¿­ÐýÃŹÙÍø

Course Description

Summary

Catastrophic events—droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and landslides—are growing in frequency and intensity around the world. As more of the global population concentrates in urban areas, the nature and consequences of these natural hazards are taking on a distinct and often violent shape in today’s metropolises and megacities. This course investigates how urban life reshapes both the impact of disasters and our capacity to respond to them.

We anchor our inquiry in three foundational concepts from disaster studies—vulnerability, hazard, and risk—and examine how each is shaped by economic conditions, policies, and inequalities. Though grounded in economic reasoning, this is a transdisciplinary course, drawing insight from geography, urban studies, and history to better understand disasters as deeply social phenomena.

The course has two requirements:
[a] Regular attendance and thoughtful participation grounded in close reading of assigned materials.
[b] Timely completion of reading responses and class presentations.

Throughout the semester, you will deepen your economic reasoning while strengthening your capacities for inquiry, engagement, and communication with precision. The broader purpose of this course is to offer you a space to grow as an insightful, collaborative thinker—one who values reciprocity, mutual care, fairness, and intellectual adventure.