Please note:

To view the Spring 2025 Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2025/spring.

Urban Worlds Major

Bachelor of Arts

Students have the option of completing the bachelor of arts in urban worlds in the Faculty of Environment (urban change stream) or in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (urban studies stream). In addition to the core requirements for both streams, students must complete all units required for their stream and any additional faculty-level requirements.

Transfer students may enter the program before fulfilling all lower division requirements. Students are expected to see an academic advisor as soon as possible about program entry.

Students should consult with the advisor when formally declaring this major, or risk prolonging their program.

Students may declare the major in the urban change or urban studies stream (either in FENV or in FASS) once they have completed the lower division introductory perspectives course requirements (13 units).

Program Requirements

Students must obtain a grade of C- or better to apply the units to their major. Up to 10 units of graduate coursework may be accepted towards both a bachelor of arts and master of arts degree following successful application to an accelerated master’s program.

Core Program Requirements

Lower Division Requirements

Introductory Perspectives

Students complete all of

GEOG 161 - Urban Change: An Introduction to Dynamic Places (3)
INDG 101 - Introduction to Indigenous Studies (3)
PLAN 100 - Introduction to Planning (3)
URB 101 - What is a city? (4)

Foundations of Urban Practice

Students complete one of

GEOG 266W - Geography in Practice (3) *
URB 201 - Urban Inquiry and Practice (3)

*GEOG 266W is required for students intending to declare in the urban change stream.

Urban Methods

Quantitative Methods

Students complete one of

GEOG 251 - Quantitative Geography (3)
GEOG 255 - Geographical Information Science I (3) **
POL 201 - Introductory Quantitative Methods in Political Science (4)
SA 257 - Understanding Quantitative Research in Sociology and Anthropology (SA) (4)
STAT 201 - Statistics for the Life Sciences (3)
STAT 203 - Introduction to Statistics for the Social Sciences (3)

**May be used to meet this requirement for the urban studies stream only.

Qualitative Methods

Students complete one of

INDG 111 - Introduction to Participatory Indigenous Research Methods (3)
LBST 202 - Labour Research for Social Change: Methods and Approaches (3)
POL 200W - Investigating Politics: Research Design and Qualitative Methods (4)
SA 255 - Introduction to Social Research (SA) (4)
SDA 270 - Data, Ethics and Society (3)
WL 105W - World Literature Lab (3) **

**May be used to meet this requirement for the urban studies stream only.

Wider Urban Contexts

Students complete one of

GA 101 - Introduction to Global Asia (3)
GEOG 221 - Economic Worlds (3) ***
GEOG 241 - People, Place, Society (3) ***
GSWS 204 - Sex and the City (3)
INDG 286 - Indigenous Peoples and British Columbia: An Introduction (3) **
IS 101 - Global Challenges of the 21st Century: An Introduction to International Studies (3)
SD 281 - Introduction to Sustainability (3)

**May be used to meet this requirement for the urban studies stream only.

***May be used to meet this requirement for the urban change stream only.

Upper Division Requirements - Capstone Course

Students complete one of

GEOG 461 - Urban Change Studio (6)
GEOG 497 - International Field Study (5) *
URB 497 - Comparative Urban Sustainability International Field Studies (9)
URB 499 - Urban Innovation Lab (9)

NOTE: SFU students accepted in the accelerated master’s within the Faculty of Environment or the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences may apply a maximum of 10 graduate course units, taken while completing the bachelor’s degree, towards the upper division electives of the bachelor’s program and the requirements of the master’s degree. For more information go to: https://www.sfu.ca/gradstudies/apply/programs/accelerated-masters.html.

