Courses for Fall 2024 | Urban Studies Program

	Title	Instructors	Time	Description	Cross listings	Fulfills	Syllabus URL
URBS 0003-401	Origin and Culture of Cities	Richard L Zettler	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	The UN estimates that 2.9 of the world's 6.1 billion people live in cities and that this percentage is rapidly increasing in many parts of the world. This course examines urban life and urban problems by providing anthropological perspectives on this distinctive form of human association and land use. First we will examine the "origin" of cities, focusing on several of the places where cities first developed, including Mesopotamia and the Valley of Mexico. We will then investigate the internal structure of non-industrial cities by looking at case studies from around the world and from connections between the cities of the past and the city in which we live and work today.	ANTH0103401, MELC0003401	History & Tradition Sector Cross Cultural Analysis
URBS 0015A-301	Civic Scholars Proseminar	Rand A Quinn Khadijah Seay		The Civic Scholars Proseminar is the gateway, interdisciplinary course for first-year students in the Penn Civic Scholars Program, a four-year certificate program integrating scholarship and civic engagement. The course, open only to first-year Civic Scholars, provides context for students' future engagement, academic work, and program participation throughout their undergraduate experience.
URBS 0248-301	The Urban Food Chain	Domenic Vitiello	M 10:15 AM-1:14 PM	This class explores the social, economic, ecological, and cultural dynamics of metropolitan and community food systems in U.S. cities. Field trips and assignments immerse students in various forms of experiential learning - including farming and gardening, cooking, eating, and more. After a broad introduction to global, regional, and urban food systems in our first three weeks, across most of the semester we follow the food chain (or cycle), from production to processing, distribution, cooking, consumption, and waste. Specific topics include urban agriculture, community kitchens, grocery, hunger and food assistance, restaurants, neighborhoods, food cultures, food justice, and community food security. Students will gain broad literacies in: metropolitan and neighborhood food environments; food production, processing, distribution, access, and preparation; and the relationships between food, culture, and society. Students taking this class should be open to trying new things, getting hands dirty, and working with others in various settings and activities.		Humanties & Social Science Sector
URBS 0318-401	Abrahamic Faiths & Cultures: Teach Community Course	Talya Fishman	W 7:00 PM-9:59 PM	The aim of this course is to design a Middle School curriculum on “Abrahamic Faiths and Cultures” that will subsequently be taught in local public schools. First two hours will be devoted to study and discussion of primary and secondary sources grouped in thematic units. These will explore Jewish, Christian and Islamic teachings on topics including God, worship, religious calendar, life cycle events, attitudes toward religious others; internal historical developments. During the last seminar hour, we will learn from West Philadelphia clergy members, Middle School Social Studies teachers and principals about what they regard as necessary, and incorporate their insights. During the last hour, West Philadelphia clergy members, Middle School Social Studies teachers and principals will share with us what they believe is needed to enable the course to succeed. Class participants will attend prayer services on fieldtrips to a range of West Philadelphia houses of worship. In future semesters, some class participants may teach the resulting curriculum in selected neighborhood schools.	MELC0318401, RELS0318401
URBS 1050-401	Metropolis: Culture of the City		MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	An exploration of modern discourses on and of the city. Topics include: the city as site of avant-garde experimentation; technology and culture; the city as embodiment of social order and disorder; traffic and speed; ways of seeing the city; the crowd; city figures such as the detective, the criminal, the flaneur, the dandy; film as the new medium of the city. Special emphasis on Berlin. Readings by, among others, Dickens, Poe, Baudelaire, Rilke, Doeblin, Marx, Engels, Benjamin, Kracauer. Films include Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run.	CIMS1050401, GRMN1050401	Arts & Letters Sector Cross Cultural Analysis
URBS 1060-401	Race and Ethnic Relations		TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	The course will focus on race and ethnicity in the United States. We begin with a brief history of racial categorization and immigration to the U.S. The course continues by examining a number of topics including racial and ethnic identity, interracial and interethnic friendships and marriage, racial attitudes, mass media images, residential segregation, educational stratification, and labor market outcomes. The course will include discussions of African Americans, Whites, Hispanics, Asian Americans and multiracials.	AFRC1060401, ASAM1510401, LALS1060401, SOCI1060401	Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 1153-401	Transformations of Urban America: Making the Unequal Metropolis, 1945 to Today	Randall B Cebul	MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	The course traces the economic, social, and political history of American cities after World War II. It focuses on how the economic problems of the industrial city were compounded by the racial conflicts of the 1950s and 1960s and the fiscal crises of the 1970s. The last part of the course examines the forces that have led to the revitalization and stark inequality of cities in recent years.	HIST1153401	Society Sector Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202430&c=URBS1153401
URBS 1400-301	Inequity and Empowerment: Urban Financial Literacy	Brian Peterson	M 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This course provides students with a rich look at the historical and contemporary factors that have shaped America's wealth gaps. By studying the economic impacts of systemic forces such as discriminatory housing, predatory lending, and unbanking, students will develop a deep financial understanding of today's urban communities. Students will also explore their own financial awareness and exposure, creating personalized financial histories and empowerment plans. By breaking the silence on topics such as credit scores, auto purchases, renting vs. owning a home, insurance, retirement plans, debt management, and investing, Urban Financial Literacy will prepare students for a financially healthy life at Penn and beyond. The course will also explore larger financial examples and case studies, including endowment funds and major foundations, the promises and perils of sports and entertainment, start-ups and the gig economy, and more. In contrasting the opportunity and excess that is possible, with the debilitating realities of intergenerational poverty in America, the idea is that students will end the course with a robust appreciation for financial literacy, a portfolio of practical strategies, and a commitment to create new possibilities for financial wellness.
