Urban Studies

Structure of the Concentration

A concentration in urban studies will consist of eight courses distributed in the following manner.

Curriculum

GEOG 241 - Urban Geography
Four discipline-based theoretical approaches to the city drawn from the following set of courses. Courses must be selected from at least TWO disciplines. A relevant course that does not appear on this list, including a course taken through a study away/study abroad opportunity, may be substituted for one of these courses, pending approval of the concentration director.

AMST 250 - Race, Place and Space
AMST 265 - The Schools-to-Prison Pipeline
AMST 294 - Topics Course  (Placing Race and Seeing Social Inequality)
ECON 342 - Economics of Poverty in US
EDUC 240 - Race, Culture, and Ethnicity in Education
EDUC 280 - Re-envisioning Education and Democracy
ENGL 341 - 20th Century British Novel
ENGL 385 - Los Angeles and the American Dream
GEOG 261 - Geography of World Urbanization
GEOG 262 - Metro Analysis
GEOG 341 - City Life: Segregation, Integration, and Gentrification
GEOG 488 - Seminar
HIST 232 - Immigration and Ethnicity in US History
HIST 248 - Jim Crow
HIST 282 - Latin America: Art and Nation
HIST 294 - Topics Course  (The City in Latin American History)
HIST 382 - Remembering the Modern City
POLI 204 - Urban Politics
POLI 244 - Urban Latino Power
POLI 342 - Urban Politics of Latin America
SOCI 190 - Criminal Behavior/Social Control
THDA 294 - Topics Course  (Hip Hop Performance)
THDA 489 - Seminar in Performance Theory and Practice
Two applied courses drawn from the following set of courses. A relevant course that does not appear on this list, including a four-credit internship or a course taken through a study away/study abroad opportunity, may be substituted for one of these courses, pending approval of the concentration director.

AMST 300 - Jr Civic Engagement Seminar (with approved topic)
ANTH 230 - Ethnographic Interviewing
EDUC 390 - Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools
EDUC 614 - Independent Project
ENVI 340 - US Urban Environmental History
ENVI 345 - Car Country: The Automobile and the American Environment
GEOG 365 - Urban GIS
GEOG 377 - Qualitative Research Methods
GEOG 488 - Seminar
HIST 376 - Public History
HIST 382 - Remembering the Modern City
POLI 203 - Politics and Inequality
THDA 210 - Community-Based Theatres
THDA 265 - The Oral History Project
INTD 401 - Urban Studies Colloquium

Technical Competency

Urban studies students should attempt to master several of the following communication and technical skills. With their advisors they will develop goal attainment schedules for each of the required skills. All students will not be equally proficient in all skills.

Oral Communication - Students will be expected to be articulate and should have some experience with creative oral communication.
Written Communication - All students will be expected to write concise, jargon-free technical reports.
Quantitative Reasoning - All students will be expected to be able to analyze and present numerical information. Students are advised to take an appropriate quantitative methods course in the department in which they major.