What is Urban Studies?
Broadly speaking, Urban Studies is any scholarly approach to understanding the city. UWM’s Urban Studies Programs focus on social science research methods. USP students and faculty use methodological approaches including ethnographic, archival, quantitative, GIS, and survey research. We take a metropolitan view of the “urban,” studying both cities and suburbs and regions. Much of the research conducted in Urban Studies is focused on the United States in general and the Milwaukee area in particular, but our faculty also includes international specialists.
What can I do with an Urban Studies degree?
Like other degree programs housed in UWM’s College of Letters and Science, Urban Studies’ educational program nourishes students’ broad analytical skills, with an eye toward researching and understanding cities. Urban Studies students learn to read urban scholarship, research and understand the urban world from a social science perspective, and write from an academic perspective. Students may also be interested in UWM’s urban-centered programs in the College of Community Engagement & Professions and the College of Arts & Architecture.
Alumni of our programs take their skills into many professional arenas, including government, the non-profit sector, all levels of education, law, and the business world. The kind of critical analysis and writing skills taught in USP are transferable to many interesting careers where students can apply their passion for understanding metropolitan areas.
Director’s Welcome
About UWM Urban Studies Program
