Academic Course objectives
Trygga städer! En kurs om urban säkerhet och uthållighet (3 Poäng)
Course objectives
The course aims at promoting a theoretical and empirical discussion of security issues in the context of urban sustainability. A sustainable city is a place free from the fear of crime, where a feeling of security underpins a wider sense of place attachment and place attractiveness.
The course has the following objectives:
1) to present a review of the most relevant theories in urban criminology and how they relate to city structure and planning. Some of the questions to be answered in the course are: Why are people so fearful? How does urban structure relate to crime and fear of crime? What are the challenges to plan cities that are both safe and sustainable in developing countries or in states in transition?
2) to provide examples of the state of the art research in the area of urban security. Focus will be given to crime and contemporary social order, crime and fear of crime in urban settings, the social dynamics of offending (both based on developed and developing countries), crime prevention and crime and urban design, urban security as a dimension of urban sustainability.
3) to encourage critical analysis of the topics presented above in relation to own experiences as students, professionals and citizens. In order to bridge the divide between urban research and practice, the course will be composed speakers that appeal for researchers, students but also practitioners interested in security issues.
It is expected that after completing the course the students should be able to:
1) have a basic knowledge on the main theories in urban criminology and the state of the art research on this field
2) discuss why security is an important dimension of social sustainability of cities, both in terms of linkages with disadvantage/social exclusion and city's physical environment.
3) recognise how urban security is a multi-disciplinary subject that requires the contribution of a large variety of professionals and agents (planners, police officers, guards, citzens)
Examination
To be approved in the course the student has to have 100% presence (two hours discussion previous the seminar 22nd-23rd April 2010, including the excurssion to Hammarby sjöstad) and hand in an essay (max 3 pages) on a chosen topic to the course organiser about two weeks after the end of the 2-days course. A final meeting, in which the topic of the essays will be discussed, should finalise the course.
Essays will be graded using A-F scale based on:
1. reasoning development within the chosen topic
2. structure of the essay
3. critical discussion
4. proper use of current literature in the subject area
5. references/language
Language
English