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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:
ANTHRO 103. 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.
AFRICAST 107. Community Restructuring and Development in South Africa
AMELANG 177. Middle Eastern Cities in Literature and Film
AMSTUD 184. Cityscapes of the Imaginary: The Urban World in Literature and Film
ANTHRO 105. Ancient Cities in the New World
ANTHRO 126A. Post-Socialist City
ANTHRO 127. City and Sounds
ANTHRO 146A. The Aztecs and their Ancestors: Introduction to Mesoamerican Archaeology
ARTHIST 3. Introduction to the History of Architecture
ARTHIST 141. The Invention of Modern Architecture
ARTHIST 143A. History of American Architecture
ARTHIST 212. Renaissance Florence 1400-1540
ARTHIST 252A. Place: Making Space Now
ARTHIST 283A. Paris and Shanghai, 1880-1940: Mediating the City
CLASSART 112. Ancient Urbanism
CLASSGEN 60. The Life and Death of a Roman City: Pompeii
CLASSHIS 60. The Romans
CLASSHIS 101. The Greeks
HISTORY 85S. Jews, Christians and Muslims in a Mediterranean Port City: Salonica, 1821-1945
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 166. Introduction to African American History: The Modern African American Freedom Struggle
HISTORY 232D. Rome: The City and the World
HISTORY 234. Paris and Politics, 1600-2010
HISTORY 260. California's Minority-Majority Cities
HISTORY 276. Modern Brazil
HISTORY 281C. Urban History of the Middle East: Aleppo and Istanbul on the Eve of Modernity, 1650-1850
HISTORY 287 D. Tel-Aviv: Site, Symbol, City
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
OSPCPTWN 20. Supervised Service Learning
OSPCPTWN 22. Preparation for Community-Based Research in Community Health and Development
OSPCPTWN 24. Targeted Research: Project in Community Health and Development
OSPCPTWN 40. Education in the Post-Apartheid City
OSPCPTWN 42. Race, Class, and Status: Capetown in Comparative Perspective
OSPCPTWN 44. Negotiating Home, Citizenship, and the South African City
OSPCPTWN 65. Western Cape Sites of Memory
OSPFLOR 58. Space as History: Urban Change and Social Vision: Florence 1059 – 2008
OSPFLOR 115Y. The Duomo and the Piazza della Signoria: Symbols of a Civilization
OSPKYOTO 48. City and Sounds in Kyoto
OSPMADRID 21. Built Environmental History of Spain
OSPMADRID 60. Integration into Spanish Society: Service Learning and Professional Opportunities
OSPOXFORD 66. Oxford: The Culture of 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
SOC 143. Poverty in Brazil: From Empirical Evidence to Anti-Poverty Policies
URBANST 115. Urban Sustainability: Long-Term Archaeological Perspectives
URBANST 161. American Urban History since 1920