We begin with theories of the origin of the city. While the first module discusses the works of Lewis Mumford, V.Gordon Childe, Max Weber and Charles Cooley on the rise of the city, the second module briefly outlines the urban history of India. We show that the concept of ‘urban’ undergoes a critical change in the post Industrial Revolution period and we attempt to understand its full significance (Module Three). The concept of urban was no longer a site (of political power or the market) but it was a worldview and an ideal. It was the face of the future. After exploring the theoretical underpinnings of urban sociology we move on to discuss the relation between urbanization, technology and planning. We discuss how the concentration of technology in the city contributed to its dominance. Moreover, how the urban community was shaped by technology and at the same time also negotiated and questioned it (Module Four). Module Six explores the sociological aspects of urban planning. Following a timeline, it discusses the imperatives behind urban planning in pre-imperial port cities, the imperial reconstruction of a nawabi city and the construction of a post-Independence capital city in India. In the last lecture we discuss the ideas of consumption, urban renewal and the ‘divided’ city.

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