Catalog Description: This course explores how digital platforms are reshaping urban and rural geographies. Theories of city and country, the history and current state of platforms, and connections between technology and social hierarchies are the foundation for this course. We examine smart cities and rural data centers, logistics landscapes, gig work and ‘the hustle economy’, property technologies and gentrification, and digitized policing and carceral geographies. Students will critically reflect on notions of city and country and the role of technology in producing urban-rural landscapes, examine the uneven socio-spatial consequences of technology, and reflect on how to build digital geographies that refuse domination, extraction, and predatory inclusion.
Units: 4.0
Prerequisites: None
Formats:
Fall and/or Spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Grading Basis: Letter
Final Exam Status: Alternate method of final assessment during regularly scheduled final exam group (e.g., presentation, final project, etc.)