Course Syllabus

Course Information：

Year-Semester Course Number Course Name Phase Credits Hours Required/Elective Instructor Class Student NO. Withdraw Note

Fall Semester
Year 2026 366457 Cinematic Urbanism Studies 1 3.0 3 ★ CHEN, YING-FEN GAUD
DID 3 0 建都碩和設計博班合開

Year-Semester	Course Number	Course Name	Phase	Credits	Hours	Required/Elective	Instructor	Class	Student NO.	Withdraw	Note
Fall Semester Year 2026	366457	Cinematic Urbanism Studies	1	3.0	3	★	CHEN, YING-FEN	GAUD DID	3	0	建都碩和設計博班合開

Course Plan：

Instructor CHEN, YING-FEN　Office Hours

Email yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw

Last Updated 2026-06-05 22:11:56

Course Objective While cinema has been invented over a hundred years and getting influential in shaping people’s perspectives to our environments, the studies of cinematic urbanism have only initiated since 1990s. During the past decades, this interdisciplinary field has developed upon the scholarships of various disciplines, including film and media studies, cultural studies, history, geography, urban studies, etc. This course intends to introduce this still young field through chronologically examining the relationships between cinema and cities, from both being used to celebrate and mediate the modern feelings to film noir playing a crucial role to criticize and depict urban problems, and to cinematic urban imaginaries boosting tourism and intervening in urban process. Students will learn the theories and methodologies of cinematic urbanism studies, comprehending cinema and different urban spaces as powerful medium that could be manipulated to create, transmit, and perceive certain ideologies.

Course Schedule Week 01 Introduction Week 02 Holiday: Peace Memorial Day Week 03 Man with a Movie Camera in the Modern City Week 04 Modernism in Architecture and Cinema: Sergei Eisenstein and Le Corbusier Week 05 Mediating the American Modernism through Cinematic Spaces Week 06 Shanghai Modern: Urban Culture and Film Industry Week 07 Holiday: Spring Break/Children’s Day Week 08 Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity Week 09 Future Urban Imaginations and Si-fi Cinema Week 10 Midterm Presentation Week 11 Postmodern Aesthetics and Taiwan’s New Wave Cinema Week 12 Hong Kong Cinema and the City on Fire Week 13 The Film Studio: Film Production in the Global Era Week 14 From Fans’ Cinematic Pilgrim to Film-induced Tourism Week 15 Cinematic Promotion and Cultural Governance in Contemporary Cities Week 16 Cinematic Historiography and Community Design Week 17 Final Presentation (I) Week 18 Final Presentation (II)

Evaluation and grading policy 15% Attendance 30% Participations 15% Midterm Presentation 40% Final Presentation and Essay

