Exercise 5.2—Physical and socioeconomic reading

‘Physical and socioeconomic reading’ is an exercise that explores the capacity of each student to gather physical characteristics and socioeconomic indicators, as exemplified in Chap. 5. The exercise, framed by the contents taught and learned in the last chapter (particularly in the analysis of Istanbul, Tokyo, New York, Marrakesh, and Porto), should be as follows.

Firstly, each student is given a city from an initial list, gathering the main cities of the country where the exercise is being developed. Secondly, the analysis of each city shouldmake evident: i. a brief geographical and historical context; ii. the present urban form (streets, street blocks, plots, and buildings) of a particular part of the city selected by the student, using a software for the interactive visualization of maps and satellite images (like Google Earth, BingMaps, or Baidu Maps); and iii. a small set of demographic, social, and economic indicators for that same part of the city, usually available at each country’s national statistics.
Each student should prepare a brief PowerPoint (5–10 min, 10 slides maximum)
to be presented to the classroom. The student should use text and images (drawings and photographs) or any means that he thinks is adequate.