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The City and Metropolitan Spaces

Code: 44464
Credits: 6

2026/2027

Degree programme	Type	Course
Territorial Studies and Planning	OB	1

Contact lecturer

Name :: Carles Donat Muñoz
Email :: carles.donat@uab.cat

Teaching staff

: Asunción Blanco Romero
: Miguel Angel Narvaez Gomez
: Francesc Muñoz Ramirez

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites

Objectives

The objective of the module is to provide students with critical instruments to analyze contemporary urbanization processes, specifically for cities and metropolitan areas. The students will be offered the instruments to understand the city as a socio-spatial configuration resulting from the demographic, economic, environmental, cultural and political dynamics of contemporary societies. This compulsory module is part of the master's core teachings along with the Territorial Planning and Geographic information systems, planning and landscape modules and in coordination with the Advanced Themes module. The aim of the core teachings is to provide students with conceptual and practical skills for the design and writing of territorial Planning instruments. To do this, a practical exercise will be carried out, consisting in recognizing and identifying the urban, social and environmental characteristics of certain public spaces and the preparation of proposals for the management of these spaces.

Learning outcomes

CA01 (Design appropriate management models for metropolitan spaces.) Design appropriate management models for metropolitan spaces.
CA02 (Learn how the principles of ecological, social and economic sustainability and the gender perspective are applied and how they evolve.) Learn how the principles of ecological, social and economic sustainability and the gender perspective are applied and how they evolve.
CA03 (Value knowledge of citizen participation mechanisms used for planning.) Value knowledge of citizen participation mechanisms used for planning.
KA01 (Understand the utility of innovative public policies for territorial and urban dynamics, city management and metropolitan spaces.) Understand the utility of innovative public policies for territorial and urban dynamics, city management and metropolitan spaces.
KA02 (Understand how demographic dynamics and settlement structures interact with urban demands.) Understand how demographic dynamics and settlement structures interact with urban demands.
KA03 (Identify social gender inequalities on the basis of spatial and territorial forecasts.) Identify social gender inequalities on the basis of spatial and territorial forecasts.
KA36 (Map public spaces using territorial information provided by local government.) Map public spaces using territorial information provided by local government.
SA01 (Link the distribution and spatial dynamics of human activity to urban planning and city systems.) Link the distribution and spatial dynamics of human activity to urban planning and city systems.
SA02 (Explore ways of planning based on the gender perspective.) Explore ways of planning based on the gender perspective.

1. The city. Definition, morphology, and the challenge of its delimitation

2. The process of urbanization through urban fabrics

3. Housing. Access, tenure, and challenges

4. Social inequalities and residential segregation

5. The government of the city. Administrative fragmentation, actors, competences, and resources

6. Hosing and area-based policies

7. Gentrification in the contemporary cities

8. Residential mobility and displacement of the population

9. Urban renewal policies

10. Urban sprawl in the contemporary cities

11. Current situation of the urban sprawl

12. Urban sprawl: challenges and policies

Learning activities and methodology

Title	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Carry out the individual report	15	0.6	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02
Discussion at the seminar	5	0.2	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, SA01, SA02
Carry out the plan's memory	70	2.8	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02
Teacher's leassons	25	1	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02
Preparation of the plan's memory	25	1	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02
Preparation of the personal report	5	0.2	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02

- Teaching expositions.
- Individualized and group tutorials.
- Debates in the classroom.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title	Weight	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Presentation of the module's individual report	85	4.5	0.18	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02
Core work oral presentation	15	0.5	0.02	CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, KA03, KA36, SA01, SA02

Subject-specific activities: 35%Individual exercise of the module: 25%Participation in the classroom: 10%Core project: 65%Core project report: 40%Core project poster: 15%Oral defense of the project: 10% To pass the subject, it will be necessary to obtain a grade equal to or higher than 5 in both the individual exercise and the overall grade of the core project.If the 5 is not exceeded, it will be possible to recover two evaluative evidences:- Recover the grade of the individual exercise: by completing an individual exercise.- Recover the grade of the core project: by taking an oral exam of the content worked on in the core group.To have the right to recovery, all the evidence related to the main project must have been presented.Those students who have not presented all the evidence of the core project will be NOT ASSESSABLE

The student will receive a grade of "non-assessable" provided they have not submitted more than 30% of the assessment activities.

