Бакалавриат
2026/2027
Городская политика и управление в странах БРИКС
ID 1140204
Статус:
Курс по выбору (Международная программа «Международные отношения и глобальные исследования»)
Кто читает:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Где читается:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Когда читается:
2-й курс, 1, 2 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Преподаватели:
Хомич Виктория Александровна
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
40
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The course provides a unique opportunity to view the city as an active player in international relations. It demonstrates that the city is not merely a passive recipient of government policies, but also a driver of innovation and international collaboration. This is particularly important for the BRICS space, where the pace of urban transformation consistently outpaces the capacity of national institutions, pushing cities to become key agents of cross‑border cooperation. In this context, urban centers across BRICS act as incubators for transnational partnerships, and hubs for sharing solutions to common challenges — from climate resilience to digital infrastructure. Urban policy and Urban governance in the BRICS countries is examined as a vital component of the global economic landscape — one that must be understood within a broader framework of multipolar world, competing development models, and the pursuit of equitable and sustainable urban growth.
Learning Objectives
- Achieve an analytical framework for understanding Urban development policies and Urban Governance in BRICS countries, in the context of competing development models and the search for a balance between growth, equity and sustainability.
- Identify common problems for BRICS cities — climate vulnerability, lack of resources, digital inequality, problems of access to basic services — and to find solutions based on the exchange of best practices within the association.
- Understand the logic of sustainable and equitable urban development: cities in BRICS countries are not just passive links in national policies, but important “bricks” on which cross-border projects depend and that influence the global agenda.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Explain the role of cities in international relations within the BRICS region, going beyond their traditional role as mere passive actors in national policy.
- Describe the specific dynamics of urban transformation in BRICS countries, highlighting how the pace of change outpaces national institutional capabilities, forcing cities to collaborate across borders.
- Identify competing urban development models in BRICS countries and their impact on multipolar world politics, with a focus on strategies for equitable and sustainable urban growth.
- Outline the connection between local urban governance decisions and broader global agendas, recognizing cities as significant engines for transnational initiatives.
- Compare approaches to shared problems, identifying transferable lessons and context-specific variables and formulate evidence-based recommendations for policymakers on bridging the gap between fast-paced urban reality and slower national regulatory frameworks of BRICS space.
Course Contents
- Scale and diversity: What is the BRICS urban space?
- Finding the smallest common multiple for BRICS cities: if we can't compare the cities themselves, what can we compare?
- Focus on the institutional comparability of urban governance and urban policy in the BRICS countries.
- Learning to compare not cities, but conditions for practice and development.
- Categorization of BRICS Cities Based on Urban Development Trends.
- Categorization in Action — Global, Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive, Cultural, Industrial, Scientific…etc.
- Group debate & Group presentation: Group 1. Centrally planned urbanism with formal municipal autonomy. Countries: Russia, Egypt, Iran; Group 2. State-directed technocratic urbanism. Countries: China, UAE..
- A human-centered approach (PPPP) as the basis for the development of the urban environment.
- From principle to metrics: how to measure human-centricity?
- Dynamic urbanism in the context of BRICS cities: adaptability, data, and growth.
- Dynamic urbanism in BRICS cities: how cities learn to be flexible.
- A new context: from acronym to platform. The role of BRICS cities.
- BRICS Cities in a multipolar world: trend maps and new roles.
- Urbanism of the future: sustainable development and integration of goals into a single strategy.
- Future City Strategy: Goal Integration Simulator.
- Coordination of BRICS urban development models: from differences to general principles.
- Workshop: Drafting the BRICS Urban Development Protocol.
Assessment Elements
- SeminarsAt the seminars, students analyze the cases of BRICS cities that act as drivers of international cooperation. The format involves an analysis of specific initiatives and segments of urban governance: master plans, socio-economic development strategies, city council ratings, city diplomatic programs, cross-border projects in the field of citizen participation, climate sustainability and digital infrastructure. The emphasis is on understanding cities as independent actors whose actions can outpace national institutions, especially in the context of accelerated urbanization in the BRICS countries. Reading literature: an analytical foundation. Reading one essay per week strictly according to the course schedule is a prerequisite. Students should come to classes ready not only to retell the content of the texts, but also to have an active discussion. The students' task is to critically analyze the literature, develop the ideas embedded in it, question the arguments of the authors and formulate clarifying questions to resolve the doubts that arise. It is through this dialogue that students will deconstruct the concepts of urban diplomacy and network management. Participation in seminars: practical laboratory. The presence and active participation in each seminar directly contribute to the final assessment (weight 0.250 according to the activity scheme). The seminars will become a laboratory for testing ideas: here students will test hypotheses about how BRICS urban centers form their own foreign policy agendas in spite of or in addition to national strategies. Students are expected to engage in constructive polemics with colleagues, be willing to defend their position in a reasoned manner, and be able to connect theoretical discussions with the actual practice of urban competition for investment, technology, and political influence. The final guideline: regular training and involved work in the classroom is not a formal condition, but a necessary tool for understanding exactly how modern cities construct a new architecture of international relations in conditions of resource scarcity and institutional constraints on the part of states.
- Group presentationsThis format takes students from the academic classroom to the situational center for International Urban Diplomacy. The presentation is not a report on what has been read, but a simulation of a strategic session in which the group acts as an expert consultant for a specific BRICS city. Students need to demonstrate how their city overcomes the institutional constraints of the national government and independently builds cross-border cooperation. The emphasis is on the fact that urban diplomacy is a pragmatic tool for survival and development in conditions of resource scarcity, and not just an ideological declaration. Since the presence weight is 0.250 of the total course grade, it is integrated into the Group presentation preparation process as follows: At each workshop, 15 minutes are allocated for intermediate working group meetings. The absence of a student at this stage is recorded. If a team member skipped more than two seminar sessions for no good reason, their individual score for the final presentation is reduced by 10% for each skip (the participation rate is applied to the total scores of the entire group). This motivates the group to internal management and makes it impossible for one or two people to do all the work for the others. Regular attendance also allows students to receive good feedback early on, which directly improves the quality of the final presentation.
- Group debate
- Final Oral ExamThe exam tests a student's ability to synthesize course material and apply an analytical framework to specific country contexts. The exam is conducted orally, individually. Question 1 - Tests the understanding of the conceptual framework of the course: the city as an actor of international relations, the multipolar world, competing development models, urban policy and governance, and the institutional asymmetry between the pace of urbanization and the capacity of national institutions. Question 2 - Tests the ability to apply theoretical knowledge to a specific BRICS country: analyze the national model of urban governance, key cities, their international role and limitations. The student receives a question about one of the BRICS countries. The issue requires knowledge of specific cities, policies, institutions, and cases of international cooperation.
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 2nd module0.25 * Group presentations + 0.2 * Group debate + 0.3 * Final Oral Exam + 0.25 * Seminars
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- International handbook of urban policy : contentious global issues, , 2007
- International handbook of urban policy : issues in the developing world, , 2011
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Urban policy analysis : directions for future research, Bielby, W. T., 1981
- van den Berg Leo, van der Meer Jan and Carvalho Luís Cities As Engines of Sustainable Competitiveness: European Urban Policy in Practice [Book]. - Abingdon : Routledge, 2016.