Social geography – the study of how space and society interact – is an applied subject. It examines lived experiences, performances, and practises of power in ‘real world’ settings. One crucial setting in which social geography can be examined and explored is the city. Cities are urban spaces – those where the landscape is built-up, and populations are dense. But cities are also unique. Each city has a social shape, deriving from its history, economy, culture, links to other cities, and so on. This course explores three cities as a lens for examining social geographies in-depth, through detailed empirical examples. This allows students to gain knowledge of how social geographies take place in the city, and how cities are spaces of social contestation. The course offers an introductory lecture, attending to the theme of ‘cities’ in social geography, before taking students on a geographical tour of three world cities - Liverpool, New York and Auckland – spanning Europe, America and Oceania; in the northern and southern hemisphere. Lectures will explore these cities to introduce several major themes in social geography including 1) relations between the global and local; 2) tourism, heritage and memory, 3) sustainability and the environment. Students will then use their understanding of the social geographies of these cities to write three timed essays and produce a recorded presentation. This syllabus directly supports the course ‘Social Geographers and the City: Knowing Urban Spaces’, which runs concurrently. In this course students will deepen their knowledge of the three cities and their social geographies through a range of seminar activities that allow virtual engagement with each city. The module portfolio relies on proactive engagement and reading, and students are strongly advised to attend all lecture and seminar sessions in order to maximise their marks.