The city is among the most fundamental of human institutions. Throughout history, cities have been sites of innovation in economic, political and cultural life. They have been centres of trade, seats of empire, and the locale of scientific, social, and artistic creativity.

Cities not only continue in these roles today, but with over three billion people, or half of the global population now living in cities and mega-urban regions, cities have become key sites in understanding contemporary social life.

Often, as is the case in many Canadian cities, these urban regions are marked by significant social and cultural complexities. These include striking contrasts of wealth and poverty, as well as a challenging array of planning, governance, and environmental concerns.

These themes are the focus of York University’s Urban Studies Program.

The program offers a framework for an undergraduate liberal-arts education based in the study of modern metropolitan life and of the social and spatial fabrics of cities. Drawing on the work of scholars and researchers who have explored the urban field from a range of perspectives in the social sciences and humanities, the program’s courses encourage a critical appreciation both of the everyday life that we experience as Canadian city-dwellers today and of the modern city in historical and comparative context.

An important aspect of the Urban Studies Program is its strong emphasis on first-hand exploration of the city as a complement to classroom and library learning. The program’s “core” courses include tutorial or small-group workshops focused on the practical crafts of urban research and on students’ personal fieldwork projects. This generally involves students spending time immersed in one of the world's best-equipped urban laboratories, the Greater Toronto Area.

The program offers a good foundation for graduate study in such fields as urban planning, community development, municipal affairs, urban and social geography, architecture, international development, and other social science disciplines, and for professions in such areas as education or journalism. Program graduates often pursue careers in urban planning or other areas of city government, in private sector urban design or urban development work, in agencies concerned with community development or environmental management, or in departments of the provincial and federal governments. Students may explore these possibilities in the program’s 4000-level work-placement course.

Some of the many interests pursued by students in the Urban Studies Program are reflected in the research topics chosen by those in the program’s senior seminar, SOSC 4700. These topics have included studies of Toronto communities such as Cabbagetown, Kensington Market and Woodbridge; the development of Toronto’s downtown and of emerging suburban downtowns in North York, Mississauga and Vaughan; the ways in which deindustrialization and globalization have affected Toronto’s waterfront and old industrial suburbs; planning and architecture in Toronto’s Spadina district, Regent Park’s public-housing neighbourhood, and in a major new suburban development in Markham; everyday life in Toronto’s South Asian, Portuguese, Chinese and Italian communities; the SkyDome/Roger’s Centre and the St. Clair Avenue streetcar line; and many other themes about people and places in the Toronto urban region.

Students with an interest in international studies may wish to pursue the International BA (iBA). The iBA is a unique option for students who recognize the value of a global perspective for their future career prospects and who desire an opportunity to experience daily life and study in another urban context. This option combines a strongly international programme of studies at York and a requirement to develop or improve language skills, with a full term abroad at one of York’s many exchange partner institutions.