URBS 1780-401	Faculty-Student Collaborative Action Seminar in Urban University-Community Rltn	Ira Harkavy Theresa E Simmonds		This seminar helps students develop their capacity to solve strategic, real-world problems by working collaboratively in the classroom, on campus, and in the West Philadelphia community. Students develop proposals that demonstrate how a Penn undergraduate education might better empower students to produce, not simply "consume," societally-useful knowledge, as well as to function as caring, contributing citizens of a democratic society. Their proposals help contribute to the improvement of education on campus and in the community, as well as to the improvement of university-community relations. Additionally, students provide college access support at Paul Robeson High School for one hour each week.	AFRC1780401, HIST0811401	Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 2000-301	Introduction to Urban Research	Ira J Goldstein	R 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This course will examine different ways of undertaking urban research. The goal will be to link substantive research questions to appropriate data and research methods. Computer-based quantitative methods, demographic techniques, mapping / GIS and qualitative approaches will be covered in this course. Student assignments will focus on constructing a neighborhood case study of a community experiencing rapid neighborhood change.		Quantitative Data Analysis
URBS 2020-301	Urban Education	Michael C Clapper	T 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This seminar focuses on two main questions: 1) How have US schools and urban ones in particular continued to reproduce inequalities rather than ameliorating them? 2) In the informational age, how do the systems affecting education need to change to create more successful and equitable outcomes? The course is designed to bridge the divide between theory and practice. Each class session looks at issues of equity in relation to an area of practice (e.g. lesson design, curriculum planning, fostering positive student identities, classroom management, school funding, policy planning...), while bringing theoretical frames to bear from the fields of education, sociology, anthropology and psychology.		Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 2040-001	Urban Law	Dina Schlossberg	R 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This course will focus on selected aspects of urban law that are particularly relevant to areas of high population density. After an introduction to the American judicial system, it will examine the legal issues that arise in the management of land development and use, with special attention to constitutional questions involving equal protection, due process, and the "takings" clause, and routine run-of-the-mill zoning challenges. This course meets the Cultural Diversity requirement.		Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 2450-401	Poverty, Race and Health	Hannah E Olson	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This course is designed to introduce students to current literature on race/ethnic difference in health and mortality in the United States, covering such topics as explanations for why some race/ethnic groups fare better than others, how inner city poverty and residential segregation may contribute to racial/ethnic differences in health outcomes, and health of immigrants versus native-born populations. Current policy debated and recent policy developments related to health are also briefly discussed. The course is organized as a seminar with a combination of lectures and class discussions.	SOCI2450401	Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 2501-401	Cities in Chinese History	Si-Yen Fei	T 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This seminar will study the development of Chinese cities over the past two millennia with respect to their spatial structure, social constitution, economic system, political functions, and cultural representation (including cityscape paintings, maps, and films).As China transitioned from a collection of city-states to a united empire to nation state, Chinese urbanism underwent transformations as drastic as those of the country itself. Cities, which serve as a critical mechanism for the operation of a vast agrarian empire/nation like China , offer a unique vantage point for us to observe and analyze the continuities and discontinuities between dynastic empires as well as the radical transition from empire to modern nation state. Topics include: the city-state system in ancient China; the creation and evolution of imperial capitals; the medieval urban revolution and the subsequent collapse of classic city plans; the development of urban public sphere/public space in late imperial China; the rise of commercial power in urban politics; the negotiation of urban class and gender relations via cultural consumption; the role of cities in the building of a modern Chinese nation state; the anti-city experiment under the communist regime; urban citizenship in the reform era; as well as the expanding urbanization and shifting urbanism of Greater China as reflected in cinematic representations of Shanghai, Hongkong, and Taipei.	EALC2722401, HIST2501401		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202430&c=URBS2501401
URBS 2850-301	Health on the urban margins: The experience of health in American cities	R. Tyson Smith		In this course we will investigate the social and spatial determinants of health in contemporary urban American. We will study how cities are impacted by healthcare delivery systems and social policy in the United States, with special attention toward understanding the relationship between health disparities and structures of urban inequality related to racial discrimination, extreme poverty, and the stigma of a criminal record. We will also explore how a variety of marginalized populations from war veterans to parolees to the homeless cope with mental illness and violence-related trauma in the urban environment.
