The city of cinema: Interpreting urban images on film

To augment the economic and political analysis of cities which is the traditional content of urban planning curricula, the authors developed a course titled Cinema City. The objective of the course is to expand the students' understanding of both how people respond to life in cities and how this response is in fact influenced by the images they see depicted in film. Striking arguments can be made that our willingness to address urban problems is influenced by out history of such popular images. This paper outlines the authors' experience with the course, indicating both the pedagogical benefits and scholarly vane of such an approach.