Core work is not subject to re-evaluation. In the event that there is more than one person with the maximum vote, the teaching staff reserves the right to request an additional test to be eligible for the High Honors.

Artificial Intelligence: Restricted Use: This subject allows the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies exclusively in tasks of bibliographic research or information search and correction of texts or translations. The student must (i) identify the parts that have been generated with AI; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency of the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and will lead to the activity being evaluated with a 0 and not being able to be recovered, or major sanctions in serious cases.

VERY IMPORTANT: Total or partial plagiary of any of the exercises will automatically be considered \"fail\" (0)

for the plagiarized item. Plagiary is copying one or more sentences from unidentified sources, presenting it as

original work (THIS INCLUDES COPYING PHRASES OR FRAGMENTS FROM THE INTERNET AND

ADDING THEM WITHOUT MODIFICATION TO A TEXT WHICH IS PRESENTED AS ORIGINAL). Plagiarism

is a serious offense. Students must learn to respect the intellectual property of others, identifying any source

they may use, and take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the texts they produce.

Bibliography

Brenner, N. (2017). La era de la urbanización. In Teoría urbana crítica y políticas de escala (pp. 255–268). Icaria.

Capel, H. (2002). La morfología de las ciudades. In Tomo I: Sociedad, cultura y paisaje urbano (Vol. 37). Ediciones del Serbal, SA.

Dijkstra, L., Poelman, H., & Veneri, P. (2019). The EU-OECD definition of a functional urban area. OECD Regional Development Working Papers, 11, 19. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/d58cb34d-en

Donat, C. (2018). La gentrificación y el problema de la vivienda en Barcelona. Papers. Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, 60, 114–129.

Dupuy, G. (1997). El urbanismo de las redes. Teorías y Métodos, Barcelona: Oikos-Tau. 216 pp.

Fernandez, R., & Aalbers, M. B. (2016). Financialization and housing: Between globalization and Varieties of Capitalism. Competition & Change, 20(2), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024529415623916

Jaramillo González, S. (2010). Hacia una teoría de la renta del suelo urbana, Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía,CEDE, Ediciones Uniandes. 474 pp.

López-Gay, A. (2011). ¿Vuelve el centro? Caracterización demográfica de los procesos de reurbanización en las metrópolis españolas. In I. Pujadas, J. Bayona, A. García, F. Gil, C. López, D. Sánchez, & T. Vidal (Eds.), Actas del XII Congreso de la Población Española (pp. 163–180).

López, J. (2016). The city in the net Infrastructural networks, economic development and urban form. In López-Redondo, J. Del Sol al sòl Energia forma urbana i ús del territori Una anàlisi a partir del cas de Barcelona i Catalunya. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 21-33.

https://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/662607

L'Huillier, Francisco José (2020). Mercado del suelo, renta urbana, y problemática habitacional. Una aproximación teórica desde la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Vol. 24, Nº. 2, p. 65-83.

https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7592375

Nel·lo, O. (1998). La ciutat il.limitada i la ciutat futura. In J. Nogué (Ed.), La ciutat, Visions, anàlisis i reptes (pp. 47–73). Universitat de Girona i Ajuntament de Girona.

Nel·lo, O. (2015). La ciudad en movimiento: crisis social y respuesta ciudadana. Díaz & Pons.

Nel·lo, O., & Donat, C. (2014). Los efectos territoriales de la crisis econòmica en la región metropolitana de Barcelona. In J. M. Albertos (Ed.), Geografia de la crisis económica en España (pp. 565–608). Publicacions Universitat de València.

Solà-Morales, M. (1997). Las formas de crecimiento urbano. No. 10. Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya.

Tomas, M. (2015). La gobernanza metropolitana en Europa: modelos y retos (Àrea Metropoiltana de Barcelona (ed.)).

United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division. (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights. United Nations.

Software