Urban Studies

Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

The interdisciplinary program in Urban Studies is designed to provide a liberal undergraduate education about the nature and functioning of cities and urban society. While it is comprehensive in its approach and range, it also aims to achieve depth in the examination of fundamental urban issues. Members of the Urban Studies program share a fascination with cities, among the most fundamental human institutions, and a commitment to their exploration. Across history, cities have been sites of innovation in economic, political and cultural life; centres of trade; seats of empire; and loci of scientific, social and artistic creativity. Today, they are the home of a growing majority of the world's population who increasingly live in metropolitan regions of several million people, regions often characterized by vigorous social diversity, striking contrasts of wealth and poverty, and a complex array of political, planning and environmental dilemmas. All of these themes are concerns of the Urban Studies program. The program's core courses and senior-level work/study course stress direct experience of the urban field and of the process of doing urban fieldwork and research.

Students in urban studies have varied backgrounds and join the program for a range of reasons. Some are curious about the social life of the city, its people, its pleasures and its discontents, and often focus their course work on Toronto's inner city or suburbs. Others orient their coursework to an interest in cities in a world perspective or in the context of a global economy. Some are concerned with social issues or environmental dilemmas that confront the contemporary metropolis. Others enrol in the program as a foundation for professional studies in urban planning and design, or in environmental studies, law, business, education or public administration. Some pursue graduate work in an academic area related to the urban field.

• Urban Studies (BA) degree requirements
• General Certificate in Urban Studies certificate information
• Rules and regulations in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies
• Search for courses offered in Urban Studies
• Other programs offered in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies