Minor in Urban Studies

The Undergraduate Minor in Urban Studies provides undergraduates with an opportunity to pursue their love of cities and communities and to study urban issues in depth. Students can select from a rich variety of courses that examine the interplay among the different groups occupying the urban space, the problems they confront, their struggle for recognition and power, and the forces shaping the physical terrain they inhabit. Students can pursue interests in urban history, urban design, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, social movements, and world urbanization.

The minor offers a good foundation for students contemplating graduate work in urban planning, environmental policy, public administration, public policy, law, or social work. It also can be an intellectually exciting focus for interdisciplinary exploration, because understanding urban phenomena requires synthesizing knowledge from a broad range of the social sciences and humanities.

Program Requirements and Policies

• For the Minor in Urban Studies, a total of five courses (for a minimum of 15 semester hour units) are required.
• Interested students should complete the Declaration of Major/Minor/Change of Advisor webform on the Student Life website, which is then approved by the Urban Studies Minor coordinator. On the declaration form, the minor advisor is the same as the minor coordinator.
• Courses for the minor are generally drawn from the list presented. It is the student's responsibility to consult with the Urban Studies Minor coordinator about other eligible courses.
• At the same time as completing the major checklist (this is usually December for May graduation), the student must also submit the Urban Studies Minor certification form together with an unofficial transcript to the UEP office to obtain the signature of the Minor coordinator. The signed form is to be sent back to the student, who then uploads all of their signed materials to the online submission portal. Student Services cannot accept any major or minor checklists directly from the department. It is the student's responsibility to deliver this form to UEP and to submit the final documents to Student Services.

Course Requirements

• Five courses (15 credits) from at least three different departments among the following: Anthropology, Art History, Child Study and Human Development, Community Health, Economics, Education, History, Sociology, Political Science, and UEP. See a listing of exemplary courses in the Urban Studies Minor brochure.

Procedures

Students interested in the Urban Studies Minor should contact the program coordinator:
Dr. Rebecca Shakespeare
Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
97 Talbot Avenue
Phone: 617-627-3394