Karen C. Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science
Urban Specialization
The Urban Specialization prepares students to engage deeply in the management of urban ecosystems. Students will learn to understand and assess key environmental challenges and possible policy and business solutions to address these issues.
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The focus students choose will prepare them for their career goals – which may include, for example, working at a city-level on environmental policy, providing research or policy analysis to international development organizations, or joining a scientific research organization, among many other possibilities.
Note that a capstone course used to fulfill the MEM capstone requirement cannot also be used toward fulfilling an MEM Specialization requirement; a capstone course taken once cannot be used to fulfill multiple requirements. Learn more about YSE capstone courses by visiting the MEM Capstone page.
Program Courses
Core
Two required courses.
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 573 Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making |
Grove W 1:00-3:50 |
Grove | ||
| ENV 645 Urbanization, Global Change and Sustainability |
Seto Tu 9:00-11:50 |
Seto |
Electives
Students must select four additional courses, including one course from each of the following four bins below. There is no guarantee that faculty will accept YSE students in classes offered outside of YSE.
Bin 1: Urban Spatial Analysis
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 726 Observing Earth from Space |
Lee | Lee | ||
| ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space |
Tomlin | Tomlin | ||
| ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects |
Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50 |
Tomlin | ||
| ENV 781 Applied Spatial Statistics |
Gregoire | Gregoire |
Bin 2: Urban Environmental Resource Management
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 602 Ecosystems and Landscapes |
Bradford Tu,Th 1:00-2:20 |
Bradford | ||
| ENV 608 Air Pollution and Public Health |
Faculty | Faculty Tentative |
||
| ENV 712 Water Management |
Anisfeld | Anisfeld | ||
| ENV 715 Case Studies in Water Management: Rural-Urban Linkages |
Anisfeld W 1:00-3:50 |
Anisfeld | ||
| ENV 814 Energy Systems Analysis |
Rao M,W 9:00-10:20 |
Rao | ||
| ENV 878 Climate and Society: Past to Present |
Dove Th 1:00-3:50 |
Dove |
Bin 3: Land Use and the Built Environment
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice |
Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50 |
Kooris | ||
| ENV 820 Land Use Law and Environmental Planning |
Shansky | Shansky | ||
| ENV 835 Seminar on Land Use Planning |
Bacher W 10:30-11:50 |
Bacher | ||
| ENV 894 Green Building: Issues and Perspectives |
Kops Th 9:00-11:50 |
Kops Tentative |
||
| ENV 956 Strategies for Land Conservation |
Gentry | Gentry | ||
| ENV 985 Capstone: Neighborhood Planning Workshop |
Kooris | Kooris |
| ARCH 280/URB 280 American Architecture and Urbanism |
Elihu Rubin |
| ARCH 2021 Environmental Design |
Dyson & Keena |
| ARCH 4011 Introduction to Urban Design |
Plattus & Harwell |
| ARCH 4242 Introduction to Planning and Development |
Garvin |
| ARCH 4246 Introduction to Urban Studies |
Rubin |
| MGT 894 Connected Cities and Urban Ecosystems |
[Tentative] |
Bin 4: Cities and Civil Society
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 588 Community Engagement & Coalition Building - A Practice-based Approach (Fall-1 Sept 12-Oct 17) |
Stein M 5:30-8:20pm |
|||
| ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality |
Taylor | |||
| ENV 759 Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science |
Dove M 1:00-3:50 |
Dove |
| ARCH 3303 Urban Century |
Vyjayanthi Rao |
| ARCH 4247 Difference and the City |
Moore |
| EPH 507a Social Justice and Health Equity |
Staggers-Hakim |
| HIST 150J / HSHM 406 Healthcare for the Urban Poor |
Abedin |
| MGMT 536 Urban Poverty and Economic Development |
Cooney |
| MGMT 537 Inequality and Social Mobility |
Biasi |
| MGT 826 Inclusive Economic Development Lab: Opportunity Zones in New Haven |
Cooney |
| MGMT 955 Urban Resilience: Cities in a Post-Covid19 World: From Crisis & Recovery to Reinvention & Resilience |
|
| SOCY 630 Workshop in Urban Ethnography |
Anderson |
Additional Electives
In addition to the two required courses and the four electives, students may select additional electives to complete the requirements for the MEM degree. Additional electives that may support students’ focus area in the Urban Specialization are listed below.
| Course | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 |
| ENV 821 Environmental Policymaking: From Local to Global |
Sanford M,W 1:00-2:20 |
|||
| ENV 855 Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas (Dates TBD) |
Seto |
| ARCH 1239 Theory Through Objects: Political Form |
Gage | Gage | ||
| ARCH 3232 Politics of Space |
McLeaod, Sutton | McLeaod, Sutton | ||
| ARCH 4011 Introduction to Urban Design |
Plattus, Harwell | Plattus, Harwell | ||
| ARCH 4213 The City and Carbon Modernity |
Iturbe | Iturbe | ||
|
ARCH 4219
Urban Research and Representation |
Rubin, Elihu | |||
| ARCH 4224 Out of Date: Expired Patents and Unrealized Histories |
Acciavatti | Acciavatti | ||
| ARCH 4234 Residential Design, Development and Management |
Garvin, Salvatore | Garvin, Salvatore | ||
| ARCH 4242 Introduction to Planning and Development |
Garvin | Garvin | ||
| EMD 537 Water, Sanitation, and Global Health |
Chen, Wunder | Chen, Wunder | ||
| EPH 513 Major Health Threats: Determinants and Solutions |
Yeckel, Dubrow, Pettigrew | Yeckel, Dubrow, Pettigrew | ||
|
URBN 305/ARCH 3265
Destruction, Continuation, and Creation –Architecture and Urbanism of Modern Japan/ Architecture & Urbanism- Japan |
Yoko Kawai | |||
Learning Community
There is a corresponding “Learning Community” for each specialization, where anyone interested in the topic can find related news, spotlights, colleagues, and events.
Faculty Coordinator