Urban Studies, Minor

The Urban Studies Minor is an 18-credit-hour interdisciplinary program focused on the exploration of cities and urban processes through an array of disciplinary lenses. The program prepares students to better understand the complex challenges presented by urbanization and the rapid pace of change in 21st-century cities. The Urban Studies Minor positions students to be able to effectively address urban challenges as both professionals and citizens.

What can the Urban Studies Minor do for you?

• Prepares students for careers in the public, private and non-profit sectors. A minor in urban studies provides an excellent foundation for students interested in pursuing careers such as architecture, land use or community planning, law, public policy and administration, education, law enforcement, community organizing, transportation, housing and commercial development, real estate, political service, social work, journalism and research.
• Broadens students’ range of analytical tools. Students who minor in urban studies will have the opportunity to explore cities through multiple lenses of analysis. A course in architecture exposes students to an urban design perspective; a course in urban politics engages the student in questions of public policy and public service provision, and courses in geography address issues of urban planning and spatial analysis. Courses in history provide temporal context and historical insight while courses in sociology and anthropology introduce students to the social dynamics and cultural complexity of urban life.
• Facilitates exposure to both traditional academic and applied analysis. Coursework in urban history, sociology and anthropology introduces students to theory development and evaluation while also building skills of critical thinking and analysis. Coursework in architecture, politics and geography additionally emphasizes the ways in which urban practitioners identify and work to solve urban problems and challenges.
• Enables students to become both generalists and specialists. A major in history or anthropology or sociology, for example, provides students with a broad-based social science liberal arts degree, while a minor in urban studies allows further specialization in cities.
• Deepens students’ appreciation and understanding of urban problems and promise. Housing, homelessness, sustainable development, urban design, architecture, transportation, poverty, urban health, crime, local government, architectural history, urban sprawl, race relations, urban history, economic restructuring, urban revitalization, and growth management are examples of issues explored in the courses offered within the Urban Studies Minor.
• Prepares students for both professional and civic roles in the improvement of the quality of urban life. The interdisciplinary focus of the Urban Studies Minor prepares students to better understand, and to be able to effectively address – as both professionals and citizens – the many challenges presented by the rapid pace of urban change in the 21st century.