There are 17 courses cross-listed with Urban Studies (URB) for Fall 2025. For those students minoring in Urban Studies, courses focused on urbanism but not listed as URB may be applied to your degree progress with the pre-approval of program staff.
ARC 205 / URB 205 / LAS 225 / ENV 205
Mario Gandelsonas
Interdisciplinary Design Studio
The course focuses on the social forces that shape design thinking. Its objective is to introduce architectural and urban design issues to build design and critical thinking skills from a multidisciplinary perspective. The studio is team-taught from faculty across disciplines to expose students to the multiple forces within which design operates.
THR 212 / AMS 212 / GSS 222 / URB 212
Brian E. Herrera
Performance & Policy
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to how performance-making intersects with local, state, federal, and international policy concerns (and vice versa). Through lecture, workshops, and guest visitors, we will examine connections between policy and performance within four central topical arenas: public speech; public assembly; intellectual property; and supply chain logistics. As we study the impact of policy on a broad array of live, embodied, and mediatized performances, we will also rehearse an understanding of statecraft, public advocacy/protest, and policy-making as consequential modes of public enactment and performance.
ANT 219 / ENV 219 / URB 219
Ryo Morimoto
Catastrophes across Cultures: The Anthropology of Disaster
What is the relationship between 'catastrophe' and human beings, and how has 'catastrophe' influenced the way we live in the world now? This course investigates various types of catastrophes/disasters around the world by mobilizing a variety of theoretical frameworks and case studies in the social sciences. The course uses an anthropological perspective as its principal lens to comparatively observe often forgotten historical calamities throughout the world. The course is designed to explore the intersection between catastrophe and culture and how catastrophic events can be a window through which to critically analyze society and vice versa.
CLA 219 / HIS 219 / URB 218
Caroline Cheung
The Roman Empire, 31 B.C. to A.D. 337
The Roman Empire was expansive, stretching from the straits of Gibraltar to the Persian Gulf. Its capital was the largest, most densely populated city in the Mediterranean, if not the world, and not surpassed in population until the 19th century. This course offers an overview of the Roman imperial period from the assassination of Julius Caesar to the death of the emperor Constantine, who legalized Christianity - a period of about 400 years. We will learn about various aspects of this multicultural empire, from political intrigues and conquests to city-living, dining, technology and engineering, sex, entertainment, economy, and religions.
SPA 227 / EPS 227 / URB 237
Natalia Castro Picón
Contemporary Issues in Spain
An exploration of the major features of contemporary Spain from 1939 to the present with particular attention to developing an understanding the concepts of cultural identity and difference within the changing global context. The course will address the recent processes that have left a mark on the history of Spain: the fall of Francoism, the particular and controversial transition to democracy, the financial crisis of 2008, the Indignados social movement, the nationalist trends in Basque Country and Catalonia, and the latest feminist wave, among others. Discussions and frequent writing assignments.
AAS 248 / GSS 247 / AMS 248
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Black Women's History in the U.S.
This course examines the lives, labors, cultures, and experiences of Black women in the United States from slavery to Emancipation and throughout the twentieth century. The class will pay particular development to the historical, social, economic and political factors that contributed to the rise of Black feminist consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s.
AAS 268 / HIS 268 / URB 268
Joshua B. Guild
Introduction to African American History Since Emancipation
This lecture offers an introduction to the major themes, critical questions, and pivotal moments in post-emancipation African American history. It traces the social, political, cultural, intellectual, and legal contours of the Black experience in the United States from Reconstruction to the rise of Jim Crow, through the World Wars, Depression, and the Great Migrations, to the long civil rights era and the contemporary period of racial politics. Using a wide variety of texts, images, and creative works, the course situates African American history within broader national and international contexts.
