Paris, Nature and the City looks at the garden as a historical and politically determined social space. In this course, we will focus on specific case studies of Parisian parks and gardens: from seventeenth century enclosed and designed gardens as expressions of the court’s power, to the romantic garden and the fantasy of the “wild”; from the nineteenth century urban park and public health concerns, to contemporary park design and the politics of the Anthropocene. Through visits, city explorations and seminar-based classes, this course will use each Parisian park as a case study to examine evolving conceptions of land ownership, political power, public space, the natural, the wild, the urban, social control, public health, and leisure.