This course engages with theories, readings, and concepts that illuminate the complexities and contours of space, place and mobility in the modern world. In addition to scholarship from cultural studies scholars, we will make use of diverse readings in the fields of geography, environmental history, tourist studies, urban planning, sociology, anthropology, architecture, and communication to explore diverse phenomena including: urbanization, gentrification, street art, transportation, military occupation, utopian/dystopian narratives, parks and playgrounds, privatization, media representation, urban gardening, public protest, and both the meanings and functions of public space.