Urban Studies

Urban Studies

The urban studies interdepartmental concentration is designed to take full advantage of Macalester's location in the center of a flourishing metropolitan area. The region's historical demographic base, which is comprised of African Americans, American Indians, and Euro Americans, is becoming increasingly diverse with large and growing populations of Southeast Asians, Latinos and East Africans. The program is designed for students who wish to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on urbanization and urbanism as they appear in the United States and globally. The program combines a sound theoretical and experiential base complemented by a broad range of technical competencies. The 8-course urban studies concentration is divided into two parts: a curricular portion that provides students with a theoretical base, and an applied portion that gives students first-hand experience conducting research on specific aspects of city life. Students are also expected to acquire skills that will enable them to make an effective contribution to urban studies research or vocation. Many courses listed in the concentration have action research or service learning components.

Urban Studies

The urban studies interdepartmental concentration is designed to take full advantage of Macalester's location in the center of a flourishing metropolitan area. The region’s historical demographic base, which is comprised of African Americans, American Indians, and Euro Americans, is becoming increasingly diverse with large and growing populations of Southeast Asians, Latinos and East Africans. The program is designed for students who wish to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on urbanization and urbanism as they appear in the United States and globally. The program combines a sound theoretical and experiential base complemented by a broad range of technical competencies. The 8-course urban studies concentration is divided into two parts: a curricular portion that provides students with a theoretical base, and an applied portion that gives students first-hand experience conducting research on specific aspects of city life. Students are also expected to acquire skills that will enable them to make an effective contribution to urban studies research or vocation. Many courses listed in the concentration have action research or service learning components.

Structure of the Concentration

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

Curriculum

1. GEOG 112 - Introduction to Urban Studies.
2. 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 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
   GEOG 261 - Geography of World Urbanization
   GEOG 262 - Metro Analysis
   GEOG 341 - Urban Social Geography: City Life and Landscapes
   GEOG 488 - Seminar
   HIST 232 - Immigration and Ethnicity in US History
   HIST 233 - Introduction to the History of the US Working Class
   HIST 248 - Jim Crow
   HIST 249 - African Americans and the Transformation of the City: 1890-1945
   HIST 282 - Latin America: Art and Nation
   HIST 294 - Topics Course (The City in Latin American History)
   HIST 294 - Topics Course   (Imagining the Modern City)
   THDA 294 - Topics Course (Hip Hop Performance)
   THDA 489 - Seminar in Performance Theory and Practice
    
3. 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 345 - Car Country: The Automobile and the American Environment
   GEOG 365 - Urban GIS
   GEOG 377 - Qualitative Research Methods
   GEOG 488 (Urban Geography Field Seminar)
   GEOG 488 (Transportation Geography Seminar)
   HIST 382 - Remembering the Modern City
   POLI 203 - Politics and Inequality
   THDA 210 - Community-Based Theatres
   THDA 265 - The Oral History Project
    
4. 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.

1. Oral Communication -  Students will be expected to be articulate and should have some experience with creative oral communication.
2. Written Communication -  All students will be expected to write concise, jargon-free technical reports.
3. Quantitative Reasoning - All students will be expected to be able to analyze and present numerical information. Students are advised to take MATH 108 - Quantitative Thinking for Policy Analysis or an appropriate quantitative methods course in the department in which the student majors.