Urban Studies Minor | The New School

Overview

The Urban Studies minor is offered through the Schools of Public Engagement.

The Urban Studies minor provides a foundational interdisciplinary understanding of urbanism and the social, spatial, material, ecological, political, and institutional conditions that shape cities and metropolitan regions. With experiential learning as a key component, the minor provides a strong foundation for students' engagement with the city, whether as citizens, scholars, artists, designers, architects, bloggers, activists, journalists, educators, curators, or other actors with a stake in the urban.

By successfully completing this minor, a student will be able to:

Demonstrate a theoretical understanding of cities as generators of economic, social, and cultural vitality as well as landscapes transformed by human planning and design
Distinguish between varied urban concepts, practices, and research methods that emerge from different disciplines, interests, ideologies, and traditions
Employ spatial thinking and conceptualize the metropolis at a variety of scales — from street-level exchanges to regional systems to global networks and flows
Apply critical analysis to primary sources such as maps, planning documents, agency reports, interviews, observations, literary texts, photographs, films, data sets, architectural plans, and buildings
Recognize cities as sites of contestation and engagement over governance, rights, citizenship, and social justice

Curriculum

Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time. Students seeking to pursue alternative coursework to fulfill the minor should consult with their advisors.

Subject Area	Sample Courses	Credits
1 Fundamentals Course	UURB 2100 Urban Worlds ULEC 2620 Urban Worlds	3
1 NYC Experiential Learning Elective	COURSES* UURB 3010 Sensing the City UURB 3601 Urban Journalism UURB 2056 Immigrant New York UURB 3505 Urban Community Lab UURB 3506 Urban Photography UURB 2510 Urban Homelessness	3-4
3 UURB Electives**	COURSES* UURB 2100 Urban Worlds UURB 2410 Urban Ecology UURB 2800 Interpreting Space and Cities UURB 3001 Planning Sustainable Cities UURB 3100 Education, Race, and Place UURB 3620 Photojournalism & Urban Calamities UURB 3423 Anthropology of Home UURB 3664 Latin American Cities UURB 4078 Urban Poverty and Inequality UURB 4223 Maps as Media UURB 4510 The Design of Cities UURB 4521 Political Economy of the City UURB 4524 African Cities UENV 3200: Spatial Thinking with GIS UENV 3400 Urban Resilience UENV 4520 Urban Food Systems ULEC 2280 Liquid Cities LLST 3061 Baudelaire: City Blues LMUS 3115 Urban Soundscapes LSOC 2850 Urban Sociology LSCI 2300 Introduction to Urban Environmental Health LVIS 3022 Art, Space, and the Global City NARH 3872 History of Urban Planning NARH 3874 Housing the Modern Dweller NCST 3300 Queer New York PLSD 2100 History of Architecture PLSD 3002 Architecture, the City, and Cinema PSAM 3705 X-Studio: Walking as a Practice PSCE 3020 Design Build: Urban Public Space PSCE 4021 Designing Sustainable Foodscapes PSDS 2510 Visualizing Urban Change PSDS 3510 Designing Urban Agriculture UURB 4001 Cities and Migration UURB 4005 Root Shock UURB 3015 Urban Choreography: Bodies and Cities in Motion UURB 2510 Urban Homelessness UURB 3505 Urban Community Lab UURB 2056 Immigrant New York UURB 2411 Urban Planning, Design, and Social Justice UURB 3506 Urban Photography UURB 3110 Black Geographies UURB 3610 Gentrification Through Media UURB 3040 Culture City UURB 3112 Ethnographic Writing Workshop UURB 3629 Suburbs: Divided We Sprawl LLSL 3013 Literature of the Postcolonial City	9-12
TOTAL		15-19

*This is just a partial listing, as elective course offerings vary from semester to semester and may include courses with other prefixes. Please consult Urban Studies Course Bulletin for a complete course listing.

**At least two elective courses must be at the 3000 level or higher.

Eligibility

Students must earn a grade of C or higher in all courses taken to fulfill the minor.

The Urban Studies minor is available to undergraduate students across The New School, with the exception of students enrolled in the BA in Urban Studies.

Please meet with your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit in with your overall degree requirements. If you have additional questions about requirements for the Urban Studies minor that cannot be answered by your Student Success advisor, please consult:

Departmental Faculty Advisors for Urban Studies
Joseph Heathcott (fall 2023)
Associate Professor, Urban Studies
[email protected]

Jürgen von Mahs (spring 2024)
Associate Professor, Urban Studies
[email protected]

Academic Advisor for Global, Environmental, and Urban Studies
Christina McElderry
64 West 11th Street, room 120
[email protected]
646.909.2260

How to Declare or Change a Minor

General guidelines for declaring a minor are available here. Current students can declare or change a minor by logging in to my.newschool.edu, clicking on the Academics tab, and then clicking on the link to Major/Minor Declarations.

Take the Next Step

Contact your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit with your degree requirements.

Declare or change a minor on my.newschool.edu in the Academics tab. Note that some minors require an application.

See All Undergraduate Minors

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Urban Studies (Minor)