URBS

328 Milbank Hall Spring 2026: URBS UN1515 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

323 Milbank Hall

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

102 Milstein Center Siener URBS UN2300 INTRODUCTION TO URBAN GEOGRAPHY. 3.00 points. Urban Geography is the study of spatial processes, practices, and relationships of cities. In this course, we aim to come to grips with the complex structures that shape urban life and landscapes in an increasingly globalized world. We read and discuss the changing economic, political, cultural, environmental, and material aspects of contemporary cities. We pay close attention to social aspects of power that impact cities such as race, class, and gender. We think about the experiences of diverse groups who inhabit cities. And we evaluate the various methods that geographers use to study cities. The final project is based on the fieldwork that you do in a New York City neighborhood of your choice Fall 2025: URBS UN2300 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollmen

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

Ll001 Milstein Center Siener Barnard College Catalogue 2025-2026 653 URBS UN2520 INTRODUCTION TO URBAN PLANNING. 3.00 points. This course is a basic introduction to the field and practice of urban planning in the United States. The course will focus on key concepts in planning history, theory, and practice, including the various conflicts and dilemmas planners face, stakeholders involved in urban planning, and the tools and methods that planners use to address challenges in the built environment. The core questions that this class will return to throughout the semester are: How does planning take place, and whose interest(s) does planning serve? How does planning (re)produce social inequities? Planning is often framed as a technical exercise to rationalize the built environment and create more “livable” cities. However, planning is not value-neutral. As we will examine throughout the course of the semester, power relations fundamentally shape the t planning profession, and planning decisions have contributed to racial, economic, and gender inequalities and spatial segregation in cities throughout the United States. We will also explore debates about how to encourage more inclusive cities and engage in more ethical planning t practice. The course is divided into six sections. In Part I, we will explore foundational concepts in urban planning, such as how previous scholars have defined urban planning and urban space. In Part II, we will explore the historical context in which the planning profession emerged and key moments in planning history. In Part III, we will examine normative models of planning, or how the planning profession conceives of itself. In Part IV, we will learn about the different technical tools that planners use to regulate urban development and key debates surrounding these tools. In Part V, we will interrogate the role of the planner, the role of power relations in planning, and how planning decisions have resulted in racial, class, and gender exclusion in the built environment. In Part VI, we will contemplate future directions in planning Spring 2026: URBS UN2520 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

302 Milbank Hall t URBS UN3252 URBAN LATIN/X AMERICA: ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES. 4.00 points. This seminar examines the social, economic, and political landscapes of Latin American cities through ethnographic literature. It explores key themes such as migration, urban poverty, marginality, violence, informality, urban segregation, grassroots movements, urban citizenship and neoliberal urban governance. Students will read both classic and contemporary ethnographies to gain an in-depth understanding of how cities are lived and experienced. The course also unsettles the category of Latin America, to introduce a discussion of the “Latinization” of U.S. cities. We will interrogate ethnographic and audiovisual materials (included to complement the readings) from a postcolonial perspective. We will discuss the politics of knowledge production and representation in ethnographic studies and popular culture, the impact of colonialism in transnational flows of knowledge and labor, as well as the contributions to urban theory from the perspective of cities located in the Global South Spring 2026: URBS UN3252 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

302 Barnard Hall

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

Ll002 Milstein Center t

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

324 Milbank Hall URBS UN3450 NEIGHBORHOOD # COMMUNITY DVLP. 3.00 points. New York City is made up of more than 400 neighborhoods. The concept of neighborhoods in cities has had many meanings and understandings over time. Equally complex is the concept of community used to describe the people attached to or defined by neighborhood. While neighborhood can be interpreted as a spatial, social, political, racial, ethnic, or even, economic unit; community often refers to the group of stakeholders (i.e. residents, workers, investors) whose interests directly align with the conditions of their environment. Community development is “a process where these community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems” that result from the changing contexts in their neighborhoods. Using a variety of theories and approaches, residents organize themselves or work with community development practitioners on the ground to obtain safe, affordable housing, improve the public realm, build wealth, get heard politically, develop human capital, and connect to metropolitan labor and housing markets. To address the ever-changing contexts of neighborhoods, community development organizations are taking on new roles and adapting (in various cases) to larger forces within the city, region and nation such as disinvestment, reinvestment, increased cultural diversity, an uncertain macroeconomic environment, and changes in federal policy. For more than a century, city-dwellers—and especially New Yorkers—have been tackling these challenges. This course will examine both historic and contemporary community building and development efforts, paying special attention to approaches which were shaped by New York City. This urban center, often described as a “city of neighborhoods,” has long been a seedbed for community-based problem-solving inventions. The course will focus on the theories (why?), tools (how?), and actors (who?) within the field of community development practice and is organized around important sectors (housing, econom Fall 2025: URBS UN3450 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enro