Materials All right reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Foreign-language textbooks:Yes
Simmel, Georg (1903, 1971) "The Metropolis and Mental Life", trans. Edward A. Shils in Our Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald N. Levine. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 324-339. Bruno, Giuliana (1997) “Site-seeing: Architecture and the Moving Image” in Wide Angle 19.4, 8-24. Vidler, Anthony (2019) “The Eisenstein Effect: Architecture and Narrative Montage in Sergei Eisenstein and Le Corbusier” in The Moving Eye: Film, Television, Architecture, Visual Art, and the Modern, ed. Edward Dimendberg. Oxford University Press. Eisenstein, S., Bois, Y., & Glenny, M. (1989). Montage and Architecture. Assemblage, (10), 111-131. Hansen, Miriam (1994) “Introduction: Cinema Spectatorship and Public Life” and “Chameleon and Catalyst: The Cinema as an Alternative Public Sphere” in Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film. Harvard U. Press. Nasaw, David (1999) “Dollar Theaters, Concert Saloons, and Dime Museums” and “Something for Everybody” at the Vaudeville Theater” in Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements. Harvard U. Press. Hansen, Miriam (2000)“Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons: Shanghai Silent Film as Vernacular Modernism,” Film Quarterly 54.1: 10-22. Pang Laikwan (2007) “Introduction,” “Chapter 1,” “Chapter 5” in The Distorting Mirror. University of Hawai'i Press, 1-68, 164-183. Dimendberg, Edward. (2004) “Introductin” and “Simultaneity, the Media Environment, and the End of Film Noir” in Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity. Harvard University Press. Tsutsui, W. (2010). “Oh No, There Goes Tokyo: Recreational Apocalypse and the City in Postwar Japanese Popular Culture.” In Prakash G. (Ed.), Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 104-126. Prakash, G. (2010). “Introduction: Imaging the Modern City, Darkly.” In Prakash G. (Ed.), Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 1-14. AlSayyad, Nerza. (2006) “An alternative modernity: race, ethnicity and the urban experience” and “Exurban postmodernity: utopia, simulacra and hyper-reality” in Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real. Routledge Press. Jameson, Frederick (1992) “Remapping Taipei” in The Geopolitical Aesthetic: Cinema and Space in the World System. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 114-157. Chang. Yvonne (2005) “The Terrorizer and the Great Divide in Contemporary Taiwan’s Cultural Development.” In Island on the Edge: Taiwan New Cinema and After. Ed. Chris Berry and Feii Lu. Hong Kong University Press, 13-26. Abbas, M A. (1997) “Introduction: Culture in a Spcae of Disappearance.” In Hong Kong: culture and the politics of disappearance. University of Minnesota Press, 1-15. Cheung, Ester M. K. (2004) “The City that Haunts: The Uncanny in Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong.” In Cheung, Ester M. K., Chu, Yiu-wai Ed. Between Hong and World: A Reader in Hong Kong Cinema. Oxford U. Press, 352-368. Krause, Linda and Petro, Patrice ed. (2003) Global Cities: Cinema, Architecture, and Urbanism in Digital Age. Routledge Press. (selected chapter, TBD). Goldsmith, Ben and O'Regan, Tom (2005) “International Production and Globalization” and “The Same but Different Canadian Studios and International Production” in The Film Studio: Film Production in the Global Economy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Beeton, Sue. (2005) “Popular Media and Tourism” and “film Studio Theme Park success and Fallings” in Film-Induced Tourism. Channel View Publications. Roberts, Les (2012) “Cinematic Geography: Mobilizing the Archive City” and “Cinematic Cartography: Mapping the Archive City” in Film, Mobility, and Urban Space: A Cinem

The access to curricular consultation Office hours: Wednesday & Thursday 10:00-12:00
Please make an appointment beforehand via yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw

Expanding teaching and resources ● 數位教材資源應用 (Application of Digital Resources)
採用影音多媒體或具開放授權之資源（如OCW、開放教科書）作為主要或輔助教材。
Adopts multimedia or open-licensed resources (e.g., OCW, Open Textbooks) as primary or supplementary teaching materials.

The course corresponds to the SDGs SDG9：產業創新與基礎設施（Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure）
SDG11：永續城市與社區（Sustainable Cities and Communities）

Does the course incorporate AI ● 無（None）

Note
Please contact the instructor via yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw if needed.

