How to See the City: An Introduction to Visual Culture
Course
Explore a rich history of how cities have been represented in visual culture — from paintings and photography to film and digital media.
Instructor: Reuben Ross
As John Berger famously writes, "it is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world." This four-week course, led by Reuben Ross, offers an introduction to the ways we perceive and understand urban spaces through visual culture.
The architectural historian Spiro Kostof once argued that individual buildings are "born of images and live on in images." In urban spaces, these images come together, forming a dynamic and ever-changing visual mosaic. The city – its buildings, its surfaces, and the people that inhabit it – presents itself as a vast collection of images. And, as Kevin Lynch suggests, the visual legibility of the urban environment plays a critical role in determining how citizens experience urban space. Understanding the relationship between urban and visual culture is crucial to grasping how cities function today.
In How to See the City, Reuben will guide participants on an expansive journey through the visual history of the city. The course begins in the late Middle Ages, a period when the city first emerged as a significant artistic subject. It then moves on to the Renaissance, a period that saw the development of linear perspective and the rise of individual street scenes as a distinct form of urban visual expression. The journey continues with the advent of groundbreaking visual technologies, particularly photography, which played a pivotal role in shaping how cities were visualised. Finally, participants will delve into the era of digital media and the "society of the spectacle," a world in which visual and urban cultures have become deeply intertwined.
Additional Information
Reuben Ross is a visual anthropologist and photographer based in Valencia, Spain. He holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and specialises in the study of urban history.
This is an online event. Upon registration, all further details — including reading materials and a Zoom link for each session — will be communicated by email.
Schedule and Dates
- Session 1: May 3, 2025 — 17:00–18:00
- Session 2: May 10, 2025 — 17:00–18:00
- Session 3: May 17, 2025 — 17:00–18:00
- Session 4: May 24, 2025 — 17:00–18:00
All times are London time — currently
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