Your urban exploration starts here
For students passionate about gaining the tools to tackle the above challenges — and numerous others — the Urban Studies Program (USP) at the University of Toronto offers a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the complex and shifting political, social, economic, and environmental influences that make — or degrade — our cities.
In 2015, 54 per cent of the world’s population lived in cities. By 2050, that figure is projected to climb to 66 per cent. Healthy, vibrant cities are the backbone of a healthy, vibrant planet. Students who graduate from our pioneering Urban Studies Program are leaders in city building, community development, social justice work, sustainability and environmental public policy research and creation, city planning, municipal politics, architecture, and other related fields.
Enter the program with a specialist, major, or minor option, and you’ll find yourself in an intimate, small-group learning environment, led by faculty with cutting-edge academic, public-service, and private-industry expertise.
The city of Toronto becomes an extension of your classroom lab, where you’ll explore community-engaged (experiential) learning, including opportunities for research fieldwork, internships, and community placements with urban-focused municipal and not-for-profit partners.
Courses
From foundational courses offering a multidisciplinary introduction to the theories of city building, to qualitative research courses that connect students to local leaders and organizations, the Urban Studies Program (USP) courses deliver a vibrant and challenging combination of classroom and community-engaged learning. We offer minor, major, and specialist options.
A focus on community-engaged learning
More than four decades ago, we created the Urban Studies Program (USP) with a clear focus on community-engaged experiential learning. Our longstanding partnerships with the City of Toronto, and other local, regional, and national organizations, give our students both front-row access to the inner workings of a city — and numerous opportunities to help effect meaningful change in an urban setting. You’ll learn, apply your skills and knowledge, and begin to build a professional network that will become a valuable asset in your post-grad future.
Visit our Experiential Learning page to learn more.
2024-25 Fall/Winter Courses
For a schedule of current course offerings, please see Timetable Builder. For a complete listing of courses — currently offered or not — please see the Faculty of Arts & Science Calendar.
About this course
What do the birth of hip hop in the rec room of a Bronx apartment building, Batman’s iconic Gotham City, and the Nollywood (Nigerian) film industry have in common? They are each significant examples of pop culture that have shaped our understanding of contemporary cities.
In this course, we will explore how these and other forms of popular culture, are created and consumed. Our analysis will highlight the connections between various forms of popular culture and what we, as a society, know and assume about cities, and about the specificity of urban experiences in certain cities around the globe.
What you’ll learn
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Learn how popular culture shapes what we know about cities and urban life.
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Discover how the context of place and time influences the emergence of various forms of urban popular culture.
Course highlights
This is an introductory course open to all students. No specific background in urban studies (or social sciences) is expected. One of the course assignments is to produce an Instagram post related to the course content. See examples of past student work.
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture
Professor: Aditi Mehta
About this course
We have entered the Urban Age — for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. This has wide-reaching implications for both urban and non-urban ways of life. This course will introduce you to how various thinkers have written about cities and urban life. Some of our pressing questions include: What makes a city grow? Why does urban inequality persist? What is the connection between the built form of cities and urban life? How does Toronto compare to other cities across the globe?
By the end of the course, you will gain the tools to help you construct a personal vision of urban experience, engagement, and community.
What you’ll learn
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Receive an introduction to the concepts that have shaped how cities have been studied through various disciplines.
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Learn how past approaches continue to influence how we study and think about cities and urban ways of life today.
Course highlights
This is the first of two introductory Urban Studies courses (required for minor, major and specialist programs). These introductory courses set the foundation for the Urban Studies degree.
Recommended preparation: 4.0 credits; at least 1.0 credits in introductory social science courses (such as architecture, economics, geography, political science, and sociology)
Exclusions: INI235H1; INI235Y1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture
Professor: David Roberts
About this course
Cities are ever evolving. This is our premise: rather than study what cities are, we will focus on what cities have been and what they can be. Building on the theoretical foundations gained in URB235, we will concentrate on what drives urban and neighborhood change, identifying the factors and spaces at the heart of the evolution of cities.
You should be ready to do your own city building: one of the key features of the course is a community-engaged learning opportunity in which you will be placed within a community organization at the forefront of urban change.
