Prerequisite:

Second-cycle Bologna degree in the relevant track or a university (level VII) degree

Content (Syllabus outline):

• Disciplinary frameworks and approaches to the study of the socio spatial relations and processes: brief overview of the different theoretical and methodological orientations.
• Social character, meaning and the social functions of the (physical) space.
• Sociological aspects of the location and accessibility in the space.
• Physical and time-space distance; space as scene. changing importance of the territorial communities and territorial identities. hierarchical or networked relations in the space.
• The development of the information and communication technologies and their impact on the spatiality of the social relations; time-space compression, local-global convergence; from the “space of places” to the “space of flows”,
• Physical and virtual space.
• Problems of socio spatial and regional development in Slovenia within the context of European integration.

Readings:

• Löw, M. 2016: The Sociology of Space. Materiality, Social Structures, and Action. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
• Gottdiener, M., Hutchinson, R. (2006): The New Urban Sociology. Boulder: Westview Press.
• Tonkiss, F.: Space, the Cityx and Social Theory. Social Relations and Urban Forms. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Benko, G., Strohnayer, U. (Eds.)(1997):Space & Social Theory. Interpreting Modernity and Oxford: Blackwell.
• Dickens, P. (2000) Society, Space and the Biotic Level: An Urban and Rural Sociology for the New Millennium. Vol. 34, No. 1,pp. 147–164.
• Löw, M. (2008): The Constitution of Space The Structuration of Spaces Through the Simultaneity of Effect and Perception. European Journal of Social Theory 11(1): 25–49.
• Löw, M. (2001): Raumsoziologie. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
• Gantar, P. (2014): Mesta v perspektivi sociološkega raziskovanja globalizacije. Teorija in praksa, Letnik LI, posebna številka. 193-220.

Objectives and competences:

Students will learn basic theoretical and conceptual approaches to the sociological study of physical space. How social processes impact the spatial formations and how different spatial constellations affect social relations. They will learn the changing role and the meaning of space in the course of societal development.

Intended learning outcomes:

• Students will be able to integrate sociological knowledge on physical space in the interdisciplinary context of the regional studies and planning.
• They will acquire the knowledge on social determinants of spatial development and on the role of different social actors in the processes of space
• They will learn methods and techniques of the sociological research of the physical space.

Assessment:

Oral exam (100 %).