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 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| 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 1:00-3:50 |
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 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| ENV 726 Observing Earth from Space |
Lee Tu,Th 9:00-10:15 |
Lee | ||
| ENV 730 Environmental Data Science in R: Introduction to Data Integration and Machine Learning |
Malone Tu 2:30-5:20 |
Malone | ||
| 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 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| ENV 602 Ecosystems and Landscapes |
Bradford M,W 9:00-10:20 |
Faculty | ||
| ENV 608 Our Air, Our Health |
Faculty W 10:00-11:50 |
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| ENV 712 Water Management |
Anisfeld Tu,Th 1:00-2:20 |
Anisfeld | ||
| ENV 736 Impacts of Climate Change on Freshwater Ecosystems |
Grimm Tu,Th 5:30-8:20 |
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| ENV 814 Energy Systems Analysis |
Rao M,W 9:00-10:20 |
Rao | ||
| ENV 878 Climate and Society: Past to Present |
Dove Th 1:30-3:20 |
Dove | ||
| ENV 963 Case Studies in Water Management: Conflict and Cooperation |
Anisfeld Th 2:30-5:20 |
Bin 3: Land Use and the Built Environment
| Course | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| ENV 581 Transportation and Climate Change (Fall-1 August 30-October 13) |
Millard-Ball M,W 4:00-5:20 |
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| ENV 817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice |
Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50 |
Kooris | ||
| ENV 820 Land Use Law and Environmental Planning |
Shansky M,W 4:00-5:20 |
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| ENV 835 Seminar on Land Use Planning (Fall-1 Aug 28-Oct 11) |
Bacher W 10:30-11:50 |
Bacher | ||
| ENV 894 Green Building: Issues and Perspectives |
Kops Tu 9:00-11:50 |
Kops | ||
| ENV 956 Strategies for Land Conservation |
Gentry Tu 2:30-5:20 |
Gentry | ||
| ENV 985 Capstone: Neighborhood Planning Workshop |
Kooris O Course Canceled |
Kooris Tentative |
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ARCH 280/URB 280 American Architecture and Urbanism |
Elihu Rubin | |||
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ARCH 2021 Environmental Design |
Dyson & Keena | |||
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ARCH 4011 Introduction to Urban Design |
Plattus & Harwell | |||
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ARCH 4242 Introduction to Planning and Development |
Garvin | |||
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ARCH 4246 Introduction to Urban Studies |
Rubin | |||
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MGT 894 Connected Cities and Urban Ecosystems |
[Tentative] | |||
Bin 4: Cities and Civil Society
| Course | Fall 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| ENV 561 Energy Justice Seminar |
Torres M 10:30-11:50 |
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| ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality |
Taylor Tu 1:00-3:50 |
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| ENV 649 Food Systems: The Implications of Unequal Access |
Taylor Th 1:00-3:50 |
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| ENV 759 Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science |
Dove M 1:00-3:50 |
Dove | ||
| ENV 857 Financing Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries |
Kurukulasuriya Th 4:00-6:50 |
Kurukulasuriya | ||
| ENV 860 Developing Environmental Policies and Winning Campaigns |
Alt M 1:00-3:50 |
Faculty Tentative |
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| ENV 960 Urban Climate Solutions Capstone: New Haven Clinic |
Seto Tu 1:00-3:50 |
Seto |
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ARCH 3303 Urban Century |
Vyjayanthi Rao | |||
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ARCH 4247 Difference and the City |
Moore | |||
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EPH 507a Social Justice and Health Equity |
Staggers-Hakim | |||
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HIST 150J / HSHM 406 Healthcare for the Urban Poor |
Abedin | |||
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MGMT 536 Urban Poverty and Economic Development |
Cooney | |||
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MGMT 537 Inequality and Social Mobility |
Biasi | |||
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MGT 826 Inclusive Economic Development Lab: Opportunity Zones in New Haven |
Cooney | |||
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MGMT 955 Urban Resilience: Cities in a Post-Covid19 World: From Crisis & Recovery to Reinvention & Resilience |
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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 2023 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025 |
| ENV 643 The (Built) Environment: Environmental Design and Urban Transformation in Practice |
Faculty Th 11:00-12:50 |
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| ENV 707 Introduction to Environmental Chemistry |
Benoit | |||
| ENV 802 Climate Finance |
de Ruyter M 1:00-3:50 |
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| ENV 855 Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas (Dates TBD) |
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ARCH360/URBN 360 Urban Lab: An Urban World |
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ARCH 1239 Theory Through Objects: Political Form |
Gage | Gage | ||
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ARCH 3232 Politics of Space |
McLeaod, Sutton | McLeaod, Sutton | ||
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ARCH 4011 Introduction to Urban Design |
Plattus, Harwell | Plattus, Harwell | ||
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ARCH 4213 The City and Carbon Modernity |
Iturbe | Iturbe | ||
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ARCH 4219
Urban Research and Representation |
Rubin, Elihu | |||
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ARCH 4224 Out of Date: Expired Patents and Unrealized Histories |
Acciavatti | Acciavatti | ||
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ARCH 4234 Residential Design, Development and Management |
Garvin, Salvatore | Garvin, Salvatore | ||
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ARCH 4242 Introduction to Planning and Development |
Garvin | Garvin | ||
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ANTH 414 Hubs, Mobilities, and World Cities |
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EDST 271 Urban Inequalities and Educational Inequality |
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EMD 537 Water, Sanitation, and Global Health |
Chen, Wunder | Chen, Wunder | ||
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EPH 513 Major Health Threats: Determinants and Solutions |
Yeckel, Dubrow, Pettigrew | Yeckel, Dubrow, Pettigrew | ||
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URBN 305/ARCH 3265
Destruction, Continuation, and Creation –Architecture and Urbanism of Modern Japan/ Architecture & Urbanism- Japan |
Yoko Kawai | |||
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URBN 341 Globalization Space |
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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