URBS 2900-301	Metropolitan Nature	Michael P Nairn	M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	In order to understand the complex and often skewed relationship between the built and natural systems, we must think in processes and examine different scales simultaneously. The course explores urban sustainability and resilience. At its core, sustainability is a radical concept that integrates the economy, equity (social justice), and the environment. Co-opted by marketing slogans, stripped of meaning and context, it has become vague and pliable. Sustainability and resilience demand a holistic systems view of the world. The course focuses on communities such as New Orleans and Eastwick where urban development has focused on economic concerns at the expense of the environment and equity resulting in unintended, and sometimes, catastrophic consequences. Students will have the opportunity to interact with community residents who have organized to develop strategies to address these ongoing issues.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202430&c=URBS2900301
URBS 3120-301	Vulnerable Vets (SNF Paideia Program Course)	R. Tyson Smith	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in the fields of sociology, history, psychology, psychiatry, and public health, this course interrogates the identity of vulnerable veterans (veterans who are incarcerated, homeless, or struggling with suicidal ideation). The course focuses on justice-involved veterans who are at the nexus of two of the United States largest, most powerful, and well-funded institutions—the criminal justice system and the military. “Sweet is war to those who have never experienced it,” states the Latin proverb. Central to the curriculum is this very disconnect, between those who have experienced war and those who have not. In addition to communing with veterans, we will analyze popular depictions of war, veterans, violence, and prisons in order to assess how military members, justice-involved people, and survivors of violence are understood in the public imagination versus how they in fact understand themselves and their realities. Students will have in-person dialog with both official and lay experts, including clinicians, veterans, military members, chaplains, and incarcerated people. Students will attend workshops at both the VA and a state prison.
URBS 3140-401	Participatory Cities (SNF Paideia Program Course)	Marisa Lee Denker Sylvia Garcia-Garcia	T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	What is a participatory city? What has that term meant in the past, what does it mean now, and what will it mean going forward? Against the backdrop of increasing inequality and inequity, and the rise in a search for solutions, what role can citizens play in co-creating more just cities and neighborhoods? How can citizens be engaged in the decision-making processes about the places where we live, work, and play? And most importantly, how can we work to make sure that all kinds of voices are meaningfully included, and that historically muted voices are elevated to help pave a better path forward? This course will connect theory with praxis as we explore together the history, challenges, methods, and approaches, and impact of bottom up and top down approaches to community participation and stakeholder involvement in cities. Multiple opportunities will be provided to be involved in community engagement work for live projects in Philadelphia.	SOCI2960401
URBS 3200-401	Who Gets Elected and Why? The Science of Politics	Elizabeth Marie Burdett Edward G Rendell	M 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	What does it take to get elected to office? What are the key elements of a successful political campaign? What are the crucial issues guiding campaigns and elections in the U.S. at the beginning of the 21st century? This class will address the process and results of electoral politics at the local, state, and federal levels. Course participants will study the stages and strategies of running for public office and will discuss the various influences on getting elected, including: Campaign finance and fundraising, demographics, polling, the media, staffing, economics, and party organization. Each week we will be joined by guest speakers who are nationally recognized professionals, with expertise in different areas of the campaign and election process. Students will also analyze campaign case studies and the career of the instructor himself. Edward G. Rendell is the former Mayor of Philadelphia, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and former Governor of Pennsylvania.	PSCI1207402