What you’ll learn
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Gain the tools to better understand the processes of urban change.
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Be inspired to develop a personal vision of the possible futures of Toronto and other cities.
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Have an opportunity to collaborate with a community organization, learning about and contributing to community-driven city building.
Course highlights
This is the second of two introductory Urban Studies courses (required for minor, major, and specialist programs). As part of the course , you will work in a 12-hour placement with a community organization involved in city building. This placement forms the basis of your final paper and research poster.
Many students find that this first experiential learning placement has a significant impact on their future career. Learn about one student’s placement in U of T News. You can also read more about community-engaged learning within Urban Studies here.
Recommended preparation: While we recommend that you take URB235 prior to URB236, if this does not work with your calendar, you can take these courses out of sequence.
Exclusions: INI235Y1; INI236H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture/Community-engaged learning
Professor: Aditi Mehta
About this course
The City of Toronto has experienced tremendous demographic change over the course of the last century, evolving into one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. It has become a national and international centre of economic activity, with a vibrant arts and culture scene and world-renowned research, educational, and health institutions.
But Toronto also struggles with deep inequalities, an affordable housing crisis, underfunded infrastructure needs, and many other challenges. These issues have been exposed and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the current climate crisis.
If you are interested in seeing – and understanding – how politicians and policy makers tackle these issues, then URB335 is for you. Offered in partnership with the City of Toronto and eight Toronto-area universities and colleges, the course is part of the innovative CivicLabTO initiative. Half of your time will be spent at Toronto’s City Hall attending presentations by senior City of Toronto urban policy-makers. The other six classes will be in a classroom setting with fellow U of T students on the St. George Campus.
What you’ll learn
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Discover what really happens at Toronto City Hall, hearing directly from staff and elected officials.
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Find out how Toronto is addressing current needs and challenges, and planning for the future.
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Experience an exciting frontline opportunity to explore the practical realities of city building.
Course highlights
Learn what other students think about URB335H1, and find out more about the partnership between the City of Toronto and local post-secondary institutions in this story from U of T News.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1, and GGR124H1 are recommended, but any student who has completed 9.0 credits and has an interest in the City of Toronto is welcome.
Exclusions: URB338H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture
Professor: Aditi Mehta
About this course
What is a “creative city” and why would we want to live in one? The idea of the “creative city” underwrites an approach to city building that emphasizes the role of culture, the arts, and, more generally, creativity, in urban development. In URB336H1, you will be introduced to this model that gained traction in the1990s and 2000s, as advocates of creative-city policies championed the philosophy that cities should foster creativity among their citizens. They also realized that they could attract new resident-creatives by providing the right creative opportunities, spaces, and experiences. With both passionate supporters and vocal critics, the creative-cities paradigm has played a major role in shaping the fate of cities so far this century.
What you’ll learn
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Gain an understanding of creative-city-led urbanism – and its vision for the future of cities in a changing economy.
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Critically assess the legacy of the creative city, as well as its prospects for the future by scrutinizing both the top-down and bottom-up efforts of city planners, creative-cities artists, and urban activists.
Course highlights
You will be studying more than the role of creativity in culture and society; you will also be asked to engage with the course material through a variety of different methods, many of which are creative in nature. Get ready to show your creative side through inventive assignments and unconventional forms of communication.
Recommended preparation: GGR124H1, URB235H1, UBR236H1
Exclusions: INI336H1, INI336Y1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Professor: Peter Galambos
About this course
Homelessness is one of the most urgent urban issues today, demanding multi-layered solutions from planners, politicians, policy makers — and students like you, who are becoming educated and engaged urban citizens. Toronto, like other global cities, is characterized by a stark dichotomy: upscale residential and commercial development transforms the landscape, even while increasing numbers of residents are forced to live on the streets, in encampments, in shelters, or crowded into unaffordable and substandard housing.
Can we eradicate homelessness? In Housing and Homelessness, you will examine the systematic changes necessary to achieve the stated goal of the federal housing agency, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC): “By 2030, everyone in Canada a home that they can afford and that meets their needs.” URB337H1 is a community-engaged learning course.
What you’ll learn
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Learn to trace the links between housing, homelessness, and urban politics through readings, discussions, guest presenters, and activities focused on the local setting of Toronto.
