East Asian Urbanisms

3 units

This seminar surveys the history of East Asia's great cities through the lens of social, urban, and architectural change from pre-modern to modern times. It explores how the ever-shifting geopolitical landscape of East Asia shaped the trajectory of the region's urban morphology, with each week devoted to a specific topic. Tracing the flow of knowledge, ideas, and technologies across borders, the seminar addresses such themes as the influence of the Chinese cultural sphere on the design of pre-modern capitals outside of China; the emergence of Japanese castle towns; the social and architectural impact of semi-colonialism in treaty-port cities; and the top-down planning carried out by imperial Japan in Manchuria. At the same time, we will consider what these larger forces meant for the daily lives of the people who had to live with their consequences and for the broader ecologies that both shaped and were reshaped by urban growth. Weekly lectures will introduce students to principles and policies that shaped the built environment of major metropolitan centers from Beijing to Seoul to Tokyo, while in-class discussions will draw from a broad range of readings, stories, and visual sources that bring cities, and their inhabitants, to life. For the final project, students will write and illustrate a historical narrative of a city and time of their choice based on their own research.