segregation of difference. Boston serves as a visual laboratory, with students asked to observe its streets and buildings alongside the assigned texts. Coursework centers on a term paper that mediates what students read against what they observe in the city. Materials include the syllabus, reading list, and assignments as published by MIT, free to access with no certificate offered. The course suits students in urban planning, sociology, or architecture who want a theoretical framework for thinking about cities as both social and physical constructions.