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Connect with urban movements that are contesting displacement and making cities more equitable.
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Develop an in-depth understanding of the frameworks, governance, and politics underlying Canadian housing policy and outcomes.
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Build an ability to critically assess policy and programs, including international best practices, allowing you to synthesize, analyze, and communicate knowledge related to housing and homelessness.
Course highlights
This course features a community-engaged learning component, in which you will have the opportunity to participate in housing policy processes by:
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reflecting on your own experiences accessing housing;
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observing a meeting of a City of Toronto committee on housing and planning;
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hearing from local housing experts;
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conducting in-depth research on a current or proposed city policy and comparable examples from other jurisdictions; and,
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advocating for a particular course of action or intervention to a real politician.
Recommended preparation: GGR124H1, URB235H1, UBR236H1
Exclusions: INI337H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Professor: Alana Jones
About this course
How do you conduct meaningful and rigorous research about cities using qualitative – not quantitative – methods, such as interviews, oral histories, mapping, surveys, photography, and archives? In this interactive workshop class, you will learn how to be a researcher and design a research project about a public space in the GTA. URB342H1 is one of the Urban Studies Program’s community-engaged-learning courses, meaning you will have an exciting and creative opportunity to create a unique story-driven project.
What you’ll learn
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Explore how scholars and journalists employ oral histories, semi-structured interviews, and a variety of other methodologies and data-collection tools to make sense of and craft meaningful narratives about cities and neighbourhoods.
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Learn about the uses, limitations, and ethical considerations involved in qualitative research.
Course highlights
This course is intended for third- and fourth-year students who have experience in the social sciences and/or humanities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the class partnered with elder residents in City of Toronto long-term care housing. By the end of the semester, each student developed an oral-history research project based on the data they collected through interviews and conversations with their elder partner, as well as additional research. Read more about this collaboration.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1
Exclusions: INI342H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar/Experiential/Community-engaged learning
Professor: Aditi Mehta
About this course
This course is a collaboration with the organization FOCUS Media Arts Centre, which is a not-for-profit organization that was established to counter negative stereotypes about the Regent Park community and provide media literacy and production programming for residents living in the area.
Together, University of Toronto students (undergraduate/graduate) and FOCUS Media Arts Centre journalists who are also Regent Park residents will learn about the multi-dimensional history of Regent Park focusing on topics such as immigration and racial formation, urban renewal, housing redevelopment, public health, and community organizing. Ultimately, the U of T students and FOCUS journalists will work in teams to envision, research, and produce their own media project addressing a specific neighbourhood issue in Regent Park.
Participation in the course involves a commitment to a new learning environment, outside of the typical classroom, and a significant dedication of time. On Thursdays, we will begin by meeting for one hour on campus to discuss readings and reflect. After this, we will travel to FOCUS Media Arts Centre to continue the course in collaboration with Regent Park residents.
What you’ll learn
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Learn how to transform research and knowledge about cities into compelling media products of your choice (radio, television, photography, print, or social media, etc.).
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Gain real-world experience collaborating closely with a community through participatory-action research.
Course highlights
This course is intended for third- and fourth-year students who have experience in the social sciences and/or humanities. Check out our course site to see projects from previous years.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar/Experiential/Community-engaged learning
Professor: Aditi Mehta
About this course
Working as part of a team of fourth-year undergrad students drawn from different U of T faculties and departments, you will tackle a real-world design challenge provided by a community organization or local municipality. You and your team will become consultants, using a multidisciplinary and mixed-methods problem-solving approach to meet the client’s needs.
What you’ll learn
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Apply knowledge, skills, and processes from different disciplines to conduct analysis.
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Demonstrate judgement as you integrate economic, environmental, social, and other pertinent interdisciplinary frameworks.
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Incorporate teamwork, project management, and direct stakeholder and client interaction.
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Prove the feasibility of your solution.
Course highlights
The Multidisciplinary Capstone Project (MUCP) began as an initiative in the School of Cities at the University of Toronto in the 2019-2020 academic year. As of 2022-2023, the Urban Studies Program will serve as a coordinating partner. This allows us to refine and expand the project, with an eye toward improving both the student experience, and that of our community partners. The Urban Studies Program brings a wealth of experience with community-engaged learning and multidisciplinarity to this collaboration. Learn more about MUCP.
