Life and the City

Teacher(s): Angel L. Vidal

Lessons: 4/week

By 2050 seven billion people will live in cities or urban areas.

Cities are beautiful but cities are also facing many problems and challenges, from inequality and poverty to the lack of sustainability.

In this Folk High School Life and the City class we will discuss the on-going processes of urbanization both at the national and global levels and the impact of urbanization in our daily life. We will analyze and discuss the cities where International People’s College students’ live.

And together we will try to find answers to questions such as:

• How cities work in different countries and contexts?
• Which services cities and towns provide to citizens, enterprises and institutions and which functions they have in social, economic, political and cultural life?
• What’s the importance of citizens’ participation in the development and consolidation of sustainable and inclusive cities?
• How cities deal with local governance, sustainability, multiculturalism and social inclusion?
• What is the importance of thinking globally and acting locally?