The course examines the political, social, and economic factors that fragment contemporary cities and generate territorial polarization. Through a multiscale approach, the program enables students to distinguish simple spatial concentration from exclusionary segregation, focusing on the relational nature of peripheralization. The specific topics covered will include:

• Definitions of concentration, polarisation, and territorial segregation;
• Concepts of ghetto, hyper-ghetto, and anti-ghetto;
• The different spatial scales of territorial polarisation;
• The significance and evolving nature of the centre–periphery axis;
• Residential concentration and spatial violence;
• Comparative models of segregation: North American, Northern European, and Southern European;
• Main drivers of (de)segregation: housing (e.g. housing policies, informal occupations), labour (e.g. agricultural ghettos), welfare (e.g. healthcare, education), and racialisation processes;
• The relationship between segregation and migrant background;
• Territorial stigmatisation: origins, symbolic agencies, and main socio-political effects;
• Structural violence and cultural responses: forms of resistance, opposition, and radicalisation (e.g. trap music, the ‘bad guy’ persona, Islamic identity);
• Public space and social exclusion: urban struggles, the rhetoric of decorum, and penal populism;
• Urban policies for marginalised areas: social mix, urban regeneration, and politique de la ville—with a focus on the limitations of sectoral interventions and the need for multidimensional, integrated approaches.

Theoretical concepts will be critically applied through the analysis of real-world case studies involving the spatial concentration and stigmatisation of minority communities.