URBAN & METROPOLITAN STUDIES
Director's Welcome
Located in the heart of downtown Phoenix, the Urban & Metropolitan Studies Program is for students who have a yearning to understand what makes our cities tick and a desire to improve the quality of urban life. The Urban & Metropolitan Studies Program will provide a strong foundation for students interested in revitalizing neighborhoods, regenerating downtowns, retrofitting suburbs, reinvigorating the arts scene, improving transit, bringing nature into the city, historic preservation, making cities family-friendly, ensuring effective governance and safety, improving recreational and educational opportunities for urban dwellers, developing the parks system, providing better playgrounds, creating community gardens, assuring the quality of urban environmental resources, supporting social diversity and social justice, opening an urban business, or any other endeavor contributing to enhance the health and well-being of our cities.
Through coursework and hands-on internships, the Urban & Metropolitan Studies Program combines scholarship, practice, and stewardship. As scholars, our students approach the study of the city holistically, combining insights and methods from history, sociology, planning, political science, economics, anthropology, and more. As practitioners, they apply this knowledge toward practical and tangible ends. And as stewards, they contribute to enhance the health and well-being of our places, institutions, and communities.
Graduates from the Urban & Metropolitan Studies program work in public, private, and not-for-profit fields dedicated to improving urban life. They may assume roles in municipal or federal departments and agencies, engage in urban and suburban revitalization efforts, become urban entrepreneurs, or follow other paths. Many graduates also pursue advanced degrees in public policy, public administration, urban planning, sustainability, law, business, real estate development, the arts, historic preservation, architecture, journalism, education, and other fields.
If you are interested in learning more about the Urban & Metropolitan Studies Program, I would be happy to hear from you.
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Nan Ellin, Ph.D. |
