Program Overview

Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning is an interdisciplinary major that provides students with the skills to craft ecologically and socially sound city plans and carry out regional community and economic development projects. The program covers changing demographics, accessibility issues, economic inequalities, public safety concerns, and more.

Program Details

• Department Contact: Tom Narins
• Minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Enhance job prospects with hands-on training in GIS and spatial data collection, visualization, and analysis.
• Applied Learning: Complete a high degree of fieldwork, service learning, and community engagement with over 100 internship options.
• Career Paths: Graduates are making an impact as housing developers, site location analysts, surveyors, multi-modal transportation planners, historic preservation experts, and renewable energy specialists.

Student Learning Objectives

• A knowledge of urbanism and urbanization as historic, geographic, social, and cultural processes.
• An understanding of the historical development, contemporary condition, and environmental impact of US cities and metropolitan areas.
• A comparative understanding of global patterns of urbanism and urbanization, stimulating global awareness and knowledge of the role of urbanization in global change.
• An introduction to the principles, practices, and professional literature of urban planning, site planning, and urban design in the United States and other parts of the world.
• Familiarity with some principal data sources in urban analysis and planning, such as Census data and other public and private data sources, maps, and codes.
• A multidisciplinary understanding of urban related issues growing from exposure to the disciplines of Geography, Planning, and at least one cognate field.

Minors

• A minor consists of 18–24 graduation credits which must include a minimum of 9 graduation credits of advanced coursework at or above the 300 level.
• Most undergraduate degrees require completing a minor and it has to have a different title from your major.
• Full List of Minors:
  • Acting
  • Africana Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Art
  • Art History
  • Atmospheric Science
  • Bioethics
  • Biology
  • Broadcast Meteorology
  • Business
  • Chemistry
  • Chinese Studies
  • Cognitive Science
  • Communication (Fully Online Option)
  • Computer Science
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminal Justice Studies (Fully Online Option)
  • Cybersecurity (Fully Online Option)
  • Documentary Studies
  • East Asian Studies
  • Economics
  • Educational Studies
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Electronics
  • Film Studies
  • Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (Fully Online Option)
  • English
  • Forensic Science
  • French
  • Game Design and Development
  • Geographic Information Science
  • Geography
  • Globalization Studies
  • Hebrew
  • History (Fully Online Option)
  • Informatics (Fully Online Option)
  • Instrumental Performance
  • International Studies
  • Italian
  • Japanese Studies
  • Journalism (Fully Online Option)
  • Judaic Studies
  • Korean Studies
  • Latin American and Caribbean Studies
  • Law and Philosophy
  • Leadership
  • Legal Studies
  • LGBTQ Studies
  • Library and Information Science
  • Linguistics
  • Machine Learning
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Music
  • Musical Performance
  • Musical Theatre
  • Philosophy
  • Physics
  • Political Science
  • Portuguese
  • Pre-Education
  • Psychology (Fully Online Option)
  • Public Health
  • Public Policy
  • Religious Studies
  • Russian
  • Russian and Eastern European Studies
  • Social Welfare Studies
  • Sociology (Fully Online Option)
  • Spanish
  • Statistics
  • Sustainability
  • Theatre
  • Theatrical Design/Technology
  • Urban Studies and Planning
  • U.S. Latino Studies
  • Vocal Performance
  • Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies