Beginning in Fall 2026, the Sociology Department is pleased to offer a new undergraduate Specialization in Urban Studies for Sociology majors and minors. This specialization will be reflected on student transcripts and diplomas.
This specialization will be of interest to students:
- who want to study the origins and reproduction of social inequality;
- who want to apply that knowledge to address issues of pressing public concern; and
- who have a particular interest in investigating how inequalities manifest in urban spaces, including St. Louis.
Our department's core areas of expertise are critical for urban studies: racial and gender inequality; economic sociology; work, organizations, and occupations; health; immigration; and political sociology and social movements. Our location in St. Louis provides an ideal vantage point for engaging with the complex interplay of inequity and policy, along with the vibrant social movements that have emerged to address entrenched injustices in the city and region.
An interdisciplinary component of the specialization also ensures that students' investigation of urban studies is informed by other relevant disciplines at Washington University.
Program Requirements
- Total Units Required: 18-21 (credits may vary based on capstone option)
- Grade Requirement: Courses must be completed with a letter grade of C– or better to satisfy minor and specialization requirements. Courses taken on a Pass/No Pass basis do not satisfy program requirements, save for internships used for capstone credit.
Requirements
Students must declare as a Sociology minor on Workday. As students fulfill their standard program requirements within the Sociology Minor, they will need to incorporate the completion of three regular courses with a focus on urban issues:
1. At least one course should be taken from the Group A list of Sociology offerings below:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| EDUC 4260 | Neighborhoods, Schools, and Social Inequality | 3 |
| EDUC 4470 | The Political Economy of Urban Education | 3 |
| SOC 2010 | The Roots of Ferguson: Understanding Racial Inequality in the Contemporary U.S. | 3 |
| SOC 2020 | Order and Change in Society | 3 |
| SOC 2050 | Inequality By Design: Understanding Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities | 3 |
| SOC 3810 | Film and the City | 3 |
| SOC 4214 | Race and Place | 3 |
2. At least one course should be taken from the Group B list (courses outside of Sociology) offerings below:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AFAS 2151 | St. Louis Black History, Culture and Civic Engagement | 3 |
| AFAS 3070 | Topics On Africa: African Urban Futures | 3 |
| AMCS 2062 | Visualizing the American City | 3 |
| AMCS 3189 | Engaging the City: The Material World of Modern Segregation | 3 |
| AMCS 3192 | Surveillance & the City | 3 |
| ANTHRO 3275 | Introduction to GIS for Anthropologists | 3 |
| ANTHRO 4314 | Archaeology of St. Louis | 3 |
| ARCH 3401 | Drawing On the City | 3 |
| ARCH 4441 | Designing the Modern City | 3 |
| ARCH 4477 | Segregation By Design: A Historical Analysis of the Impact of Planning and Policy in St. Louis | 3 |
| ARCH 4493 | Landscapes Through Time: The History of St. Louis' Built Environment | 3 |
| ARCH 5468 | East Asian Urbanisms | 3 |
| ARTARCH 2040 | Cities and Towns of the Ancient World | 3 |
| ECON 4360 | Urban Economics | 3 |
| EDUC 4220 | Race, Ethnicity, and Culture: Critical Qualitative Understandings of Urban Education | 3 |
| ENST 2530 | Metropolitan Environment | 3 |
| ENST 3530 | Sustainable Cities | 3 |
| ENST 3610 | Urban Ecology | 3 |
| ENST 3710 | Introduction in GIS | 3 |
| ENST 4710 | Advanced GIS | 3 |
| FRENCH 3701 | In-Depth: Paris, Capitol of Modernity: A Digital 19th Century | 3 |
| HISTORY 2360 | Urban America | 3 |
| HISTORY 4815 | Advanced Seminar: New York, New York: The Empire City From Stuyvesant to Trump | 3 |
| HISTORY 4871 | Colonial Cities and the Making of Modernity | 3 |
| POLSCI 3760 | Globalization, Urbanization, and the Environment | 3 |
| POLSCI 3890 | Power, Justice, and the City | 3 |
| SPAN 3611 | Researching Cultures: Urban Iberian Cultures -- Barcelona and Madrid | 3 |
| URBDES 5403 | Public Space and City Life: Contemporary Discourses On Public Space | 3 |
| URBDES 5412 | Everyday Urbanism: Global and Local Practices | 3 |
3. The third course may be any other course in either Group A or Group B.
Because this program is a specialization and not a separate minor, students may count their Group A courses toward both their Urban Studies specialization and minor requirements in Sociology. One or more of the three courses needs to be at the 3000- or 4000- level. Groups' course lists are updated annually.
Students must also complete an Urban Studies capstone consisting of one of the following two options:
1. A regular capstone project (1-3 credits) with an urban studies lens that draws on the current urban studies literature. Key subfields include but are not limited to the following:
- Residential, school, or other forms of segregation
- (Sub)urban social life
- (Sub)urban wealth and poverty
- (Sub)urban policy
- Global cities
- Locally embedded social interaction and community life
- (Sub)urban cultures and the meaning(s) of place
- (Sub)urban political economy
- (Sub)urban spatial arrangements
- Social impacts of local natural and built environments
- Urban, suburban, and rural neighborhood/community inequalities
2. An internship (1-3 credits) relevant to urban studies, broadly defined.
Visit the Sociology page
for additional information about this program.
Contact Info
| Contact: | Kaitlyne A. Motl, PhD |
| Phone: | 314-935-5790 |
| Email: | kaitlyne.motl@wustl.edu |
| Website: | http://sociology.wustl.edu |