HIST5592 Patterns in Urban History and Development

This module provides an introductory survey of the history of urban development from the ancient period to the end of the twentieth century. It focuses on the forces that have led to the development of cities in the past, and achieves this through the lens of a multi-disciplinary perspective and the utilisation of various methodologies. Such a standpoint is adopted in order to allow for the exploration of the impacts of matters like politics, economics, culture and identity, art and architecture, intellectual thought, law, transportation, and military technology upon urban society at different times in history, and to recognise how they influenced the design and shape of the built environment, and so city living. Central to the programme is the use of comparative analyses which assist in identifying and contrasting patterns of urban change. As such differences in urban design that became evident in the past will be made clear. Furthermore, such an approach helps illuminate and clarify the imprint upon urban space and the urban mind of agents affecting the urban development process, including visions and concepts (built and unbuilt) that have swayed social development. Importantly too in utilising this analytical perspective the students are granted opportunities to test hypotheses under the guidance of their teacher about the causes and effects of urban transition, in so doing helping explicitly comprehend the narrative of historical urban development in both factual and conceptual terms.

The course is designed with particular outcome-based learning objectives in mind:

1. To develop an understanding of the causes of urban development and the various agents that act upon cities (e.g. cultural, social, environmental, economic, legal, etc.) so as to expand already held knowledge about urban places across the world.
2. To recognise the relationship between the evolution of the design of urban settlements and the nature of societies;
3. To know how and why various contexts affect the shape and appearance of urban places within distinct historical periods;
4. To train to see and read urban places through the use of maps and various visual sources in order to recognise distinct architectural and urban design styles belonging to particular eras of the past;
5. To demonstrate historical knowledge via tutorial discussions/interaction;
6. To exhibit critical thinking and basic research skills through the writing of academic essays.

By achieving these objectives students shall collect grades that contribute towards their end of term score. For further details of the how the course grade is given please refer to the section ‘Assessment & Assignments’.

Course Structure

Teaching takes place within two complementary learning situations, these being:

1. Weekly lectures to be given by Prof. Morley. Lectures will be given via the use of PowerPoint, and where appropriate DVDs and other teaching resources shall be incorporated into the classes so as to make the classes as visually stimulating as possible. At the start of each lecture the academic objectives of the class will be outlined so that students will know the purpose of the lesson.
2. Tutorials. These shall be given regularly throughout the term in so doing presenting valuable opportunities to not only clarify knowledge collected from the lectures, but to furthermore discuss various matters about cities in history.

Week 1. Introduction Class: The First Cities (Wednesday, January 7^th 2026)

Welcome!

In this opening session a synopsis of the course and the subject of Urban History shall be put forward.

The lecture will also discuss what the first cities were like. It will analyse how the first urban societies differed from rural societies. It will also introduce the physical expressions that new forms of urban-based social organisation took, 

Week 2. Greeks and Romans (Wednesday, January 14^th 2026)

What were Greek and Roman cities like? Did they share similar features? Did they contrast with each other in any ways? How did Greek and Roman cities express the concept of power – power of the people, religion, authority?

Week 3. The Medieval Era, Cathedrals and Urban Places (Wednesday, January 21^st 2026)

What were the main characteristics of Europe’s Medieval City? What architecture dominated towns and cities in Europe at that time? Why? Were all European Medieval Cities alike? What was housing like at that time? What were the main factors in controlling its form?

Week 4. The Renaissance and Baroque City: Humanism to Autocracy (Wednesday, January 28^th 2026)

How did the Renaissance conceptualise the ideal city? What were the areas of Renaissance urban planning, its design components and aesthetic considerations? What cultural factors affected the Renaissance concept of planning? How did military developments affect urban design? What were the principles on which the 16^th century Popes, such as Pope Sixtus V, re-planned Rome, or aristocratic leaders redesigned their palaces? In what ways were their approaches innovative? Why do you think their ideas were copied and continued elsewhere in Europe during the next 300 years?

Week 5. The London Terraced House and Square (Wednesday, February 4^th 2026)

What were the main characteristics of the London terraced house? How were residential areas laid out from 1660 until the 19^th century? How did this form an Italianisation of London? Why do you think the form of terraced housing changed so little in over 200 years? What led to its abandonment? Were other British cities developed in the same way as London? Did the ideas practised in London also have an effect in the British Empire?

Week 6. Coping with Change (i) Coketowns: Dirt, Disease, Death, Deprivation (Wednesday, February 11^th 2026)

Was Charles Dickens’ fictional industrial town Coketown true of living conditions in the early-1800s in Europe? What problems were industrial settlements experiencing regardless of their location (including ones in the US)? How were these towns contributing (or not) to national economic development? How did the rich and how did the poor live? What impact did people like Friedrich Engels, a first-hand observer of modern urbanisation, have? How did Britain control its environmental problems, and how did this affect its colonies?

