Seminar summary

Seminar 1 – Human geography and

urban and regional planning in the
social sciences
Article for english seminar: New York Times (2023) When the Skyscraper You Hate Blocks
the Skyscraper You Love

Seminar 2 – Societies
English seminars: SCP (2023) Contemporary inequality. The post-industrial class structure
based on four types of capital: disparities in the Netherlands 2023. The Netherlnads Institute
for Social Research, The Hague.

Pierre Bourdieu-different forms of capitals

Seminar 3 – Capitalism, the State

and the City
Harvey, D. (1978). The urban process under capitalism: a framework for
analysis. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2(1-3), 101-
131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.1978.tb00738.xLinks to an external site.

Circuit of capitalism
Harvey
the First Circuit talks about production, you can imagine that all of this might take place in a
factory, there are workers working with machines and if the Capitalist wants to increase
producing he is going to have to increase the working time or get better machines to improve
productivity. When you invest in this circuit the money stays inside of it. Capital stays inside
the circuit.
the Second Circuit, investments in the 2nd circuit are investments into space and are
therefore difficult or impossible to move around, your capital is fixed in one spot.
Investment in this Circuit can be very expensive and is often also a long term investment .
The 2nd Circuit it is subdivided by the capital fix and the consumer fund, both act the same
but Capital fix increases efficiency on the production side and the consumer fund increases
the efficiency of consuming. For the Capital fix and example might be a new road, rail line,
factory and for the consumer fund it might be a new road, a house or refrigerator. The capital
stays fixed in the circuit
The third Circuit is investments in goods and services that improve productivity (education,
technology). This circuit needs a lot of investment but is rarely profitable for a single
capitalist, it needs a government to force or lead investment by multiple capitalists
Bonus: Displaced class struggle, if everyone exploits workers they can get overworked and
the productivity can go down, this can create a crisis (strike, housing crisis, or something
else). It is therefore in every capitalists best interest to not overwork their workers but that
goes against the capitalists need for overaccumulation (aka more profit)
Bonus Bonus: Urban environment, a place where capital flows to or from
Last Bonus: Contradiction of Capitalism, A world of individuality and freedom conceals a
world of conformity and coercion underneath

Seminar 4 - The state and planning

Couch, Ch (2016). Urban Planning: An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Chapter 2, Pp. 55-64 (please note only until p. 64!).

Wagenaar. G. (2003) Between Civic Pride and Mass Society: Amsterdam in

Retrospect. Amsterdam Human Capital. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 49-
66.

Seminar 5 – Environment & Exam

preparation
DEAL (2020) Amsterdam City Doughnut. https://www.circle-economy.com/resources/the-
amsterdam-city-doughnut-a-tool-for-transformative-action
Planetary boundary and how it manifest in the city of Amsterdam