Economic, religious, gender, and ethnic differences must be negotiated every day in the urban arena. When tensions and conflict escalate into violence, the urban space becomes the battlespace in which these tensions are negotiated. This course examines urban development challenges in conflict cities through multiple disciplinary perspectives on urban conflict. This course also reviews literature that focuses on when violence and cities intersect. Students will learn about policy innovations, and study potential planning, design, and policy solutions.

The course examines the causes and effects of rapid urbanization in developing countries. Using case studies from the world’s four major developing regions, including (among others) Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Managua, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Kabul, Beirut, Cairo, Kinshasa, Cape Town and Johannesburg, it explores the economic and political dynamics that grease the wheels of contemporary patterns of growth. In addition to examining both local and transnational forces that drive contemporary urbanization, the course focuses on key issues that emerge in rapidly growing cities of the developing world, ranging from growing income inequality and socio-economic exclusion, environmental challenges, and rising violence. Class sessions are discussion-based and focus on a critical analysis of the arguments presented in the readings.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Growing up with siblings has many impacts on a child’s development and health, and previous studies suggest that this includes influencing their beneficial microbial communities. But a recent study examined these impacts directly, assessing the airway and gut microbiotas of nearly 700 children. In the COPSAC2010 cohort, the researchers followed the children from one week to six years of age. and found that the presence of siblings was among the most important factors influencing the composition of both microbial communities. This effect was most apparent in the first year of life, and while the number of older siblings had an impact, the age gap to the closest older sibling was a much stronger influence. It has previously been suggested that the microbial impact of siblings may reduce the incidence of ‘atopic diseases’ like asthma, allergy, and eczema, and in this study, having a sibling-influenced gut microbiota at one year old corresponded to reduced risk of asthma at six years old..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.