URBS 3230-001	Tutoring School: Theory and Practic	Aliya A Bradley	M 5:15 PM-7:14 PM	This course represents an opportunity for students to participate in academically-based community service involving tutoring in a West Phila. public school. This course will serve a need for those students who are already tutoring through the West Phila.Tutoring Project or other campus tutoring. It will also be available to individuals who are interested in tutoring for the first time.	EDUC3123001
URBS 3300-401	GIS Applications in Social Science	Casey Ross		This course will introduce students to the principles behind Geographic Information Science and applications of (GIS) in the social sciences. Examples of GIS applications in social services, public health, criminology, real estate, environmental justice, education, history, and urban studies will be used to illustrate how GIS integrates, displays, and facilitates analysis of spatial data through maps and descriptive statistics. Students will learn to create data sets through primary and secondary data collection, map their own data, and create maps to answer research questions. The course will consist of a combination of lecture and lab.	URBS5300401	Quantitative Data Analysis
URBS 4000-301	Senior Seminar	Ruth Ann Moyer Elaine L Simon	T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	Urban Studies senior research project
URBS 4000-302	Senior Seminar	Julia Mcwilliams	T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	Urban Studies senior research project
URBS 4000-303	Senior Seminar	Jonathan Argaman	T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	Urban Studies senior research project
URBS 4120-301	Building Non-Profits: The Business of a Mission-Driven Organization	Greg H. Goldman	M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This course will cover the basic elements of building and growing a non-profit organization, including the development of the mission and the board; needs assessment, program design, development, and management; financial management, contract compliance and understanding an audit; fundraising, public, foundation, corporate, and individual; communication and marketing; organizational administration (including staff and volunteer selection, management and development); public policy, research and advocacy. Students will make site visits and engage role play, in addition to research and writing.
URBS 4150-301	Urban Real Estate Markets	Peter A Angelides Howard Kozloff	W 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	Cities evolve over time, comprised of various inputs of different sizes at different stages of urban evolution. However, as cities continue to densify and navigate real estate market cycles, opportunities to redefine the urban context, while promoting the individual brand, become ever more sensitive. Projects are increasingly complex, often involving multiple partnerships among private developers, public agencies, non-profits, and community groups. Today's development professionals need to be well-versed across a variety of disciplines and property types to effectively execute in an urban environment. As an introductory course in real estate development, this course will provide the underpinnings for critical decision-making in markets that change frequently and often unevenly - whether for financing, investing, development, public policy formulation, or asset management/disposition.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202430&c=URBS4150301
URBS 4190-301	Urban Transportation in Flux	Ariel Ben-Amos	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	Transportation systems and networks impact everything from the literal shape ofAmerican cities to their economic vitality and the well-being of their citizens. Urban Infrastructure in Flux provides students with an over view of the political, business, and policy concerns and processes that inform how Americans get around by foot, transit, and car. URBS 419 explores the use and reuse of legacy infrastructure, and roots innovations such as driverless cars, and scooters, in a historical conflict over the right-of-way (ROW). Students will have the opportunity to meet professionals in the field and engage in primary source research and data analysis.