Please note: This is a competitive entry course – an application is required. Keep an eye out for application details in the spring/early summer.
Recommended preparation: URB235, URB236, URB432 (or other social science research methods course), 14.0 credits in social sciences
Exclusions: INI431
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Format: Community-engaged learning; work as part of a student team consulting with a community-based client to solve a design challenge
Professor: David Roberts
About this course
How can art shape our experience of the city? This course explores our understanding of urban space through the lens of public art, with Toronto as our playground. Students engage multiple perspectives, ranging from artists’ practices, community participation to municipal policy. We consider how access and inclusion, memory and monuments are influenced by art in the public realm.
Course highlights
This course uses field trips to explore the city of Toronto through specific weekly themes. Past visits have included artists and curators as guides, with an emphasis on experiential learning. Projects include podcasts and field journals, among other forms of activity.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1, and completion of research design and research methods courses
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Format: Seminar/Experiential
Professor: Alan Webb
About this course
Students will explore the various theories related to frontline service providers, specifically those with lived experience in the homelessness-serving sector in Canada. In this course, students will examine the intersectionality of frontline staff with lived experiences and the complexities of navigating a barrier-burdened system.
Based on the book, Behind the Frontline, students will explore relevant themes associated with homelessness, addiction, mental health, employment, barriers to accessing non-judgement support, systematic stigmatization, dual advocacy and self-care. Additionally, discussion about the motivation to enter and/or stay in social service work, men’s mental health, The state of the non-profit section in Toronto, What it means to be a front-line worker (definition, job description formal, job description actual) and the Opioid crisis.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1 and URB236H1, completion of research design and research methods courses, 14.0 credits in an aligned social science program.
Exclusions: None
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Professor: Alana Jones
About this course
Are you ready for a next-level challenge? In this community-engaged-learning course, the focus is on learning by doing. You will be placed with a city-building organization where you will spend eight hours each week contributing your intellect, energy, curiosity, and imagination to support the work of your placement organization. In parallel, we will meet as a class to reflect on these experiences, to learn from one another, and to engage in dialogue and debate about Toronto-based urban issues.
You will be placed with community partners including the Toronto Centre for Learning and Development, Evergreen Brick Works, TTCriders, Progress Toronto, and the Canadian Urban Institute.
What you’ll learn
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Develop your own personal vision and expertise in civic engagement.
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Develop and improve your communication skills.
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Gain exposure to the office as a workplace and other “real-world” urban opportunities.
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Connect academic approaches to urban studies, encountering challenges and issues that you will address through practical, hands-on approaches.
Course highlights
This is a balloted course, requiring an application. While priority is given to students enrolled in the Urban Studies program, we also welcome high-achieving students from other programs. The application will be posted here in May. If you are accepted, you will be matched with placements based on your interests and preferences. For more info, please contact the Innis College Academic Programs Office.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1. Priority is given to students enrolled in the Urban Studies minor, major, or specialist programs. However, consideration may be given to students with suitable course background as determined by the program director.
Exclusions: INI306Y1, INI437Y1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar and Community Placement
Professor: Tathagato Chakraborty
About this course
This course is an opportunity to be directly involved with an ongoing, multidisciplinary research project (funded by the Trans-Atlantic Partnership) examining community-based actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened existing social, health and nutritional inequities and highlighted common challenges facing marginalized and racialized communities in cities across the Global North and South. It has also driven new social innovations and cross-sector collaborations, some of which may have the potential to transform the longstanding inequities that undermine global health, food systems and governance processes.
Through this course, you will learn from the Toronto team of researchers from Urban Studies, Public Health and International Development Studies as well as our community partners. You will gain training in qualitative case study and community-based research methodologies, and you will contribute to the research through the development of a case study using the methods taught in the course. We hope to provide the opportunity for some students to present their course projects to the international research team after the course concludes.