URB 300 / ARC 300 / HUM 300 / AMS 300
Aaron P. Shkuda
Urban Studies Research Seminar
This seminar introduces urban studies research methods through a study of New York in conversation with other cities. Focused on communities and landmarks represented in historical accounts, literary works, art and film, we will travel through cityscapes as cultural and mythological spaces - from the past to the present day. We will examine how standards of evidence shape what is knowable about cities and urban life, what "counts" as knowledge in urban studies, and how these different disciplinary perspectives construct and limit knowledge about cities as a result
ANT 311 / LAS 335 / URB 312
Hanna Garth
Food, Culture & Society
This course explores the central role of food in everyday life in US and global contexts. Using a comparative global perspective, we will address key questions about histories of food production and consumption, the ways in which food production and distribution differentially affect the lives of those working in the food industry and those consuming food. We will think through how global shifts in food production and distribution impact human lives on national, local, and familial levels.
HIS 315 / AFS 316 / URB 315 / AAS 315
Jacob S. Dlamini
Africa in the Modern Age
This course is an examination of the major political and economic trends in twentieth-century African history. It offers an interpretation of modern African history and the sources of its present predicament. In particular, we study the foundations of the colonial state, the legacy of the late colonial state (the period before independence), the rise and problems of resistance and nationalism, the immediate challenges of the independent states (such as bureaucracy and democracy), the more recent crises (such as debt and civil wars) on the continent, and the latest attempts to address these challenges from within the continent.
FRE 318 / URB 318 / COM 386 / ARC 319
Julien R. Stout
Montréal: Metropolis, Colony, Mountain, Harbor
How did Montreal become the world's second-largest French-speaking city? How has its unique multicultural identity inspired generations of explorers, artists, architects, dancers, dramaturgs, and filmmakers? Spanning from its origins as Tiohtià:ke ("Where the waters meet") to New France and today's Créole-and Yiddish-speaking scenes, this course explores the city's cultural, environmental, architectural, and political history. We will examine colonialism, immigration, displacement, Québec-Canada relations, Francophonie, identity, religion, language, ecology, gender, queerness, and race in the 'Paris of North America'.
SPI 328 / URB 328
Patrick T. Sharkey
Crime and Violence in U.S. Cities
To understand American inequality, politics, history, and cities, it is necessary to understand American violence. This course will cover ideas about how to explain violence, moving from theories that focus on individuals to focus on neighborhoods, policing, guns & culture. We'll think about how to explain trends in violence and about ways cities can respond to violence. And we will put these ideas into practice by working closely with a local organization driven by the goals of reducing violence and building stronger neighborhoods in nearby Trenton.
ART 329 / ARC 318 / HIS 330
Basile C. Baudez
Architecture of Confinement, from the Hospice to the Era of Mass Incarceration
This course examines the architectural history and ethics of confinement spaces - mental asylums and prisons - which share common features and goals: security, isolation, and behavioral reformation through architectural control. Engaging with justice-impacted individuals, the course applies ethical discussions to real-world case studies, prompting critical reflection on the moral implications of designing spaces explicitly meant to restrict human freedom and agency. Through community dialogue, students confront the responsibility architects bear in institutional power dynamics.
ENV 347 / SPI 347 / URB 347
Navroz K. Dubash
Reframing Climate Change: National and Local Transformations
Climate change has historically been studied as a global collective action problem. However, it can also be understood as the aggregate result of actions by countries, cities, businesses and individuals, that increase or decrease emissions and resilience to climate impacts. This course explores what this shift in perspective implies for national and local politics and policy around climate change. Learning outcomes include: Alternative framings of the climate crisis and implications for climate politics; perspectives of developing countries on climate change; and debates around climate governance, adaptation, industrial policy, and finance.
ENV 354 / GEO 368
Gabriel A. Vecchi
Climate and Weather: Order in the Chaos
This course focuses on the relationship between climate and weather events: each weather event is unique and not predictable more than a few days in advance, large-scale factors constrain the statistics of weather events, those statistics are climate. Various climatic aspects will be explored, such as the geographic constraints, energy and water cycling, and oceanic and atmospheric circulation, solar heating, the El Niño phenomenon, ice ages, and greenhouse gases. These climate features will be used to interpret the statistics of a number of weather events, including heat waves, tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons) and floods.
