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Cities in Comparative and Historical Perspective
Why Comparative and Historical Perspective?
Approximately half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and the proportion grows greater every day. Urban issues cannot be understood in the context of a single nation or a single moment in time. This concentration draws on disciplinary approaches including anthropology, archaeology, art history, geography, and history to help students understand how cities have developed and how they relate to each other today. By placing urban issues in perspective, students improve their comprehension of the United States as well as the world, and of the present as well as the past.
Advising
Students in this concentration may select as their advisor either
Michael Kahan (email) (read more)
Or Doug McAdam (email ) (read more)
Special Programs and Opportunities
Students in this concentration are encouraged to study off campus, and preferably overseas, for at least one quarter. Many courses offered through the Overseas Studies Program can be counted toward the concentration. Similarly, internships offered at many of Stanford’s overseas locations can be used to fulfill the Urban Studies internship requirement. Students should also consider enrolling in one of the Stanford Overseas Seminars, intensive courses taught in September in locations which do not have overseas campuses.
Required Course
The following course is required for the Cities in Comparative and Historical Perspective concentration:
CASA 112. The Archaeology of Modern Urbanism
Additional Courses
The following courses may be counted toward the Cities in Comparative and Historical Perspective concentration. Please consult with your advisor to select a program of courses that suits your intellectual and personal goals.
ANTHSCI 128B. Globalization and Japan
ANTHSCI 142. Incas and their Ancestors: Peruvian Archaeology
ANTHSCI 144. Urbanism in the Prehispanic New World
ANTHSCI 145B. Evolution of Civilizations
ANTHSCI 146A. The Aztecs and their Ancestors: Introduction to Mesoamerican Archaeology
ANTHSCI 151. Anthropology and Demography
ARTHIST 3. Introduction to the History of Architecture
ARTHIST 141. The Invention of Modern Architecture
ARTHIST 212. Renaissance Florence 1400-1540
ARTHIST 252A. Place: Making Space Now
CASA 36. Life on the Streets: Anthropology of U.S. Urban Life
CASA 133. City and Sounds
CASA 134. Archaeology of Architecture
CASA 137E. Excavation at Catalhoyuk, Turkey
CLASSGEN 36. Projecting Rome
CLASSGEN 60. The Life and Death of a Roman City: Pompeii
CLASSHIS 60. The Romans
CLASSHIS 101. The Greeks
CLASSHIS 105. History and Culture in Ancient Egypt
GES 138. Urbanization, Global Change, and Sustainability
GES 142. Remote Sensing of Land Use and Land Cover
HISTORY 106A. Global Human Geography: Asia and Africa
HISTORY 106B. Global Human Geography: Europe and Americas
HISTORY 110C. Introduction to Modern Europe
HISTORY 150C. The United States in the 20th Century
HISTORY 234. Paris and Politics, 1600-2008
HISTORY 252G. Environmental History of Urban America
HISTORY 260. Race and Ethnicity in the American Metropolis: Cities of Color – Los Angeles and East Palo Alto
HISTORY 267F. Cities in the North American West, 1840-1940
HISTORY 276. Modern Brazil
HISTORY 291B. The City in Imperial China
ME 120. History and Philosophy of Design
OSPBER 060. Cityscape as History: Architecture and Urban Design in Berlin
OSPKYOTO 028. Kyoto: History of Urban and Architectural Space
OSPOXFORD 065. Oxford: The City as a Work of Art
OSPPARIS 025. Literature and the City
OSPPARIS 092. Building Paris: Its History, Architecture, and Urban Design
POLISCI 110A. Sovereignty and Globalization
POLISCI 110C. America and the World Economy
RELIGST 237. Jewish and Christian Rome in the 1st – 6th Centuries
URBANST 156V. The Duomo and the Piazza della Signoria: Symbols of a Civilization
URBANST 160V. The Vanishing City: Lost Architecture and the Art of Commemoration in Berlin
URBANST 161V. Introduction to the International Economy: The State, the Firm, and the Region
URBANST 161. American Urban History since 1920
URBANST 164. Utopia and Reality in Modern Urban Planning
URBANST 175. Global Cities and the Transnational Economy