Week 7. No Class! Lunar New Year Holiday! (Wednesday, February 18^th 2026)

Week 8. Coping with Change (ii) London and Paris in the mid-19^th Century (Wednesday, February 25^th 2026)

What were the principle difference between the growth of Paris and London in the 19^th century? How do you explain these differences? Who were the main actors in the transformations that took place? Was Paris designed to be a work of art or did the urban renewal agenda incorporate other factors? Did Paris’ development affect London, and if so how and why?

Week 9. The City Beautiful: The North American City (Wednesday, March 4^th 2026)

How did the rapid urbanisation of the US from the late-1800s affect American thinking about the city? What is the relationship between architects and the American City by about 1900? What was the nature of the City Beautiful Movement? What impact did it have? Why did the City Beautiful, a strictly American concept, spread to places like Manila, Guangzhou and Nanjing? How did the City Beautiful cross cultural borders? Why did the City Beautiful Movement die?

Week 10. Architects and Utopia: New Directions to National Development (Wednesday, March 11^th 2026)

What was the distinctive contribution of Raymond Unwin, Tony Garnier, and Le Corbusier to urban development in the 20^th century? What were the similarities between the approaches the adopted? What were the differences? How effective do you think each was in establishing a new model of urban development? How optimistic were they? Why did idealistic European ideas have an influence in places like India by the 1950s? Do these ideas have any historical comparisons with ideal cities from the Renaissance?

Week 11. Colonial and Post-Colonial Urban Statements: New Delhi and Canberra (Wednesday, March 18^th 2026)

How did the design and plan of environments such as New Delhi and Canberra express sentiments relating to colonialism? What forms did these environments have, and how did they use historicism to establish modern city environments? In the case of Canberra, how did politics affect the design of the city? Is Canberra today the product of urban planning or government attitudes? In what ways was the competition to design Canberra an international scandal, and how did this influence the selection of prize winners? Additionally, did the Indian wish to free itself from colonialism lead to new city types or a re-use of British ideas?

Week 12. City Faces (i). Identities and Nationalism: Antoni Gaudi and Barcelona (Wednesday, March 25^th 2025)

How and why did Barcelona develop in the way it did from the mid-1800s? What factors affected its development from the second half of the nineteenth century to the early-1900s? What role did Antoni Gaudi play in this process? And how did his identity as a Catalan affect his architectural work? How is Gaudi’s work now perceived given his image at the centre of Barcelona’s tourist industry, the local cultural renaissance, and the fall of Franco?

Week 13. City Faces (ii). Skyscrapers and their Meanings (Wednesday, April 1^st 2026)

What were the origins of high-rise construction? Where were the earliest examples of high-rise offices and housing to be found, and what form did they take? Why did high-rise housing come to be seen as an important means of dealing with housing provision after the Second World War? What led to its eventual abandonment in Britain but its continued use in other countries? What is the significance of high-rise construction today in Asia? Why are the largest buildings in the world found in countries like Taiwan, Malaysia and the UAE? What symbolic messages/readings lie within tall buildings and why do they have great meaning to particular societies as they evolve?

Week 14. Fieldtrip (Sky 100, Hong Kong) Wednesday, April 8^th 2026.

Week 15. Manila and Built Heritage (date to be confirmed).

CUHK regulations permitting, in April 2026 a visit to the Sky 100 Observation Deck will be undertaken.

Students shall be given a term grade based on:

1. Participation – 30% of total term score. This grade is given in relation to

• Attendance of lectures and tutorials
• Participation (e.g. the asking of questions in classes, and engagement with online discussions on the HIST5592 Facebook group)
• Introductory composition (400-500 words) relating to your understanding of the video to be watched as preparation for tutorial 1.

1. Short paper (1500-2000 words) – 30% of term grade.

1. Take-home examination (2000-2500 words) – 40% of term grade.

However always remember: speak with Prof. Morley should you have any questions about how your term grade is composed, or how your work shall be graded. He is happy to assist you!

Please note: (i) All assignments submitted will be returned in PDF format via email. All work to be returned includes the assignments plus a grade sheet designed by Prof. Morley that breaks down the score of your work. This informs you of not only your grade but exactly how you achieved it. Detailed comments about your work will be given by your Tutor.

(ii) Amended versions of any assignment cannot be submitted at a later date.