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

323 Milbank Hall Barnard College Catalogue 2025-2026 655 URBS UN3451 URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: GENDER, RACE, CLASS AND THE ENVIRONMENT. 3.00 points. In this course we will explore urban environmental inequalities through the lens of environmental justice. The concept of environmental justice has risen in prominence in the language of environmental activism, politics, and policymaking. Informed by critical studies of the environment, we will address the broad question of why, for some, the environment is representational of a healthy lifestyle and source of prosperity, while for others it is a source of risk and harm. Our course of study invites students to critically analyze environmental llment justice case studies and to develop an understanding of the complex relationships among urban populations and the social, political, and 0 economic processes that lead to environmental inequality. We will also explore how racism is foundational to environmental exploitation and consider why global struggles for racial justice are crucial for protecting both people and the earth. We will pay particular attention to how environmental health inequalities are linked to race, class, gender, and nation. Drawing from academic texts, films, and photo essays we will explore how urban planning and economic development policies create environmental inequalities in the US and globally Spring 2026: URBS UN3451 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

325 Milbank Hall Hernandez URBS UN3452 HOUSING POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES. 4.00 points. How should we define housing? As a concept, housing is both simple and complex. As a physical concept, housing provides shelter, and it is durable and visible. Yet, housing is more than just its physical components. As a social concept, housing is a clear insignia of social status and can be an investment vehicle to accumulate and hoard wealth. Additionally, housing (and housing policy) both amplifies and reinforces larger patterns of racial and economic bias witnessed in wider society. This course examines the institutional, economic, regulatory, and political factors that affect the production, subsidization, and siting of housing in the United States. We will trace the varied policy approaches that local, state, and federal governments have leveraged to deliver affordable housing over time. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to how U.S. housing policy historically is built on a segregationist ideology, often linking the presence of non-white and low-income households with neighborhood instability and as a threat to stable property values. We will also explore the various approaches that the public sector has pursued to attempt to undo the racially segregated housing market of its own making. The course is divided into three sections. Part I reviews how previous scholars have defined housing, provides a brief introduction to housing policy history, and introduces the basics of supply and llment demand in housing markets and housing finance. Part II examines various approaches to provide affordable housing at the federal, state, 0 and local level and how these approaches have evolved over time. Part III examines contemporary housing policy debates. Since this class is an upper-level seminar, students should expect to read about 150 pages of reading per week and to listen to a podcast or watch a select movie on specific weeks. Students will be expected to complete all of the assigned readings before class. Class time primarily will be devoted to class discussions, so students should plan to formulate thoughts about the readings before class and to participate actively in class discussions each week

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

306 Milbank Hall URBS UN3546 JUNIOR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES. 4.00 points. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Evaluation of current political, economic, social, cultural and physical forces that are shaping urban areas Spring 2026: URBS UN3546 Course Section/Call Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollmen

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

Prerequisite

Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor.

501 Diana Center Spanish & Latin American Cultures 219 Milbank Hall 212-854 7491 (fax) Language Program Director: Jesús Suárez-García The Department of Spanish and Latin

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

306 Milbank Hall URBS 3992 003/00251 W 9:00am - 10:50am Christian 4.00 12/12 113 Milstein Center Siener URBS 3992 004/00252 W 9:00am - 10:50am Andreina 4.00 6/12 119 Milstein Center Torres

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu

214 Milbank Hall

Subject

URBS

Type

course

Edition

2025-2026

Source

catalog.barnard.edu