* if urban in focus

Urban Change Stream

Lower Division Requirements

Studying Urban Change: Introductory Methods

Students complete

GEOG 255 - Geographical Information Science I (3)

Upper Division Requirements

Studying Urban Change: Advanced Methods

Students complete one of

GEOG 351 - Multimedia Cartography (4)
GEOG 352 - Spatial Analysis (4)
GEOG 355 - Geographical Information Science II (4)
GEOG 356 - 3D GIScience (4)
GSWS 399 - Gender, Sex and Numbers (4)
INDG 301 - Issues in Applied Indigenous Studies Research (3)
PLAN 300 - Planning Methods and Analysis (4)
SA 358 - The Philosophy of the Social Sciences (S) (4)

Changing Planning and Governance

Students complete

GEOG 363 - Urban Planning and Policy (4)

Students complete two of

GEOG 449 - City and Environment (4)
PLAN 406 - Community Planning and Development (4)
PLAN 408 - Environmental Planning (4)
SD 381 - Building Sustainable Communities (4)
SD 481 - Global Sustainability Governance and Action (4)

Changing Infrastructures and Built Environments

Students complete

GEOG 362W - Gentrification and Urban Change (4)

Students complete two of

GEOG 324 - Geography of Transportation (4)
GEOG 424 - Cities, Transportation, Infrastructure (4)
HSCI 403 - Health and the Built Environment (3)
REM 355 - Sustainable Transportation for a Zero-Emissions World (3)

Urban Change and Social Justice

Students complete three of the following courses, (two of which must be from GEOG)

GEOG 340 - Queer Geographies (4)
GEOG 364 - Cities and Crisis (4)
GEOG 365 - Race, Resistance and Urban Space (4)
GEOG 382 - World on the Move (4)
GEOG 385 - Food and the City (4)
GEOG 440 - Property, Land, Society (4)
GEOG 442 - A World of Cities (4)
GERO 401 - Environment and Aging (3)
HUM 340 - Great Cities in Their Time (4)
INDG 401 - Indigenous Peoples and Public Policy (3)
POL 314 - Theory and Explanation in Political Science (4)
POL 316 - Sex, Love, and Politics (4)
POL 451W - Public Policy Analysis (4)
POL 452W - Energy Policy (4)
POL 463 - Diversity in Cities (4)
REM 357 - Planning for Sustainable Food Systems (3)
SA 364 - Urban Communities and Cultures (A) (4)

and any upper division courses, from any program across the university, to total a minimum of 45 upper division units.

Urban Studies Stream

Lower Division Requirements

Social Science: Understandings of the City

Students complete one of

POL 121 - Political Engagement: From the Streets to the Ballot Box (3)
POL 221 - Introduction to Canadian Government (3)
POL 222 - Introduction to Canadian Politics (3)
SA 200W - Power, Conflict and Change in Canadian Society (SA) (4)
SA 201W - Anthropology and Contemporary Life (A) (4)
SA 260 - Individual and Society (S) (4)

Arts and Humanities: Understandings of the City

Students complete one of

CA 118 - Contemporary Art History (3)
CA 120 - Introduction to Dance Forms: Contemporary and Popular (3)
ENGL 202 - The Environmental Imagination (3)
ENGL 209 - Race, Borders, Empire (3)
HIST 130 - Introduction to Global History (3)
HIST 132 - Global Environmental History (3)
HUM 231 - Daily Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (3)
HUM 277 - History of Greek Civilization (3)
PHIL 120W - Moral and Legal Problems (3)
PHIL 121 - Global Justice (3)
WL 103W - Early World Literatures (3)
WL 202 - North/South Intersections (3)

Bridging Interdisciplinary: Understandings of the City

Students complete one of

INDG 286 - Indigenous Peoples and British Columbia: An Introduction (3)
PLCY 200 - Introduction to Public Policy (3)
POL 253 - Introduction to Public Policy (3)

Upper Division Requirements

Students complete three of

HIST 372 - City Life (4)
HUM 340 - Great Cities in Their Time (4)
SA 364 - Urban Communities and Cultures (A) (4)
URB 413 - Storyscapes: Decolonizing the City Through Arts and Culture (4)
URB 423 - Women in Cities: A Critical Intersectional Perspective (4)
URB 463 - Diversity and Equity in Cities (4)

Students choose  a minimum of one course, but no more than two, from each of the following Understandings of City sections:

