Program / Courses

Purpose and Scope

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.  The focus they 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.

The specialization draws upon the unique strength of YSE and Yale.  YSE boasts leading faculty studying ecology, climate, forestry, soils, health and urbanization science.  Therefore, students selecting the Urban Specialization will develop an understanding of environmental management of urban ecosystems, including land use, urban ecology, spatial analysis and urban climate.  In addition, the Urban Specialization at YSE combines a scientific understanding of environmental issues with a deep understanding of urban challenges from an inter-disciplinary perspective. Faculty at Yale, across disciplines, offer classes and conduct research on the most current and pressing issues of urban growth.  Students benefit from the world-class research and scholarship on urban and environmental issues with cutting-edge practical skills to apply to future work.

In addition to providing students with a holistic view of urbanization and its challenges and a deep set of skills and tools to work with, the YSE Urban Specialization is a unique asset at Yale. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the specialization, students will take classes in a number of other Yale Schools and work and interact with students from other disciplines, cultivating a wider awareness on urban environmental issues.  Activities such as speaker series’, workshops, and publications engage faculty and students from across the University to discuss and debate local and global urban issues.  Finally, the YSE Urban Specialization provides a starting point for inter-disciplinary research engaging faculty across the University to address urban challenges from a research and policy perspective.  Thus, the specialization attracts students who plan to work at the city level, and also students with ambitions to work on national security, biodiversity, or climate negotiations at the national or international levels, among other topics.

The Urban Specialization will draw on core courses offered by YSE faculty and faculty cross-listed at YSE, as well as courses offered across Yale.  Faculty across Yale are leading experts in their disciplines, and many are engaged in research and work with a connection to urban areas. 

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.

Specialization Coordinator: Karen Seto