• Urban Studies (Minor)

  • 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 AreaSample CoursesCredits
    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.

    • Take The Next Step

    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.

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