What you’ll learn
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Case study research methodologies and their application to examining community issues and examples of mutual care
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The principles, actions, outcomes and challenges related to community groups and their struggle for food and health justice
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Community-level responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their collective impact
Course highlights
This course is open to fourth-year undergraduate students from any discipline or department at U of T. The course is designed as an experiential and participatory learning experience delivered through course readings, group work and hands-on projects. This is an opportunity for students to contribute to an active faculty research project working to better understand and support community-based food and health justice initiatives in Toronto.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1, URB342H1
Exclusions: INI438H1, INI438Y1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar
Professor: Neil Price
About this course
Warning: after completing URB439H1, you will never be able to watch the Olympics or World Cup in the same way again!
We’ve all enjoyed the spectacle and excitement of mega-events that enthrall television audiences around the globe. These carefully choreographed media images obscure the processes, compromises, and consequences that the events impose on their host cities.
In URB439H1 you will learn how mega-events are powerful tools for city branding, potential opportunities for social movements, and platforms for groups and individuals to highlight their own issues. Using examples from South Africa, Vancouver, Tokyo, Qatar, Brazil, and Toronto, your instructor will guide you through the challenges and opportunities that cities and nations face in hosting such events.
What you’ll learn
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Gain a new understanding of the immediate and long-term effects of mega-events on host cities — and how many of these reflect contemporary trends in urbanization.
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Choose your own case study in which you will use core urban studies concepts to analyze the particulars of your mega-event.
Course highlights
This course is taught as a seminar. We will spend a significant amount of time discussing the course material. This is the format of many graduate-level courses, so if you are thinking about graduate school, this is the course for you.
Recommended preparation: Completion of 12 credits.
Exclusions: INI439H1, INI430H1 (Winter 2014), INI332H1, INI432H1 (Fall 2016)
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Lecture
Professor: David Roberts
About this course
When we meaningfully engage people in the work of government we can improve civility, foster community, increase trust and accountability, and solve complex or controversial problems. But when we engage people in ways that feel rote or hollow, we often see the opposite effects. URB432 combines both theory and practice to give you a nuanced understanding of all the elements of an effective public-participation process, while also exploring how these processes and tools can be designed to be more effective and inclusive. This is a community-engaged learning course.
What you’ll learn
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Learn why public engagement is a valuable part of any planning, design, or policy development process.
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Understand the theory and practice of public engagement.
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Become familiar with the basic elements of designing and implementing a community engagement process.
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Develop your ability to apply this new knowledge both critically and creatively to support a real-world client project.
Course highlights
The studio element to this year’s course will be in support of a small Toronto-based consulting firm working on a real-world policy project in Owen Sound. Students will have the opportunity to learn about and support this firm’s unique community-based, inclusive approach to public engagement, which trains community members to run the process. You’ll create supporting materials, liaise with community members, support an event, translate engagement outcomes into actionable policies, and learn from the firm’s founder. A one-day field trip to Owen Sound in early November will be required.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1
Exclusions: INI432H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar with practical learning modules and a practical assignment for a real-world client
Professor: Daniel Fusca
A welcome message from David Roberts, program director
Understand urban life through a multidisciplinary lens
The Urban Studies Program (USP) is a multidisciplinary undergraduate program that offers you a variety of lenses for observing, interpreting, and understanding urban life. When we discuss, teach, and research cities, we draw on insights from various academic disciplines and other ways of seeing the world.
Pursue your passions and build your own degree
You will be encouraged to pursue the aspects of cities and urban life that you are most passionate about – and to build your degree program around these passions. While we provide core courses that set the foundation for your degree, you can build a degree program from courses across the University that speaks to your life interests and career goals.
Take it to the streets: enjoy community-engaged learning
Toronto, dynamic and diverse, a large city faced with significant challenges, provides an important backdrop and laboratory for us. Community-engaged or experiential learning is at the core of much of what we do. This includes formal placements in courses in both the second and fourth years, as well as numerous other courses where community partnerships provide a key component to your learning. Our goal is to inspire you to engage with the world around you, develop critical thinking skills, and begin to build a personal vision of a more liveable and just urban future.
Choose from a wide and diverse range of career journeys
Where can you go with a degree in urban studies? With the critical thinking skills you will develop, a wide range of dynamic and fulfilling careers and graduate programs are open to you. The diversity of careers that our students pursue reflects the diversity of interests that they bring to studying the city – including jobs and graduate programs in law, social work, public policy, environmental sustainability, and a whole range of other forms of city building. Many of our students also go on to graduate programs in planning (MScPl Program of Study) and move into careers as planners.
