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.
Courses
Core
Two required courses.
| Course | Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 573 Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making |
Grove M 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 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 726 Observing Earth from Space |
Lee Tu,Th 9:00-10:15 |
Tentative | ||
| ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space |
Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50 |
Tomlin | ||
| ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects |
Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50 |
Tomlin | ||
| ENV 781 Applied Spatial Statistics |
Gregoire Tu,Th 10:30-11:50 |
Gregoire |
Bin 2: Urban Environmental Resource Management
| Course | Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 602 Ecosystems and Landscapes |
Bradford M,W 1:00-2:20 |
Bradford | ||
| ENV 608 Air Pollution and Public Health |
Faculty W 8:00-9:50 |
Faculty Tentative |
||
| ENV 712 Water Management |
Anisfeld Th 12:00-5:00 |
Anisfeld | ||
| ENV 714 Environmental Hydrology |
Saiers Tu,Th 10:30-11:50 |
Saiers | ||
| ENV 724 Watershed Cycles and Processes |
Saiers Tu,Th 10:30-11:50 |
Saiers | ||
| ENV 814 Energy Systems Analysis |
Rao M,W 9:00-10:20 |
Rao | ||
| ENV 826 Foundations of Natural Resource Policy and Management |
Clark Tu 2:30-5:20 |
Clark Tentative |
||
| ENV 878 Climate and Society: Past to Present |
Dove Th 1:30-3:20 |
Dove | ||
| ENV 973 Capstone on Waste in the Urban Environment: Technology, Policy, and Management |
Miatto Tu,Th 2:30-3:50 |
Tentative | ||
| ENV 977 Nature Based Carbon Solutions in the Urban Realm: The Yale Campus as a Case Study |
Schmitz Tu 9:00-11:50 |
Bin 3: Land Use and the Built Environment
| Course | Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice |
Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50 |
Kooris Tentative |
||
| ENV 819 Strategies for Land Conservation |
Gentry Tu 2:30-5:20 |
Gentry | ||
| ENV 820 Land Use Law and Environmental Planning |
Shansky M,W 4:00-5:20 |
Shansky | ||
| ENV 835 Seminar on Land Use Planning |
Bacher W 10:30-11:50 |
Bacher | ||
| ENV 894 Green Building: Issues and Perspectives |
Yost F 9:00-11:50 |
Faculty Tentative |
||
| ENV 960 Climate Solutions Capstone: Nature Based Solutions Clinic |
Gentry Tu,Th 4:00-5:20 |
Gentry | ||
| ENV 985 Capstone: Neighborhood Planning Workshop |
Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50 |
Tentative | ||
| 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 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality |
Tentative | |||
| ENV 759 Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science |
Dove M 1:00-3:50 |
Dove | ||
| ENV 826 Foundations of Natural Resource Policy and Management |
Clark Tu 2:30-5:20 |
Clark Tentative |
||
| ARCH 4247 Difference and the City |
Moore | |||
| EPH 507a Social Justice and Health Equity |
Staggers-Hakim | Staggers-Hakim | ||
| HIST 150J / HSHM 406 Healthcare for the Urban Poor |
Abedin | Abedin | ||
| MGMT 536 Urban Poverty and Economic Development |
Cooney | Cooney | ||
| MGMT 537 Inequality and Social Mobility |
Biasi | Biasi | ||
| MGMT 955 Urban Resilience: Cities in a Post-Covid19 World: From Crisis & Recovery to Reinvention & Resilience |
||||
| SOCY 630 Workshop in Urban Ethnography |
Anderson | 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 2021 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
| ENV 707 Introduction to Environmental Chemistry |
Benoit Tu,Th 1:00-2:15 |
Benoit Tentative |
||
| ENV 855 Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas (Dates TBD) |
Seto Tentative |
|||
| 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 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 |
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