OWU Online | Urban Studies

Urban Studies

Almost 80 percent of Americans live in cities, 30 percent in the 20 largest urban regions. The Urban Studies major is a multidisciplinary program dealing with the character and evolution of complex urban systems, especially the city system of the United States. It is designed to stimulate insights and to introduce students to urban problem-solving, urban planning, and public policy formation. The major integrates urban-oriented materials from the major divisions of knowledge: social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and the arts. It is a flexible program: students develop a specific pattern of courses in consultation with the program advisor. The program helps students to be better urban citizens and prepares them for graduate study or employment. Students majoring in urban studies must complete a second major in a traditional course of study (e.g., geography, sociology, politics and government, economics, etc.).

Urban Studies Major

Richard Fusch (Department of Geology and Geography) is the Urban Studies advisor and Urban Studies Advisory Board Chair.

The Urban Studies major is comprised of 12-14 courses, including seven courses from the urban core (Category I below), one of which must be senior seminar/research URB 499: Human Values and the Urban Process; GEOG 380: Contemporary American Landscape Problems may substitute for this course; four from Categories I or II (below); and 1-3 units of off-campus study or work experience as approved by the urban studies advisor. The Urban Studies Advisory Committee is continuously developing apprenticeship programs in Central Ohio and various other settings. The following offer opportunities: Comparative European Urban Semester, and the GLCA Philadelphia Urban Semester (see Off-Campus Study Programs in the Ohio Wesleyan University Catalog).

Category I (Core Courses):

URB 250: Human Values and the Urban Process
URB 499: Independent Study
GEOG 345: Economic Geography
GEOG 353: Cartography and GIS
GEOG 370: The World's Cities
GEOG 380: Contemporary American Landscape Problems
MATH 105: Basic Probability & Statistics or 230: Applied Statistics
HIST 354: Economic History
HIST 376: The Emergence of Modern America, 1877-1929
HIST 377: The Transformation of Modern America, 1929-1960
HIST 378: The Ascendance of Modern America, 1960-2000
PG 356: Public Administration
PHIL 234: ???
PHIL 359: ???
SOAN 352: Urban Society
SOAN 357: Race and Ethnicity
SOAN 359: Social Inequality

Category II (Cognate Courses):

CHEM 230: Environmental Chemistry
GEOG 347: Environmental Alteration
GEOG 355: Geographic Information Systems
PHIL 233: American Thought
PG 350: Judicial Process & Policy Making
PG 352: ???
SOAN 279 Methods of Social Research
SOAN 354 Population Problems
SOAN 356 Crime and Deviance
SOAN 363: Organizational Structure and Design

Urban Studies Courses

URB 250. Human Values and the Urban Process (Fusch)
An interdisciplinary orientation to the challenges of cities from a liberal arts perspective. Topics include urban structure, history, land use, planning, imageability, and future alternatives as they reflect human values. Classes include field experience, simulations, media presentations, lectures, and visiting practitioners, built on a discussion base. A major research project is completed by each student. There are no prerequisites. The course is designed as an introduction for urban studies majors and the general student.

URB 490. Independent Study (Staff)

URB 491. Directed Readings (Staff)

URB 495. Apprenticeship (Staff)

499. Seminar (Staff)
Reading and research on selected topics of issue in urban studies. Open only to senior majors in urban studies or by permission of instructor. (GEOG 380 may substitute for this course; see listings in Geography).