Learn and grow in a small-group, community-oriented environment
Think of USP as more than just an academic program – we’re also a community of people interested in better understanding cities and contributing to city building. This begins in our small class sizes that give you the opportunity to get to know your faculty and instructors, as well as your fellow students. We have a robust student society, the Urban Studies Student Union (URSSU), with whom we partner to host events and activities. And we stay in touch with our alumni, who return as mentors for current students, community placement supervisors, guest speakers in our courses and events, and, more broadly, friends of the program.
Why choose USP over other campus programs or majors?
Many departments and programs at U of T have courses on cities and urban life, and there is widespread interest from students. However, given the complexity of the subject, our comprehensive Urban Studies Program can offer a range of perspectives, and enriched analysis. Here’s what makes us distinct from other majors:
- Cities and urban life are the central foci of all of our courses.
- We use a multidisciplinary approach, in which we draw on different insights from various academic disciplines/majors, to engage in a conversation of many strands and layers – learning from multiple ways of seeing and understanding the city and urban life.
- As a small college program, we work to foster a sense of community that is often hard to find at a university as large as U of T.
Newsletter
Read the latest issue of our newsletter
This edition of the Urban Studies Monthly Newsletter features a variety of informative and engaging events around the city, urban-related opportunities, and exciting new urban research.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here and find all past issues here.
Follow our Instagram account for important announcements, updates, and check out our new Instagram reel series created by USP Research and Communications Assistant, Paul To La.
Follow us on Instagram @USPUofT
Contact Us
Have a question about any aspect of the Urban Studies Program? Our program coordinator can help!
Rima Oassey, Innis College Program Coordinator
programs.innis@utoronto.ca
416-946-7107
David Roberts, Director & Associate Professor, Teaching Stream
d.roberts@utoronto.ca
416-978-7790
About this course
How do power and dominance consolidate in urban settings? How do individuals and communities contest this consolidation, and claim spaces and rights in the city? These questions will be taken up through a range of critical approaches, including Indigenous, critical race feminist, political economy, queer, and anarchist perspectives. Students will have the opportunity to carry out interview-based research on an issue of equality and social justice that matters to them.
This course is intended for third- and fourth-year students who have experience in the social sciences and/or humanities.
What you’ll learn
Concepts of Justice: Explore the evolving and diverse notions of justice, examining how they manifest across different spaces and historical contexts.
Case Study Analysis: Research and develop in-depth case studies on justice-led social issues, gaining insights into real-world applications and challenges.
Global Social Justice Movements: Study influential social justice movements from around the world, analyzing their impact, strategies, and contributions to societal change.
Research Methodology: Master social science research methods to investigate social justice issues, including designing research, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting your findings.
Practical Applications: Engage in hands-on projects and fieldwork to connect theoretical concepts with real-world scenarios, enhancing your practical understanding of urban social justice.
Innovative Communication: Create multimedia projects to effectively communicate and advocate for social justice issues, combining creativity with analytical skills.
Critical Thinking and Debate: Develop your ability to critically assess and debate complex social justice topics, fostering a deeper understanding of urban inequalities and solutions.
Course highlights
Interactive Field Trips: Participate in field visits to various urban sites and community organizations to observe and analyze social justice issues in real-life settings.
Hands-On Projects: Engage in innovative, hands-on projects, such as designing and presenting multimedia campaigns that address social justice challenges in urban areas.
Simulation Exercises: Take part in simulation exercises that mimic real-world scenarios, allowing you to explore and navigate complex social justice issues and policy-making processes.
Creative Presentations: Develop and present digital narratives or creative projects that showcase your research and advocacy for social justice, demonstrating your ability to communicate effectively and impactfully.
Debate and Discussion: Engage in dynamic debates and discussions on current social justice topics, honing your critical thinking and argumentation skills in a supportive and interactive environment.
Recommended preparation: URB235H1, URB236H1
Exclusions: INI333H1
Distribution requirements: Social Science
Breadth requirements: Society and Its Institutions (3)
Format: Seminar
Professor: Tathagato Chakraborty