Urban Studies

Structure of the Concentration

A concentration in urban studies will consist of six courses. The courses must meet the curricular requirements described below, which are designed to help students meet goals of historical depth and interdisciplinary breadth. Students must complete courses that are distributed across at least three different departments. Finally, students may apply a course they have taken at another institution - through a study away program or ACTC school, for instance - but can only apply one 4-credit course to their concentration in Urban Studies.

Curriculum

One of the following introductory courses:

EDUC 260 - Critical Issues in Urban Education
ENVI 340 - US Urban Environmental History
GEOG 241 - Urban Geography
GEOG 261 - World Urbanization
GEOG 262 - Metro Analysis
HIST 284 - Imaging the Modern City
POLI 204 - US City and Metro Politics
Three discipline-based theoretical approaches to the city drawn from the following set of courses. 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
CLAS 194 - Topics Course  - Cosmopoleis
ECON 342 - Economics of Poverty in the US
EDUC 260 - Critical Issues in Urban Education
ENVI 264 - Convergence: Art/Science/Design in Our City
ENVI 294 - Topics Course  - Sustainable Cities: Urban Environmental Science
GEOG 203 - Introduction to Urban Ecology
GEOG 241 - Urban Geography
GEOG 261 - World Urbanization
GEOG 262 - Metro Analysis
GEOG 320 - Asian Cities
GEOG 341 - City Life: Segregation, Integration, and Gentrification
GEOG 476 - Transportation Geography Seminar
GEOG 478 - Cities of the 21st Century: The Political Economy of Urban Sustainability
GEOG 494 - Topics Course  Global Urbanism
HIST 219 - In Motion: African Americans in the United States
HIST 282 - Latin America: Art and Nation
HIST 284 - Imaging the Modern City
HIST 294 - Topics Course  We Built This City: Towns and City Life from Late Antiquity to the Later Middle Ages
HIST 376 - Public History
HIST 394 - Topics Course  - World Economies
POLI 204 - US City and Metro Politics
POLI 244 - Urban Latinx Power in the U.S.
POLI 315 - Advanced Topics in Policy: US Education Politics and Policy
POLI 342 - Urban Politics of Latin America
SOCI 190 - Criminal Behavior/Social Control
SOCI 220 - Sociology of Race/Ethnicity
SOCI 258 - Immigrant Voices in Times of Fear
SOCI 270 - Interpretive Social Research
Engaged inquiry courses involve substantive engagement with a community located outside of the Macalester campus, either in the wider Twin Cities region or elsewhere in the world. Courses that meet this requirement feature activities that enable students to learn from and with a community through structured engagement. The following courses fulfill this requirement. A relevant course that does not appear on this list, including a course taken through a study away/study abroad opportunity, may count, pending approval of the concentration director. Students may also use a four-credit internship, but must work in advance with the concentration director to design an internship that will satisfy this requirement.

AMST 300 - Critical Legal Studies  (with approved topic)
AMST 301 - Critical Prison Studies  (with approved topic)
ANTH 230 - Ethnographic Interviewing
EDUC 230 - Community Youth Development in Multicultural America
EDUC 260 - Critical Issues in Urban Education
EDUC 390 - Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools
EDUC 614 - Independent Project
ENVI 194 - Topics Course  Bicycling the Urban Landscape
ENVI 270 - Psychology of Sustainable Behavior
ENVI 340 - US Urban Environmental History
GEOG 364 - GIS and Community Partnerships
GEOG 365 - Urban GIS
GEOG 377 - Qualitative Research Methods in Geography
HIST 281 - The Andes: Landscape and Power  (with approved topic)
HIST 382 - Remembering the Modern City
HIST 394 - Topics Course  Public History in Action: Remembering Rondo: An Oral History Project
POLI 203 - Politics and Inequality: The American Welfare State  (with approved research topic)
POLI 204 - US City and Metro Politics
THDA 294 - Topics Course  Ecology and Performance: What Does the Warming World Need Now?
INTD 401 - Urban Studies Colloquium : This course, or an approved equivalent, must be completed in the fall semester of the student’s senior year.