URBS 4200-401	Perspectives on Urban Poverty	Robert P Fairbanks	M 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to 20th century urban poverty, and 20th century urban poverty knowledge. In addition to providing an historical overview of American poverty, the course is primarily concerned with the ways in which historical, cultural, political, racial, social, spatial/geographical, and economic forces have either shaped or been left out of contemporary debates on urban poverty. Of great importance, the course will evaluate competing analytic trends in the social sciences and their respective implications in terms of the question of what can be known about urban poverty in the contexts of social policy and practice, academic research, and the broader social imaginary. We will critically analyze a wide body of literature that theorizes and explains urban poverty. Course readings span the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, urban studies, history, and social welfare. Primacy will be granted to critical analysis and deconstruction of course texts, particularly with regard to the ways in which poverty knowledge creates, sustains, and constricts meaningful channels of action in urban poverty policy and practice interventions.	HIST0812401, SOCI2944401	Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
URBS 4400-401	Introduction to City Planning: History, Theory and Practice	Francesca R Ammon	MW 8:30 AM-9:59 AM	This course introduces students to the history, theories, and contemporary practice of city and regional planning. Readings, lectures, class discussion, and walking tours focus on: - The evolution of planning ideas, strategies, institutions, and powers, and of planning’s influence on cities and regions around the world; - The structure and dynamics of urban change; - The ways planners and social and environmental scientists have understood, theorized, and responded to social, economic, political, and environmental conditions and change over time; and - The development of the planning profession and its relationships with allied fields, examining various types of planning, urban development, and design.	CPLN5000401
URBS 4400-402	Introduction to City Planning: History, Theory and Practice	Akira D Rodriguez	MW 8:30 AM-9:59 AM	This course introduces students to the history, theories, and contemporary practice of city and regional planning. Readings, lectures, class discussion, and walking tours focus on: - The evolution of planning ideas, strategies, institutions, and powers, and of planning’s influence on cities and regions around the world; - The structure and dynamics of urban change; - The ways planners and social and environmental scientists have understood, theorized, and responded to social, economic, political, and environmental conditions and change over time; and - The development of the planning profession and its relationships with allied fields, examining various types of planning, urban development, and design.	CPLN5000402
URBS 4510-401	The Politics of Housing and Urban Development	John Kromer	W 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This course offers an exploration of how legislative action, government policymaking, and citizen advocacy influence plans for the investment of public capital in distressed urban neighborhoods. Course topics this semester will include an evaluation of the results of City of Philadelphia development policies under the eight-year administration of outgoing Mayor James F. Kenney, who will be leaving office in January, 2024. The course will also include an assessment of large-scale property acquisition and development strategies undertaken by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (in North Philadelphia), by Drexel University (in West Philadelphia), and by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (on a citywide basis), as well as a review of recent and current reinvestment proposals for Camden's waterfront and downtown-area neighborhoods.	GAFL5690402
URBS 5300-401	GIS Applications in Social Science	Casey Ross		This course will introduce students to the principles behind Geographic Information Science and applications of (GIS) in the social sciences. Examples of GIS applications in social services, public health, criminology, real estate, environmental justice, education, history, and urban studies will be used to illustrate how GIS integrates, displays, and facilitates analysis of spatial data through maps and descriptive statistics. Students will learn to create data sets through primary and secondary data collection, map their own data, and create maps to answer research questions. The course will consist of a combination of lecture and lab.	URBS3300401
URBS 5470-401	Anthropology and Education		M 11:45 AM-1:44 PM	An introduction to the intent, approach, and contribution of anthropology to the study of socialization and schooling in cross-cultural perspective. Education is examined in traditional, colonial, and complex industrial societies.	ANTH5470401, EDUC5495401
URBS 9017-640	Considering Race, Class and Punishment in the American Prison System	Kathryn Watterson	W 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This writing seminar will sharpen and expand our writing, while bringing to our hearts and minds a deeper understanding of the reality of imprisonment in the United States. This system never goes away. This year it is locking up more than 2,300,000 men, women and children—the highest per-capita rate of imprisonment in the world. Even when we know the statistics and watch shows about crime and jail on TV, what do we really know about life behind bars? For a year? Ten years? Life? As a young journalist, I saw how the criminal justice system was used to suppress Black leadership. I felt drawn to teach creative writing at Holmesburg Prison, to eventually investigate the state prison system, interview prisoners, make friendships, write a newspaper series, magazine articles, and my first book on the subject. For nearly five decades, I’ve observed the human cost of a prison system that connects and damages all of our lives and keeps people from poverty in place. In this course, we will seek insights in books and stories written from prisoners’ personal experiences. We’ll also read scholars—Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, Angela Davis and others—who shed light on the historical repetitions and political exploitations. Guest speakers will include public defenders, parolees, former prisoners, and those fighting for prisoners’ rights and re-entry. Students will gain a more intimate understanding of how the legacies of slavery, racism, the prejudices of class, caste, and misogyny intersect and determine who goes to prison and who does not. Students will free-write for ten minutes a day, every day, and write personal reflections on readings, films, and guest speakers. Responses will lead to essays or stories that students write and present for class discussion. These key pieces may draw from observation, facts and imagination, and may traverse literary nonfiction, memoir, fiction, or poetry. We will present the best of your work in a reading at the end of the semester.	AFRC9017640, ENGL9017640, GSWS9017640, MLA5017640