Urban Studies, BA

Urban Studies students are interested in making a difference and connecting to real world issues. To do this well, students learn about urban history and current challenges. They come to understand how policy at the national level and global economic trends affect what we see at the local, even neighborhood level. In a broad, theoretical sense, the central intellectual frame of Urban Studies is about understanding people and place at different spatial scales. Individuals, groups, and public officials make decisions and design policy that in turn affects how people and resources are distributed in space and defines what kinds of places result. Urban Studies students take this understanding to explain the conditions of urban places and work towards creating places that foster equity, better health outcomes, environmental sustainability, and a better quality of life. In addition to urban studies coursework and coursework in a disciplinary concentration, all of our students complete an internship for credit and carry out an original research project.