Karen C. Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Director of the Hixon Center for…
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.
Urban
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 NameFall 2026Spring 2027Fall 2027Spring 2028ENV 730
Environmental Data Science in R: Introduction to Data Integration and Machine LearningBin 2: Urban Environmental Resource Management
Course NameFall 2026Spring 2027Fall 2027Spring 2028ENV 659
The Practice of Silviculture: Principles in Applied Forest Ecology (Friday field trips)ARCH 6115
Soil Sisters — LokkoENAS 6730
Air Quality and Energy — GentnerBin 3: Land Use and the Built Environment
Course NameFall 2026Spring 2027Fall 2027Spring 2028ENV 835
Seminar on Land Use Planning (Fall-1 term Aug 27-Oct 10)ENV 966
Sustainability Implementation: Change Management in Institutional SettingsENV 969
Housing Connecticut: Developing Healthy and Sustainable NeighborhoodsARCH 6005
Environmental Design — LokkoARCH 6101
Bad Buildings: Decarbonization Through Reuse, Retrofit, and Proposition — McNamaraARCH 6108
Regenerative Building Research — OrganschiARCH 7118
Tall Tales — VanableARCH 8102
Architecture for a World After — HsiangARCH 8801
Introduction to Urban Design — RubinARCH 8811
Introduction to Planning and Development — RoseMGT 544
International Real Estate — GrayMGT 546
Real Estate Development — SheinbergBin 4: Cities and Civil Society
Course NameFall 2026Spring 2027Fall 2027Spring 2028ARCH360/URBN 360
Urban Lab: An Urban World — HsiangARCH 7121
Urban Century: Theorizing Global UrbanismV. — RaoARCH 7155
Race and the Built Environment — CarverARCH 8113
Port City: Transformations of Urban Networks — PlattusARCH 8118
Ghost Town — RubinEHS 537
Water, Sanitation, and Global Health — ChenEHS 547
Climate Change and Public Health — CarrionMGMT 536
Urban Poverty and Economic Development — CooneyMGMT 537
Inequality and Social Mobility — BiasiMGT 826
Inclusive Economic Development Lab: Special Topics — CooneyPUBH 507
Social Justice and Health Equity — KeeneAdditional 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 NameFall 2026Spring 2027Fall 2027Spring 2028AMST 623/CPLT 880
Working group on Globalization — DenningARCG 7272
Cities in Antiquity: The Archaeology of Urbanism P — HengARCH360/URBN 360
Urban Lab: An Urban WorldARCH 5103
Cartographies of Climate Change Hsiang — HsiangARCH 7121
Environment Architecture — GissenARCH 8114
The Agroecological Urban Constellations of Pre-Colombian Amazonia — DuranECON 4482
Economics of Cities — CookEHS 547
Climate Change and Public Health — CarrionEHS 560
Methods in Climate Epidemiology — ChenENAS 8000
Smart City Engineering with IoT — Khurshudov
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.
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