Urban Studies

Coordinator: Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology Xiangming Chen

This interdisciplinary minor in urban studies will help students develop a sophisticated grasp of the rapidly evolving reality of how dynamic urban centers and regions drive a global system and how cities are increasingly critical to the organization of economic, social, and cultural activities. Students will be urged to take advantage of the College’s growing commitment to, and diverse academic strength in, the field.

Course Requirements:

To complete the minor, students will take a total of at least six courses in three different disciplines and complete an integrating exercise on a central topic or theme approved by the minor’s coordinator. The urban studies minor’s requirements fall into two categories: course work and the required integrating exercise, which may be an independent study or research project.

Students must complete six courses with a clear and strong urban focus and content. A foundational course, SOCL 227.From Hartford to World Cities is required. At least two of the courses for the minor must be at the 300 level. If an appropriate 300-level course is not available, students may substitute a research-based independent study with comparable rigor.

• By permission of the faculty coordinator, up to two courses from a student’s study-away experience may be counted toward the minor.
• By permission of the faculty coordinator, up to three courses, including SOCL 227, from the Cities Program may be accounted toward the minor.
• Courses that count toward the minor cannot be taken pass/fail, except transfer credits from a non-Trinity study-away experience.
• Students must complete an integrating exercise that synthesizes earlier urban studies work in the minor. While this exercise must be approved by the minor coordinator, it may be supervised by another faculty member participating in the program. Options for this exercise include: taking an advanced, research–oriented, urban studies course that requires a seminar paper, or its equivalent, of at least 15 to 20 pages; or the completion of an independent study involving a paper or project of similar scope focusing on the student’s chosen theme or topic.

Course Selection:

Below is a selection of course offerings that may be taken toward the minor. For the courses listed below, the # denotes community learning courses, of which the students are encouraged to take one as part of this minor. Additional departments and programs often offer courses that could be included in the minor, as well.

• AHIS 161. Introduction to the History of Western Architecture
• AHIS 244. Empire Building - Architecture and Urbanism in Spanish America
• AHIS 245. Design and Ritual Space in Renaissance and Baroque Europe
• AHIS 250. Written in Stone: The Art and Architecture of the City of Rome
• AHIS 265. 19th–Century Architecture
• AHIS 286. Modern Architecture
• AHIS 341. Seminar: Bernini and Borromini: Art and Rivalry in Baroque Rome
• AHIS 395. Seminar: Rome: An Art and Architectural History

• AMST 298. Introduction to Hip Hop Music and Culture
• AMST 355. Urban Mosaic: Migration, Identity, and Politics
• AMST 357. Race and Urban Space
• AMST 409. The Harlem Renaissance Revisited
• AMST 443. Spectacle, Social Control and Spaces of Display

• ANTH 253. Introduction to Urban Anthropology
• ANTH 308. Anthropology of Place

• CLVC 214. Greek and Roman Architecture
• CLVC 222. The Classical City

• COLL 206. Organizing by Neighborhood#

• CTYP 200. Hartford Past and Present
• CTYP 202. The City as Built Environment
• CTYP 206. Writing the City
• CTYP 207. Cities in Global and Historical Perspective

• ECON 209. Urban Economics
• ECON 331-37. Topics in Urban Economics (Senior Seminar)
• ECON 331-52. The Economies of Cities: How They Grow, Why They Die, and What Happens in Between (Senior Seminar)
• ECON 334. Cities and Comparative Economic Development: A Theoretical and Historical Approach#

• EDUC 200. Analyzing Schools#
• EDUC 307. Latinos in Education#
• EDUC 308. Cities, Suburbs, and Schools#

• ENGL 225. Writing Broad Street Stories#
• ENGL 226. Spirit of Place
• ENGL 308. American Migration
• ENGL 314. Manhattan
• ENGL 408/808. American Realism and Urban Life
• ENGL 443. Theater of the Urban Streets

• ENVS 123. Environmental Challenges Posed by Urban Life along the Yangtze
• ENVS 149. Introduction to Environmental Science
• ENVS 244. Watershed Hydrology
• ENVS 286. Theory and Application of Geographic Information Systems

• FYSM 126. Game Changers
• FYSM 142. Italian Cities
• FYSM 181. Exploring Hartford’s Literary and Cultural Centers

• HISP 280. Hispanic Hartford#

• HIST 117. Tokyo Story: Fishing to Cosmo
• HIST 125. The Postwar City: Political Culture, Film and Arts
• HIST 234. Paris, Vienna, and Berlin
• HIST 304. Renaissance Italy
• HIST 396. River Cities of China: The History of Urban Culture along the Yangtze
• HIST 402. Shanghai: From Treaty Port to Megacity
• HIST 451. Transatlantic Urbanism: Europe and the Americas
• HIST 881. Urban American in the Age of Revolution

• INTS 249. Immigrants and Refugees#
• INTS 250. Global Migration
• INTS 258. The Islamic City
• INTS 300. Transnational Urbanism
• INTS 303. Globalization in Urban Southeast Asia
• INTS 313. The Making of Modern Dubai
• INTS 326. Baghdad in History

• LACS 233. Staging Modernism: Berlin, Vienna, Prague

• PARIS 237. Understanding Contemporary Paris: Urban and Global Processes

• PBPL 330. Comparative Urban Policy
• PBPL 826. Urban Administration and Public Policy

• POLS 260. Comparative Local Government Systems
• POLS 318. Environmental Politics
• POLS 355. Urban Politics
• POLS 385. Crossing Borders

• RELG 202. Religion and the City

• ROME 270. Urban and Global Rome

• SOCL 225. Sociology of the Indian City
• SOCL 227. From Hartford to World Cities
• SOCL 229. Megacities of the Yangtze: Challenges and Opportunities
• SOCL 252. Immigration, Social Inclusion and Global Cities