EGR 361 / ENT 361 / URB 361 / AAS 348
Majora J. Carter
The Reclamation Studio: Humanistic Design applied to Systemic Bias
Assumptions and practices by the nonprofit industrial complex, government agencies and affordable housing developers treat poor communities, especially poor communities of color as problems to be managed by those from outside these communities. The Reclamation Studio explores the humanistic design practices applied by social entrepreneurs from low-status communities near Princeton (our "clients") that counteract that history of systemic bias with innovative development projects designed to retain the talent from within their communities. Students will have the opportunity to learn from, and contribute to their efforts.
SOC 373 / AMS 428 / URB 373
Patricia Fernández-Kelly
Systemic Racism: Myths and Realities
This course focuses on the structural and institutional foundations of racial discrimination in the United States. It emphasizes the contributions of sociologists. The course gives a historical overview followed by an investigation of key legislative actions and economic factors inhibiting racial equality. Subsequent topics include migration and immigration; urban development; and residential segregation. The end of the course reviews resistance movements and policies aimed at addressing systemic racism, including restorative justice and reparations.
URB 385 / SOC 385 / HUM 385 / ARC 385
Aaron P. Shkuda
Mapping Gentrification
This seminar introduces the study of gentrification, with a focus on mapping projects using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. Readings, films, and site visits will situate the topic, as the course examines how racial landscapes of gentrification, culture and politics have been influenced by and helped drive urban change. Tutorials in ArcGIS will allow students to convert observations of urban life into fresh data and work with existing datasets. Learn to read maps critically, undertake multifaceted spatial analysis, and master new cartographic practices associated with emerging scholarship in the Digital and Urban Humanities.
CEE 401 / ENV 401 / URB 402
Anu Ramaswami
Zero Carbon, Resilient, Equitable Cities: Infrastructure Innovations and Systems Analysis
Goal: introduce undergraduate engineering students to: (a) infrastructure and food system innovations that can advance the triple outcomes of decarbonization, climate resilience and social equity (b) city scale decarbonization pathways and linkage to larger scale national zero carbon pathways (c) fundamentals of inequality and equity (d) hazard risk resilience framework (e) data analysis and systems models for tracking urban zero carbon emissions including material flow analysis sand life-cycle assessment, measuring inequality to inform equity and introductory analysis of resilience pathways.
AMS 406 / ASA 406 / LAO 406
William A. Gleason
Advanced Seminar: The Disney Industrial Complex
This interdisciplinary seminar will examine the history and evolution of the Walt Disney Company not only as a multinational media and entertainment conglomerate but also as a powerful cultural force, from the early films and theme parks to the highly successful streaming service. We'll consider the ever-expanding Disney multiverse (which includes Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, among others) as well as the company's global reach, while paying special attention to its impacts on, and representations of, American history, society, and culture, particularly as they touch on matters of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, and place.
CEE 471 / GEO 471 / URB 471
Peter R. Jaffé
Introduction to Water Pollution Technology
An introduction to the science of water quality management and pollution control in natural systems; fundamentals of biological and chemical transformations in natural waters; identification of sources of pollution; water and wastewater treatment methods; fundamentals of water quality modeling.
ARC 526
M. Christine Boyer
Research in Urbanism: The Geographies of Environmental Justice
This course studies uneven geographies of environmental justice across scales: outer space, the earth, nation, city and neighborhood. It examines the production of sacrifice zones of geo-engineering projects, petrochemical landscapes, material resource extraction, toxic waste disposal, containment of ungovernable bodies, and unjust real estate practices. How can architects and landscape architects address the territorializing zones of entangled matter and bodies? How can they move beyond exposing injustices and oppressive structures to a new level of creative ecologies of justice and equity?