Assignment Assistance

Juggling the demands of an academic course with other requirements is never easy. Doing so in a language such as English, maybe a second or a third language, can often compound this situation. Frequently it can lead to much anxiety. Therefore, to provide as much assistance as possible Prof. Morley at the end of lectures shall provide time to speak one-to-one about anything to do with the course, e.g. assignments, and to answer any questions relating to matters raised by the lecture. Additionally, he will ask as assignment deadlines approach for assignment plans to be created so that they can be checked to ensure work is on ‘the right track’. Plus, as noted earlier, academic writing files to assist students about the writing process are provided on Blackboard, as are assignment planning documents. Prof. Morley, as a former language teacher who has worked in Spain, France and Taiwan, is happy though to discuss any aspect of the writing process with you if you require any other kind of help.

As part of your undertaking of HIST5592 you are required to attend four tutorials. These shall take place immediately after the lecture. Each tutorial offers an opportunity to discuss, evaluate and note aspects of the urban past raised within the lectures so to clarify and elucidate your knowledge of cities and their development. Where possible particular skill-building activities will be introduced. Provisionally, the following dates and topics are set for the tutorials:

1. January 15^th 2026 – Week 3;
2. February 11^th 2026 – Week 6;
3. March 4^th 2026– Week 9;
4. April 1^st 2026– Week 13.

CUHK regulations permitting, in April 2026 a visit to the Sky 100 Observation Deck will be undertaken.

Core Texts and Journals

The key texts for course HIST5592 are:

Lewis Mumford, The City in History  UL HT111.M8/ARL HT111.M8

Shane Ewan, What is Urban History?  UL HT113.E94 2016

John Reader, Cities  UL HT111. R43 2004

However other texts of relevance to parts of the course are:

Edmund Bacon, The Design of Cities   NA9050.B22 1974

Peter Hall, Cities in Civilisation  HT 111. H345 1998

Paul Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe 1000-1994   UL HT131.H658 1995

Spiro Kostof, The City Shaped and The City Assembled   HT111.K63

A.E.J. Morris, History of Urban Form   ARL HT166.M59 1993

Donald Olsen, The City as a Work of Art   NA970.O47 1986

Jan de Vries, European Urbanization 1500-1800   UL HT131.D4

For primary sources relating to aspects of the course tied to modern cities (between about 1700 and 1900), please refer to http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/homepage.htm.

Students will be expected to make use of other materials listed within this document as the course unfolds to prepare for both classes and assignments. At the same time many journals will be of use to this preparation process. In particular publications such as Urban History, Social History, Town Planning Review, Planning Perspectives, Journal of Urban History, The Economic History Review, Journal of Urban History, and the Journal of Social Medicine will have relevance to particular lectures and assignment questions.

Potential Problems

Being a student, especially if you’re married, have children and a job, for example, is obviously not easy. Juggling a professional and home life with the demands of a university course can be troublesome at times. Consequently, some simple behavioural patterns are advisable. By way of example, be thoroughly organised from the start of the term. Note down the deadlines of any work to be handed in or the dates of any presentations to be given as well as the dates of tutorials you are expected to attend. Moreover, given the demands of work and home problems sometimes can occur. If difficulties do arise that will impact upon your studies the please contact your Prof. Morley immediately. He will endeavour to help you as much as is possible so please do not hesitate to speak with him should you need help. Importantly, when problems do arise please do not wait. Problems when they initially occur can be managed far more easily than ones left to develop for a while.

To ensure that the students’ learning process is as smooth as can be Prof. Morley will distribute handouts at each lecture. Should you miss a class then all these materials can be accessed online, as can a video-voice recording of the lecture. In addition to support your learning outside of the classroom Prof. Morley has created learning materials related to the lectures which allows for a structured learning environment beyond the lecture hall, and to help buttress all students’ scholarly needs.

e-Learning

To supplement the students’ learning all course materials shall be available online through a developed version of CUHK’s Blackboard system. To access these materials registered students input their CUHK student number and password, and if they so wish, they can download materials. Materials accessible to students include chapters from books, journal papers, photos, virtual reality animation, interactive panoramas of urban environments, maps, internet links, lecture PowerPoints used by Prof. Morley, and voice recordings of the lectures. The use of online resources ensures that if for any reason a student is unable to attend a class due to illness, a business trip or other commitments that individual can still access all materials given out in the lecture, and shall not fall behind in the course. Furthermore, texts pertinent to assignment questions can be uploaded by Prof. Morley if there are problems obtaining books or papers from the library. However, to support student learning outside of the classroom, and to offer a structured environment beyond the lecture hall, HIST5592 uses a variety of interactive online instructional methods that include:

• An online forum/use of Facebook. This allows, for instance, Prof. Morley to follow-up on matters discussed in the lectures but it also allows students to exchange their thoughts and experiences of living in or visiting cities. The online forum has three objectives. Firstly, to provide a communicative tool where everyone can collectively learn from each other rather than from just the traditional teacher-centred learning situation. Secondly, to build from knowledge acquired in the lecture hall. For example, by Professor Morley posting online questions it allows for the exercising of discussion, in turn extending student learning beyond the foundation of the lecture. Thirdly, it respects the fact that all students already have knowledge about cities and history, and can develop their own understanding of urban history in light of their existing know-how and experiences of the real world.
• Short documentary and virtual reality videos. These help train the eye to see cities in a more detailed way, in so doing allowing students to have a greater awareness of the urban environment in which they live or visit when on vacation or business trips.
• Assignment planning sheets to guide students through the thought and analysis processes pertinent to composing written work on the urban past.
• Facebook group for registered students.

