Please note:
To view the Fall 2024 Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2024/fall.html.
Urban Studies
This certificate studies the nature and functions of the contemporary city from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is suited to those contemplating careers in urban planning, governance, consulting, non-profits, and related urban-oriented careers.
Units applied to one certificate may not be applied to another Simon Fraser University certificate or diploma.
Program Requirements
Students will complete courses totaling 18-23 units. No more than four courses may be in any one department. Substitutions may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the advisor in consultation with members of the Steering Committee or the Undergraduate Studies Committee Chair in the Department of Geography.
Students complete two of
An introduction to key concepts and themes in contemporary geographical approaches to cities and urbanization. Prerequisite: GEOG 100 or 102. Breadth-Social Sciences.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Eugene McCann |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
D101 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 2:30–3:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
|
D102 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 3:30–4:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
An introduction to the anthropological perspective as applied to the organization of everyday life in contemporary settings. Introduces positivist, interpretive, and critical interpretive approaches to the analysis of social actions, identities, and values as enacted in space and time. Prerequisite: Recommended: SA 101. Writing.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
OL01 |
Jie Yang |
Online |
and four of the following (without duplicating any 2XX courses taken above)
An introduction to key concepts and themes in contemporary geographical approaches to cities and urbanization. Prerequisite: GEOG 100 or 102. Breadth-Social Sciences.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Eugene McCann |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
D101 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 2:30–3:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
|
D102 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 3:30–4:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
This course will provide a systematic introduction to urbanization in Canada. Topics addressed will include Canadian urbanization as compared with other nations, especially the United States, metropolitan centres, resource towns, and the internal structure of cities. Prerequisite: GEOG 100 or 162 or permission of instructor.
An empirical and theoretical examination of the geographical aspects of transportation systems. Prerequisite: At least 45 units, including GEOG 100.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Leanne Roderick |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
|
Surrey |
D101 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
|
Surrey |
|
D102 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
|
Surrey |
|
D103 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 4:30–6:20 p.m.
|
Surrey |
|
D104 |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 8:30–10:20 a.m.
|
Surrey |
Contemporary cases and conceptualizations of gentrification and related processes of urban change. Central themes include: political, economic, social, and cultural manifestations of gentrification; class, gender, and racialization; the role of development, planning, architecture, the arts, and resistance movements; and gentrification’s global geographies. Prerequisite: At least 45 units, including GEOG 100. Students with credit for GEOG 362 may not take this course for further credit. Writing.
An introduction to the major approaches and key ideas of the professions of urban governance; urban planning and urban policy. Through a focus on contemporary theory, process-based understanding, and specific issues and examples, the course examines key trends and interventions and promotes critical reflection on urban development. Prerequisite: At least 45 units, including GEOG 100.
An examination of urban geographies of crisis, concentrating on what crisis is, what it is used for, how it is differentially experienced, and how it is distributed unevenly. Case studies of environmental, economic, social, and political crises are the main focus. The course concludes by addressing the future(s) of cities. Prerequisite: At least 45 units, including GEOG 100.
An exploration of how race informs the aesthetics, politics and development of urban space. Examines racial formation in transnational urban contexts, and how cultural production and social movements are utilized to address racial inequities and envision urban futures. Prerequisite: At least 45 units.
The world is on the move. Migrants seeking better opportunities cross paths with refugees fleeing persecution. Some are helped and welcomed, many encounter barriers and threats, while identities, including class, race, gender, sexuality, mediate their prospects. This course's geographic perspective clarifies these complexities by combining conceptual analyses with contemporary cases. Prerequisite: At least 45 units, including GEOG 100.
An exploration of the relationships between the development of cities, transportation, and infrastructure from an economic geography perspective. Greater Vancouver provides a location to explore, apply, and critique the theoretical perspectives presented in seminar. Prerequisite: One of GEOG 323, 324, 362, or 363.
An exploration of how cities shape the contemporary globalized world, focusing on key contemporary academic approaches. Highlights geographical and multi-disciplinary work on global-urban relations, networks, structures, and mobilities. Prerequisite: 60 credit hours, including Geog 362. Students who have taken GEOG 442 STT, Global Cities, may not take this course for further credit.
Impact of the macro- and microenvironment as it affects the aged. Discussion of planned housing and institutional living arrangements, territoriality and the need for privacy, home range and use of space, urban planning, responsive design of housing and care facilities, effects of relocation and institutionalization. Prerequisite: 60 units. Recommended: GERO 300.
