Urban Studies

Faculty Lead: Dr. Lisa Turner de Vera

An alternative to choosing the general option, ISS major students can select the Urban Studies Specialization as a primary with optional add on secondary and remaining coursework.

This specialization provides an opportunity for students to acquire an understanding of public affairs with an emphasis on urban studies. The program is designed to give an urban studies background that is attractive to many employers, particularly in local government. It also provides an excellent background for students interested in graduate work in urban and regional planning, public administration, or sociology.

A specialization in Urban Studies can be useful in the Dual Enrollment Bachelor’s / Masters program with the Masters of Science in Planning program through the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Students interested in pursuing graduate work should visit http://coss.fsu.edu/durp/ for more information about the Masters of Science in Planning and the combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree.

The interdisciplinary specialization in Urban Studies consists of primary and optional add on secondary areas of study. The requirements for a full urban studies specialization are flexible.

For the primary specialization, students must complete a primary area of study of 18 hours from the courses listed below.  Students can also add on supplementary secondary areas to their primary specialization with 4 courses from disciplinary concentrations.

Urban Studies Primary (18 credits)

Optional add on to Primary Area of Study by selecting 4 classes in any of the following disciplinary concentrations:

Urban Planning
URP 4710 Introduction to Transportation Issues and Transportation Planning (Prerequisite: URP 3000 or instructor permission)
URP 4715 Bike and Pedestrian Planning
URP 4022 Collective Decision-making (Prerequisite URP3000)

Urban Studies related to Environmental Issues
GEO 4355 Geography of food and environment
GEO 4412 Environment and Gender
IDS 2227 Sustainable society
URP3527 Green Global Health
URP4402 Sustainable Development Planning in the Americas
URP5445 Climate Change and Community Resilience (available with instructor’s approval)

Urban Studies related to International or Development Planning
GEO 4603 Globalization
URP 4612 Strategies for Urban & Regional Planning in Less Developed Countries
URP 4618 Introduction to Planning for Developing Areas
URP 5355 International Transportation Planning (available with instructor’s approval)

Urban Studies related to Urban Politics and Governance
ECP 3917 Land use, Housing and Government Regulation
PAD 4223 Budgets and Finance in Managing Public Affairs
POS 3142 Urban politics
PUP 4203 Environmental politics and policy

Urban studies related to Social Justice
GEO 4404 Black Geographies
GEO 4421 Cultural Geography
GEO 4412 Environment and Gender
ISS 4159 Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Equality
URP 4618 Multicultural Urbanism

Urban Sociology
SYD 4510 Environmental Sociology
SYD 3020 Population and Society
SYD 4700 Race and Minority Group Relations
SYG 1000 Introduction to Sociology
SYG 2010 Social Problems