Instructor	CHEN, YING-FEN　Office Hours
Email	yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw
Last Updated	2026-06-05 22:11:56
Course Objective	While cinema has been invented over a hundred years and getting influential in shaping people’s perspectives to our environments, the studies of cinematic urbanism have only initiated since 1990s. During the past decades, this interdisciplinary field has developed upon the scholarships of various disciplines, including film and media studies, cultural studies, history, geography, urban studies, etc. This course intends to introduce this still young field through chronologically examining the relationships between cinema and cities, from both being used to celebrate and mediate the modern feelings to film noir playing a crucial role to criticize and depict urban problems, and to cinematic urban imaginaries boosting tourism and intervening in urban process. Students will learn the theories and methodologies of cinematic urbanism studies, comprehending cinema and different urban spaces as powerful medium that could be manipulated to create, transmit, and perceive certain ideologies.
Course Schedule	Week 01 Introduction Week 02 Holiday: Peace Memorial Day Week 03 Man with a Movie Camera in the Modern City Week 04 Modernism in Architecture and Cinema: Sergei Eisenstein and Le Corbusier Week 05 Mediating the American Modernism through Cinematic Spaces Week 06 Shanghai Modern: Urban Culture and Film Industry Week 07 Holiday: Spring Break/Children’s Day Week 08 Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity Week 09 Future Urban Imaginations and Si-fi Cinema Week 10 Midterm Presentation Week 11 Postmodern Aesthetics and Taiwan’s New Wave Cinema Week 12 Hong Kong Cinema and the City on Fire Week 13 The Film Studio: Film Production in the Global Era Week 14 From Fans’ Cinematic Pilgrim to Film-induced Tourism Week 15 Cinematic Promotion and Cultural Governance in Contemporary Cities Week 16 Cinematic Historiography and Community Design Week 17 Final Presentation (I) Week 18 Final Presentation (II)
Evaluation and grading policy	15% Attendance 30% Participations 15% Midterm Presentation 40% Final Presentation and Essay
Materials	All right reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Foreign-language textbooks:Yes Simmel, Georg (1903, 1971) "The Metropolis and Mental Life", trans. Edward A. Shils in Our Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald N. Levine. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 324-339. Bruno, Giuliana (1997) “Site-seeing: Architecture and the Moving Image” in Wide Angle 19.4, 8-24. Vidler, Anthony (2019) “The Eisenstein Effect: Architecture and Narrative Montage in Sergei Eisenstein and Le Corbusier” in The Moving Eye: Film, Television, Architecture, Visual Art, and the Modern, ed. Edward Dimendberg. Oxford University Press. Eisenstein, S., Bois, Y., & Glenny, M. (1989). Montage and Architecture. Assemblage, (10), 111-131. Hansen, Miriam (1994) “Introduction: Cinema Spectatorship and Public Life” and “Chameleon and Catalyst: The Cinema as an Alternative Public Sphere” in Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film. Harvard U. Press. Nasaw, David (1999) “Dollar Theaters, Concert Saloons, and Dime Museums” and “Something for Everybody” at the Vaudeville Theater” in Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements. Harvard U. Press. Hansen, Miriam (2000)“Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons: Shanghai Silent Film as Vernacular Modernism,” Film Quarterly 54.1: 10-22. Pang Laikwan (2007) “Introduction,” “Chapter 1,” “Chapter 5” in The Distorting Mirror. University of Hawai'i Press, 1-68, 164-183. Dimendberg, Edward. (2004) “Introductin” and “Simultaneity, the Media Environment, and the End of Film Noir” in Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity. Harvard University Press. Tsutsui, W. (2010). “Oh No, There Goes Tokyo: Recreational Apocalypse and the City in Postwar Japanese Popular Culture.” In Prakash G. (Ed.), Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 104-126. Prakash, G. (2010). “Introduction: Imaging the Modern City, Darkly.” In Prakash G. (Ed.), Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 1-14. AlSayyad, Nerza. (2006) “An alternative modernity: race, ethnicity and the urban experience” and “Exurban postmodernity: utopia, simulacra and hyper-reality” in Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real. Routledge Press. Jameson, Frederick (1992) “Remapping Taipei” in The Geopolitical Aesthetic: Cinema and Space in the World System. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 114-157. Chang. Yvonne (2005) “The Terrorizer and the Great Divide in Contemporary Taiwan’s Cultural Development.” In Island on the Edge: Taiwan New Cinema and After. Ed. Chris Berry and Feii Lu. Hong Kong University Press, 13-26. Abbas, M A. (1997) “Introduction: Culture in a Spcae of Disappearance.” In Hong Kong: culture and the politics of disappearance. University of Minnesota Press, 1-15. Cheung, Ester M. K. (2004) “The City that Haunts: The Uncanny in Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong.” In Cheung, Ester M. K., Chu, Yiu-wai Ed. Between Hong and World: A Reader in Hong Kong Cinema. Oxford U. Press, 352-368. Krause, Linda and Petro, Patrice ed. (2003) Global Cities: Cinema, Architecture, and Urbanism in Digital Age. Routledge Press. (selected chapter, TBD). Goldsmith, Ben and O'Regan, Tom (2005) “International Production and Globalization” and “The Same but Different Canadian Studios and International Production” in The Film Studio: Film Production in the Global Economy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Beeton, Sue. (2005) “Popular Media and Tourism” and “film Studio Theme Park success and Fallings” in Film-Induced Tourism. Channel View Publications. Roberts, Les (2012) “Cinematic Geography: Mobilizing the Archive City” and “Cinematic Cartography: Mapping the Archive City” in Film, Mobility, and Urban Space: A Cinem
The access to curricular consultation	Office hours: Wednesday & Thursday 10:00-12:00 Please make an appointment beforehand via yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw
Expanding teaching and resources	● 數位教材資源應用 (Application of Digital Resources) 採用影音多媒體或具開放授權之資源（如OCW、開放教科書）作為主要或輔助教材。 Adopts multimedia or open-licensed resources (e.g., OCW, Open Textbooks) as primary or supplementary teaching materials.
The course corresponds to the SDGs	SDG9：產業創新與基礎設施（Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure） SDG11：永續城市與社區（Sustainable Cities and Communities）
Does the course incorporate AI	● 無（None）
Note	Please contact the instructor via yingfenchen@ntut.edu.tw if needed.