Social Science: Understandings of the City

CMNS 314 - Topics in Media Production and Aesthetics (4)
POL 457W - Technology and Innovation Policy (4)
SA 317 - Sociology of Art Forms (S) (4)
SA 321 - Social Movements (S) (4)
SA 326 - Food, Ecology and Social Thought (S) (4)
SA 371 - The Environment and Society (SA) (4)
SA 474 - Cultures, Politics and Performances (A) (4)

Bridging Interdisciplinary: Understandings of the City

GEOG 364 - Cities and Crisis (4)
GEOG 365 - Race, Resistance and Urban Space (4)
GSWS 305 - Gendering Economy: Paid and Unpaid Labour (4)
GSWS 312 - Gendering Borders and Belonging in Migration (4)
GSWS 350 - Public Policy for Women (4)
HSCI 403 - Health and the Built Environment (3)
INDG 353W - Indigenous Heritage Stewardship (3)
INDG 403 - Indigenous Knowledge in the Modern World (3)
INDG 433 - Indigenous Environmental Justice and Activism (4)
IS 325 - Social Movements in a Changing Africa (4)
IS 333 - Chinese Development and Its Discontents (4)
IS 373 - Global Environmental Politics (4)
LBST 308 - The Labour Process: Technological Change and the Future of Work (3)
LBST 312 - Migration, Migrants, and Work: A Global Perspective (3)
LBST 328 - Labour Geographies (4)
REM 350 - Energy Management for a Sustainable Climate and Society (4)
REM 355 - Sustainable Transportation for a Zero-Emissions World (3)
REM 357 - Planning for Sustainable Food Systems (3)

Arts and Humanities: Understandings of the City

HIST 377 - Environmental History (4)
HIST 382 - African-American History, since 1865 (4)
HIST 402 - Renaissance Italy (4)
HIST 455W - Race in the Americas (4)
HIST 463W - Rebellion and Revolution: Topics in the Theory and Practice of Resistance (4)
PHIL 320 - Social and Political Philosophy (3)
WL 309 - Empire and Resistance (4)

and any upper division courses, from any program across the university, to total a minimum of 45 upper division units.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Degree Requirements

For all bachelor of arts (BA) programs, students complete 120 units, which includes

  • at least 60 units that must be completed at Simon Fraser University
  • at least 45 upper division units, of which at least 30 upper division units must be completed at Simon Fraser University
  • at least 60 units (including 21 upper division units) in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences courses
  • satisfaction of the writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements
  • an overall cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and upper division overall CGPA of at least 2.0, and program CGPA and upper division program CGPA of at least 2.0 on the course work used to satisfy the minimum program requirements. FASS departments may define additional GPA requirements for their respective programs.

Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements

Students admitted to Simon Fraser University beginning in the fall 2006 term must meet writing, quantitative and breadth requirements as part of any degree program they may undertake. See Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements for university-wide information.

WQB Graduation Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required to earn W, Q or B credit

Requirement

Units

Notes
W - Writing

6

Must include at least one upper division course, taken at Simon Fraser University within the student's major subject; two courses (minimum three units each)

Q - Quantitative

6

Q courses may be lower or upper division; two courses (total six units or more)
B - Breadth

18

Designated Breadth

Must be outside the student's major subject, and may be lower or upper division:

Two courses (total six units or more) Social Sciences: B-Soc
Two courses (total six units or more) Humanities: B-Hum
Two courses (total six units or more) Sciences: B-Sci

6

Additional Breadth

Two courses (total six units or more) outside the student's major subject (may or may not be B-designated courses, and will likely help fulfil individual degree program requirements).

Students choosing to complete a joint major, joint honours, double major, two extended minors, an extended minor and a minor, or two minors may satisfy the breadth requirements (designated or not designated) with courses completed in either one or both program areas.

Residency Requirements and Transfer Credit

  • At least half of the program's total units must be earned through Simon Fraser University study.
  • At least two thirds of the program's total upper division units must be earned through Simon Fraser University study.

Elective Courses

In addition to the courses listed above, students should consult an academic advisor to plan the remaining required elective courses.