Energy and the City

GEOG70201 Energy and the City 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 7 Stefan Bouzarovski Unit coordinator Geography 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 Energy and the City seeks to explore the political and material work performed by historical and contemporary energy circulations in shaping the modern city. We will aim to transcend binaries between disruption and accommodation in understanding urban energy governance, while exploring multiple sites of policy, practice and intervention. The course unit foregrounds the relational character of energy production and consumption in the city, alongside highlighting the relevance of non-hierarchical and networked concepts of scale, place and territory for the expansion and democratization of urban climate action. Based on the premise that energy systems shape the nature and dynamics of human social life, the course unit unpacks the socio-material infrastructures and contingent power relations that emerge from the historical centrality of fossil fuel-based, racialized and patriarchal approaches towards the reproduction of capitalist relations in the city. We will also discuss how particular initiatives and struggles around low-carbon energy achieve transformational change by enrolling a variety of actors and material sites, while at the same time politicizing the power relations and inequalities that underpin the production of urban space. This course unit follows on from undergraduate modules that have examined the links between spatial formations, on the one hand, and global social, economic, environmental or urban trends, on the other. We will apply some of the questions opened in such courses to the urban geographies of energy, climate and infrastructure. Energy and the City seeks to explore the political and material work performed by historical and contemporary energy circulations in shaping the modern city. We will aim to transcend binaries between disruption and accommodation in understanding urban energy governance, while exploring multiple sites of policy, practice and intervention. The course unit foregrounds the relational character of energy production and consumption in the city, alongside highlighting the relevance of non-hierarchical and networked concepts of scale, place and territory for the expansion and democratization of urban climate action. Based on the premise that energy systems shape the nature and dynamics of human social life, the course unit unpacks the socio-material infrastructures and contingent power relations that emerge from the historical centrality of fossil fuel-based, racialized and patriarchal approaches towards the reproduction of capitalist relations in the city. We will also discuss how particular initiatives and struggles around low-carbon energy achieve transformational change by enrolling a variety of actors and material sites, while at the same time politicizing the power relations and inequalities that underpin the production of urban space. This course unit follows on from undergraduate modules that have examined the links between spatial formations, on the one hand, and global social, economic, environmental or urban trends, on the other. We will apply some of the questions opened in such courses to the urban geographies of energy, climate and infrastructure. The unit aims to:<ul><li>Explore how energy circulations in society shape urbanization processes.</li><li>Interrogate some of the key social and environmental controversies that underpin contemporary practices of urban energy provision and demand.</li><li>Discuss how low-carbon urban energy futures are embedded in contingencies of place, scale and territory.</li><li>Uncover the tensions between policies aimed at promoting sustainable urban energy use on the one hand, and those aiming to address social equity, on the other.</li><li>Unpack racialised, gendered and ableist dimensions of urban energy provision and consumption.</li><li>Question deficit model-based understandings of unsustainable energy behaviours, while moving onto more nuanced and systemic explanations of urban environmental governance.</li></ul> <ul><li>Employability skills supported include analytical skills; group/team working; innovation/creativity; problem solving; research; and written communication.</li><li>The course unit will help enhance digital skills around identifying and selecting relevant online sources across a variety of databases.</li></ul> <ul><li>Understand and be able to outline the reasons, character and consequences of the main social, environmental and political issues arising from the production and consumption of energy in cities across the world.</li></ul> <ul><li>Critically analyse and demonstrate how energy geographies can inform the relations between capitalism and urban energy systems and practices.</li><li>Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of different theories and explanations.</li><li>Relate theoretical arguments with empirical evidence.</li></ul> <ul><li>Connect theory, politics and policy in achieving just uban energy transitions.</li></ul> <ul><li>Critical thinking and reflection.</li><li>Motivation and self-directed learning.</li></ul> Syllabus (indicative curriculum content):<ol><li>Energy and the city - key concepts</li><li>Urban energy production</li><li>Urban energy demand</li><li>Urban energy transformations</li><li>Urban energy governance</li><li>Urban energy precarity</li><li>Energy democracy</li><li>Informal energy urbanisms</li><li>READING WEEK</li><li>Essay workshop</li><li>Urban energy communities</li><li>Low carbon futures</li></ol> The unit is delivered through lectures, seminars, students’ readings of key texts and other types of materials such as videos. By using a range of teaching methods, we aim to provide inclusive spaces where knowledge is co-produced by teachers and learners. 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 100% Formative Assessment Task Essay outline. 300 words.  Feedback provided via shared revision session.  Expected outcome: Feedback towards the preparation of the final essay.Assessment task Essay – aiming to help students use theory in an analysis of topical, everyday urban energy issues. Students need to choose at least one of the urban energy concepts / debates / controversies discussed in the course, and use this to explore an urban energy related policy of their choice. 3000 words.  Feedback provided 3 working weeks after submission date. 100% weighting. Y Hughes S and Hoffmann M 2020 Just urban transitions: Toward a research agenda WIREs Climate Change 11 e640.Knuth S 2019 Cities and planetary repair: The problem with climate retrofitting Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 51 487–504.Munro P 2019 On, off, below and beyond the urban electrical grid the energy bricoleurs of Gulu Town Urban Geography Routledge 0 1–20.Reames T G 2016 Targeting energy justice: Exploring spatial, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in urban residential heating energy efficiency Energy Policy 97 549–558.Rosales Carreón J and Worrell E 2018 Urban energy systems within the transition to sustainable development. A research agenda for urban metabolism Resources, Conservation and Recycling 132 258–266. Seminars 22 0 128 EDI principles are reflected in the choice of course texts (noting diversity of backgrounds and experience), course topics and assessment guidelines. Students will be encouraged to engage with under-represented groups, places and debates in both class discussions and the preparation of their assessment.