Accordingly, with the lecture, tutorials and online learning support mechanisms a coherent scholarly environment is provided for, one that has a purposeful architecture to provide for the extension of wisdom both inside and outside the classroom.

Internet Links

For each class a list of useful internet sources will be given. This is to not only allow for an additional source of information, and one of a visual nature, but to allow those students who register for the course and with limited abilities to visit CUHK’s libraries to still have access to materials pertinent to the course as it unfolds each week. Internet links will be available to registered students via the course’s Facebook group.

Course Portfolio

All registered students for HIST5592 will be able to access on Blackboard a portfolio designed by Prof. Morley. The portfolio shall contain:

•  Contact details of Professor Ian Morley.
•  A course calendar that includes dates of tutorials and fieldtrips, deadlines for assignments, a copy of the course book with links to library books, etc.
• Files relating to the process of writing assignments so as to grant assistance to any student who has not written an assignment in an academic format in English for a while.
•  An encyclopaedia relating to urban historical study.

Ground Rules and Academic Honesty

It is important that students registering for HIST5592 attend classes and arrive prepared. This includes endeavouring to turn up on time, having paper on which to record lecture notes, listening attentively to the teacher and, where possible, joining in any teacher-led discussions. To assist students with lectures, tutorials and assignment preparation, edited lecture notes based on the lecture PowerPoint will be handed out at the start of each lecture session, as will copies of key texts or lecture worksheets designed by Prof. Morley. But in order for all classroom situations to work effectively certain rules need to be established. Regulations relating to the classroom teaching of HIST5592 include:

• Reasonable behaviour during lectures and tutorials. You will be asked to leave should you act inappropriately.
• Do not talk when the Lecturer/Tutor is teaching. The Lecturer/Tutor will not continue during a disruption.
• Having an awareness of CUHK safety regulations within the university environment.
• Having self awareness that ultimately each student is responsible for their own learning.
• Arrive on time, or as near as is possible, to any lecturers and tutorials to be given.
• Turn mobile phones off once in the classroom. However, if you anticipate an important call please inform your Lecturer/Tutor in advance.
• Try to attend as many lecturers and tutorials as is possible, and take appropriate notes.
• Read recommended texts and other materials to boost your understanding of the subjects being taught, and to help in composing assignments. For written work it must be in your own words, not generated by AI.
• Plagiarism shall not be tolerated under any circumstances. The Chinese University of Hong Kong puts great emphasis on academic honesty. Consequently all students are advised to refer to the following website with regards to university regulations about cheating and plagiarism (copying):

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty

Ground Rules and Academic Honesty

It is important that students registering for HIST5592 attend classes and arrive prepared. This includes endeavouring to turn up on time, having paper on which to record lecture notes, listening attentively to the teacher and, where possible, joining in any teacher-led discussions. To assist students with lectures, tutorials and assignment preparation, edited lecture notes based on the lecture PowerPoint will be handed out at the start of each lecture session, as will copies of key texts or lecture worksheets designed by Prof. Morley. But in order for all classroom situations to work effectively certain rules need to be established. Regulations relating to the classroom teaching of HIST5592 include:

• Reasonable behaviour during lectures and tutorials. You will be asked to leave should you act inappropriately.
• Do not talk when the Lecturer/Tutor is teaching. The Lecturer/Tutor will not continue during a disruption.
• Having an awareness of CUHK safety regulations within the university environment.
• Having self awareness that ultimately each student is responsible for their own learning.
• Arrive on time, or as near as is possible, to any lecturers and tutorials to be given.
• Turn mobile phones off once in the classroom. However, if you anticipate an important call please inform your Lecturer/Tutor in advance.
• Try to attend as many lecturers and tutorials as is possible, and take appropriate notes.
• Read recommended texts and other materials to boost your understanding of the subjects being taught, and to help in composing assignments. For written work it must be in your own words, not generated by AI.
• Plagiarism shall not be tolerated under any circumstances. The Chinese University of Hong Kong puts great emphasis on academic honesty. Consequently all students are advised to refer to the following website with regards to university regulations about cheating and plagiarism (copying):

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
• For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.