Course: MUPD01 25/26 Decolonial Futures & Counter-Cartographies in Urbanism

Mapping, Data, and Knowledge Production in the Contemporary City

Decolonial Futures & Counter-Cartographies in Urbanism critically examines how cities are produced through unequal power relations embedded in planning practices, architectural discourse, and data-driven methodologies. The seminar frames urbanism as an epistemological practice, interrogating how maps, models, and datasets shape what is visible, governable, and imaginable while privileging certain perspectives and excluding others. Through decolonial theory, critical methodologies, and collective cartographic practices, students develop situated research positions and produce layered counter-maps that reveal the city as a dynamic, contested space shaped by multiple forms of knowledge and experience.