In this course we will critically examine "global urbanism" while paying explicit attention to how cities of global South have been studied, understood and depicted in global urban research. In the past two decades, influential policymakers have promulgated the "global cities" paradigm, which frames 21st century urbanism in global terms. According to the "global cities" paradigm "global" cities of the North, such as New York, London, and Tokyo are at the pinnacle of globalization. In contrast, cities of the global South are consistently portrayed as "mega" cities that are disorderly, polluted, chaotic, ungovernable, and marked by infrastructure collapse. In short, cities of the global South are mega cities with mega problems. In this course we will begin by examining policy-oriented as well as academic literature in order to understand how the global cities paradigm was given coherence and propagated across the world.