This module is in two parts. Before Christmas, the focus is on the concept of cultural landscapes. The idea that landscape is socially constructed is introduced. The influence of different forms of power on the construction of landscape is examined as is the role of memory. There are specific case studies of public space and how ideology and memory came together to create landscapes in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.
After Christmas the focus is on how urban space can be understood in a number of different ways. Utopian dreams, gender, notions of performance and religion are critically examined, in particular how these ideas are played out in the built form of cities.