CRT215 | Reading the City : Theory, Practice and Methods for Deciphering Indian Cities

Reading the city course is an assemblage of curiosities that aim to decipher Indian cities, not only for scholarly research but also for the practice of law and policy. The course primarily draws theories, concepts, and methods from sociology and anthropology to assemble a multi-layered lens for students of undergraduate and master’s in public policy. The course’s three-layered structure involves the comprehension, reflection, and experience of the ‘urban.’ The pedagogy is a blend of lectures, combined with one outdoor activity (dérive), a hackathon, two sessions of hands-on training on spatial visualisations, one visual text, a term paper (including presentation), and numerous opportunities for classroom discussion and reflections. The readings are carefully curated, and diverse, including journal articles, classic works, textbooks, visual texts, and popular literature.

The course engages with the current program curriculum at multiple junctures. The theoretical portion (sessions 1-8) is foundational to understanding significant debates, literature from urban studies, and, most importantly, building a multi-faceted understanding of Indian cities.

In the first phase, we begin by understanding contemporary debates on what is ‘urban’ and what it means to have ‘right to the city.’ We subsequently reimagine Indian cities through the forces of migration and the formation of the ‘Indian middle class’. The foundation enables us to understand the intricacies of access to urban resources such as land, housing and transport.

Having got a glimpse of urban complexities, students are then introduced to urban policymaking in post-colonial India (session 7-8), followed by an opportunity to attempt to solve and propose policy suggestions through hackathons. In the second phase, the focus is on the material nature of the city (sessions 9-10) and methods to capture its intricacies (sessions 11-16). The methodological part introduces students to the methods and tools of ethnography for immersing themselves in the worldview of their choice. The sessions on urban designs, micro mapping and the activity of the Dérive hones their skills to mindfully observe the city.

The third and final phase (sessions 16-20) through cinema, crime and food discusses the representation and under-represented underbelly of any city.

Through this three-tiered approach, the course will equip students to holistically and rigorously understand cities for research and practice of law and policymaking.