Syllabus

  1. Cities, a very very brief introduction

    Why do cities exist? One cannot study, analyse and model cities and systems of cities unless they know their fundamental attributes, and the reasons why cities have been developed at the first instance.

  2. Smart cities, urban big data, digital twins and other buzz terms

    How do digital technologies change cities? How does their usage actually enables citizens to act as sensors? And, how do these changes affect urban research? We will first approach these issues from a theoretical perspective and then utilise such free and open urban data using APIs.

  3. Networks: an introduction

    Networks are everywhere! After this lecture you will hopefully start seeing them.

  4. Street network analysis practical: networks within cities

    These two practical sessions will put into practise your newly acquired network understanding of cities.

  1. Network science, urban laws and scaling

    • Continue work on Practical

  2. Build and compare models

    Moving from network analysis to network science with clear urban applications.

  3. Reading week. You will be asked to submit short mini report (deadline 12th November) in which you will explore data set suitable for final assignment. This is not marked, contributes 0% to your final mark, but completing this will enable you to get a feedback and consultation on your choice of data set and your final project topic.

  4. Methods in transport geography

    Same methods, different facets of urban research. This part of the unit will allow you to apply your network skills to answer transport related questions. It will also make the transition from networks to flows.

    • Spatial interaction modelling : You ve’learned how to analyse networks, now you can learn how to analyse and model flows. Do you see the parallel?
  1. Continue work on Spatial interaction modelling

  1. Diversity in cities

    Why is diversity important in cities and how do we measure it?

  2. Continue work on Accessibility

  3. Urban policies and causality and Causal design and urban policy evaluation

    this is going to be a brief introduction to causality. The lecture practical materials are availiable online but are optional and for you to go through if you wish to.

  4. Your assessment is due on 11th January 2024.