Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies

Urban Studies students are interested in making a difference and connecting to real world issues. To do this well, students learn about urban history and current challenges. They come to understand how policy at the national level and global economic trends affect what we see at the local, even neighborhood level. In a broad, theoretical sense, the central intellectual frame of Urban Studies is about understanding people and place at different spatial scales. Individuals, groups, and public officials make decisions and design policy that in turn affects how people and resources are distributed in space and defines what kinds of places result. Urban Studies students take this understanding to explain the conditions of urban places and work towards creating places that foster equity, better health outcomes, environmental sustainability, and a better quality of life. In addition to urban studies coursework and coursework in a disciplinary concentration, all of our students complete an internship for credit and carry out an original research project.

International applicant should have completed a program of secondary education that would enable you to enter a university in your own country (e.g., A-levels, Abitur).

A strong command of the English language is necessary for successful study at Penn. Applicants whose families do not speak English at home, or applicants who have not attended a high school or secondary school where the primary language of instruction is English, are asked to take the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language, administered by the Educational Testing Service. In the event the TOEFL is not readily accessible, Penn will accept results from the IELTS, the International English Language Testing System.