The goal of this course is to develop your political acuity by examining the political forces at work in cities, and the political environment in which urban policy decisions are made. We will accomplish this by introducing you to various theories of urban politics and investigating how these frameworks apply to case studies in different local and national settings. The course is motivated by four fundamental questions: Who holds power in cities? How is this power exercised? What political conflicts does this produce? And how can we explain these conflicts? We will answer these questions mainly using the conceptual tools of political science, which aim to capture the role of organized interests, institutions, and ideas in urban governance, as well as case studies and conversations with urban scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds in cities around the world.