Selected topics on the sexual politics of urban space. May be organized by region, critical approach, or genre. Students who have completed WS 204 may not complete this course for further credit.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Niall Mackenzie |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
Examines the experience of city life in various global settings with an emphasis on the social, cultural, and political development of urban environments. Prerequisite: 45 units, including six units of lower division history or enrollment in the Urban Studies Certificate program.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Nicolas Kenny |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
Relationships between the physical environment in which people live and their health and well being. How the built environment affects physical activity, obesity, exposure to pathogens and toxins, health status, mental health, and risk of illness and injury. How urban form, physical infrastructure, and landscape and building design can promote health. Prerequisite: 60 units including HSCI 230 (or 330) with a minimum grade of C-. Students with credit for HSCI 309 may not complete this course for credit.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Scott Lear |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Thu, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
Exploration of the cultural and intellectual accomplishments of a specific city that achieved prominence in a particular time period, and had substantial impact and influence on human civilization. Examines the political, social, religious, and cultural factors that help to explain a city's significance and investigates the achievements of its citizens. May be repeated for credit when a different topic is taught. Prerequisite: 45 units. Breadth-Humanities.
Students will be exposed to a broad overview of the field of planning. The course will introduce students to the role of a planner while exploring the practice of planning (human settlements and community planning) in varying contexts within Canada and internationally. Students with credit for PLAN 200 may not take this course for further credit. Breadth-Social Sciences.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
OL01 |
Laura Tate |
Online |
Explores the qualitative and quantitative methods used by planners in both urban and regional settings. Students gain a basic understanding of approaches used for collecting, analyzing and communicating relevant-data between and within different communities. Introduces the roles of planners and other participants/actors in planning processes. Reviews issues in current professional planning practice and requirements for professional planning accreditation, including planners’ professional ethics and responsibility to the public interest. Prerequisite: PLAN 100 or PLAN 200.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Laura Tate |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Fri, 8:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
Provides an advanced evaluation of public policy, policy analysis, and policy change, focusing on problems in urban and regional planning and resource and environmental management. Prerequisite: PLAN 100 or PLAN 200; and 60 units.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Sean Markey |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, Thu, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
A comparative analysis of regional metropolitan governance in Canada and selected other jurisdictions (such as the USA, UK, etc.). The course involves an examination of major policy dilemmas in urban development, and of the local, regional and senior intergovernmental relations within which much of the public policy making in metropolitan settings takes place. Prerequisite: Six lower division units in political science or permission of the department.
This course will link differing theoretical perspectives and concepts currently used in public policy studies to an understanding of public policy making in urban governance. Prerequisite: Eight upper division units in political science or permission of the department.
Prerequisite: Eight upper division units in political science or permission of the department.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Tyler Shymkiw |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |
Explores diversity in cities. It examines how different social and identity markers (ethnicity, religion, race, gender, class, sexuality, handicap or language) shape cities and how diversity is in turn shaped by public policies. The primary focus is Canada but we also look at these issues outside Canada. Prerequisite: Eight upper division units in political science or permission of the department. Students with credit for POL 458 under the title "Canadian DiverCities", URB 463 or URB 695 under the title "Diversity in Cities" may not take this course for further credit.
Involves interpretation of, and expansion on, practical experience in political science. Under the supervision of a faculty member, students will undertake a political science research project, involving the participation of local community organizations. Prerequisite: Permission of the department. Students may count only one POL 497 towards meeting their upper division political science requirements.
Explores the transportation system and how to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as well as other sustainability goals. Topics include zero-emissions vehicles, low-carbon fuels, shared mobility, vehicle automation, and reduced vehicle use. An interdisciplinary approach is followed, including analyses of environmental and resource impacts, consumer behaviour, systems, technology change, and climate policy. Prerequisite: 45 units or permission of instructor.
An introduction to the anthropological perspective as applied to the organization of everyday life in contemporary settings. Introduces positivist, interpretive, and critical interpretive approaches to the analysis of social actions, identities, and values as enacted in space and time. Prerequisite: Recommended: SA 101. Writing.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
OL01 |
Jie Yang |
Online |
Engages students in understanding how to plan and cultivate sustainability at the community and city level, taking into consideration the environmental, economic, and social aspects of development. Explores and analyzes policy instruments, planning tools, and strategies from around the world for engaging people and institutions in building sustainable communities. Prerequisite: One of PLAN 100, PLAN 200, REM 100, or SD 281; and 45 units. Students with credit for REM 381 may not take this course for further credit. Breadth-Social Sciences.
Engages students in creating innovative solutions to real-world challenges of sustainability and development, using studio-based approaches. Explores mechanisms for effective social and environmental change and develops policies and strategies for implementing sustainability in different locations and at different scales. Prerequisite: SD 281 and 60 units.
From sustainability debates to policy windows and strategic goals (e.g., UN Sustainable Development Goals), students engage with tools and concepts to enable equitable change across contexts and sectors. This includes how policy is created, who the main players are in effecting change, and how we track and adapt to outcomes. Prerequisite: One of PLAN 100, PLAN 200, REM 100, or SD 281; and 60 units. Students with credit for REM 481 may not take this course for further credit.
Section | Instructor | Day/Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
D100 |
Andres Cisneros-Montemayor |
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, Thu, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
|
Burnaby |