Urban Specialization

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 Tentative
ENV 645 Urbanization, Global Change and Sustainability	Seto Tu 1:00-3:50		Seto Tentative

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		Tentative
ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space		Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50		Tentative
ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects	Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50		Tomlin Tentative
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		Bradford
ENV 608 Our Air, Our Health		Faculty W 10:00-11:50
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
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
ENV 817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice	Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50		Kooris Tentative
ENV 820 Land Use Law and Environmental Planning		Shansky M,W 4:00-5:20		Tentative
ENV 835 Seminar on Land Use Planning	Bacher W 10:30-11:50		Bacher Tentative
ENV 894 Green Building: Issues and Perspectives	Kops Tu 9:00-11:50		Kops Tentative
ENV 956 Strategies for Land Conservation		Gentry Tu 2:30-5:20		Gentry
ENV 985 Capstone: Neighborhood Planning Workshop		Kooris Tu 4:00-6:50		Tentative

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 2023	Spring 2024	Fall 2024	Spring 2025
ENV 561 Energy Justice Seminar		Torres M 10:30-11:50
ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality	Taylor Tu 1:00-3:50
ENV 649 Food Systems: The Implications of Unequal Access		Taylor Th 1:00-3:50
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
ENV 860 Developing Environmental Policies and Winning Campaigns	Alt M 1:00-3:50		Faculty Tentative

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 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
ENV 707 Introduction to Environmental Chemistry				Benoit
ENV 855 Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas (Dates TBD)

ARCH360/URBN 360  Urban Lab: An Urban World
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
ANTH 414  Hubs, Mobilities, and World Cities
EDST 271 Urban Inequalities and Educational Inequality
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
URBN 341 Globalization Space