Within the broad scope of Urban and Regional Studies,
the department offers specialties in a number of sub-fields.
These include the following:
Urban
Students may pursue studies leading to a graduate
degree in a wide variety of urban-related topics. The course
of study focuses on three 'core' areas:
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The intra-urban scale, or studies of the internal
structure of cities, including urban economic activities,
urban transportation and urban social/behavioral geography;
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The inter-urban scale, or urban systems analysis,
including urban system development, economic structure
of the urban system and patterns and processes of interaction,
notably diffusion, interregional trade, migration and
transportation systems; and
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Third World urbanization at both the intra- and
inter-urban scales of analysis. The aim is to study the
applicability of traditional urban theory in the Third
World setting and, where relevant, to study new theoretical
developments.
Location
Courses emphasize the various problems, theories
and models related to classical, neoclassical and modern location
theory. Location-allocation methods are used extensively and
in many cases we use the census as a data base. We emphasize
computer skills in managing, manipulating and analyzing data.
Relevant courses include GIS, transportation geography, seminars
in quantitative methods and computer programming. Students
should have a good background in elementary economic geography
and be prepared to acquire additional analytical capabilities
at each stage of the program. In the more advanced stages
specialization may be obtained in one of the many subfields
or auxiliary areas such as industrial location, residential
location, institutional or facility location with reference
to either the private or public sectors of the economy.
Transport
Individual programs of study are designed to provide
students with both a theoretical and methodological understanding
of regional and urban transportation systems. The modeling
and empirical analysis of transportation systems are emphasized.
Empirical inquiry stresses the policy relevance of transport
research. In addition to academic research, students frequently
are involved in project research for local transportation
agencies. The total program of study is designed to prepare
individuals for both academic employment and nonacademic careers
in the private sector.
Electives include a number of courses in transportation
in Civil Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering,
City and Regional Planning, Business Administration, Computer
and Information Science and Psychology. This program of studies
is designed to meet the needs of those students planning careers
in transportation in the private sector or in planning positions
in the governmental sector.
Development
The focus of this course of study is on the economic,
demographic and social aspects of development, at the international
and/or regional scale from a theoretical and/or planning perspective.
An individual program of study may or may not include specific
area specializations. The area specializations available include
Anglo America, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
and Latin America.
Electives include a series of courses in Sociology,
Political Science, Economics and Agricultural Economics.
Social Population
This specialty focuses on the demographic processes
of fertility, mortality and migration; areal differentiation
in terms of population characteristics and processes related
thereto; communication; and diffusion of innovation.
In addition to the above, persons may take a selection of
courses appropriate to their interests from the sociology
faculty in demography and urban ecology, from the economics
faculty in population, from the political science faculty
in survey methods and from the geography faculty in urban
geography and development. Background courses in micro-economics
and operations research also would be helpful.
Social Theory
At a very general level, work in social theory and
geography has two interrelated foci. The first is the application
of social theory to a critical understanding of geographies
and of theories of geography. The methodological emphasis
is on conceptualization, particularly as it is developed in
realism. Concepts of society and space are applied to an understanding
of problems of urbanization and regional development in First
and Third World settings; and also to the analysis of particular
regions, specifically Latin America and South Africa.
Within this program of work, individual faculty have their
own emphases. Dr. Cox's work is primarily in the areas of
Marxism and realism; these ideas are applied to an understanding
of the politics of local economic development in the United
States and South Africa. Specific research foci include: the
politics of neighborhood; urban growth coalitions; the territorial
structure of the state; and the various types of location
politics -- racial, class, territorial, etc. |
1. A course in Geographic Thought (Geog 882).
2. An Advanced Methods Course. This requirement could
be fulfilled either through a Geography 983 course within
the Department, or through an advanced methods course outside
the Department, if approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.
Both of these courses must be completed before the General
Examination.
3. At least one 800-level seminar per year at the Ph.D.
level.
During the first year this would involve enrollment in a
seminar for the full 5 credits, with all course requirements
being fulfilled. After the General Examination, students could
enroll in a seminar for fewer than 5 credits with an expected
reduction in formal course requirements. In this way the course
requirements should not detract from progress toward the completion
of the dissertation.
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