VGU Urban Development Planning Overview over Modules and ...

Technical University Darmstadt www.urban-studies.de
International
Co-operation
and Urban
Development
Course description
1 Course identification
2.5.1-B
2 Module 2.5
Conviviality and culture
3 Name of course Migration, segregation, differentiation
and minority focus
4 Course instructor Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Polvora
(FRGS Porto Alegre)
Senior Lecturer Dr. Rod Burgess (Oxford Brokes)
5 Contents /syllabus Many people change their place of residence over
great distances - voluntarily or not - and in both cases
there are social and spatial implications that require
careful planning on behalf of local authorities. For
example, in most countries of the South, there is
massive migration from the countryside towards the
cities in search of income – which not only produces a
huge housing deficit locally, but also easily creates
problems of cultural assimilation and xenophobia.
Although rarely acknowledged, there also occurs
migration in the other direction, back into the rural
areas, i.e. when urban poverty reaches a level when
the supply of food is not guaranteed any more, or
when people grow old or sick and depend on their
extended families for care.
Another serious and frequent problem is forced
internal migration in cases of civil war, like in El
Salvador in the past or certain areas of Colombia
today. At the new destination there generally are no
income opportunities, but the alternative to return to
the home places is impossible in the short run, and
remains unlikely in the distant future. In such a case,
certain aspects of the home economy may be
provided in the new environment, for example in the
form of urban agriculture.
The course will cover causes of migration, migrations
flows, settlement and resettlement requirements,
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