The birth of the city in 19th century Europe is associated with the beginning of the era of modernity in Western Civilization. Since then, humanity has increasingly become more urbanized, especially recently in Asia with the example of Hong Kong as well as the rapid development of cities in China. Simultaneously, the image artists portrayed of the cities has become more diverse and enriched: they
are seen not only in demographic or economic terms, but also in terms of feeling and emotion. By studying famous literary texts and films, the course will offer an exploration of famous cities in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese speaking countries. These will include various images of Paris, Barcelona, Casablanca, Algiers, Bamako, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Berlin, Vienna and Zurich. Each city will be presented and studied through various learning activities, including weekly lectures, group presentations, individual writing assignments and group discussions. The urban reality and imagination of each city will be studied as a microcosm of the country or the region’s culture as well as a microcosm of the individual’s space in the world.
