GUSP Courses

Requirements for the Graduate Specialization in Global Urban Studies

GUSP Courses

900 Level

  • GUSP 970 Section 2: Urban Simulations (Zak Neal - Fall 2014)
  • GUSP 970 Section 3: War, Reconstruction and the City (Najib Hourani - Fall 2014)
  • GUSP 975: Global Research Capstone (previously SSC 886 Global Urban Research Practicum) (Laura Reese)

800 Level

Recommended Social Science Electives

900 Level

  • SOC 931: Topics in Structural Inequality: State, Space, and Globalization (Xuefei Ren)
  • SOC 985: Qualitative Field Research (Stephen Gold)

800 Level

  • CJ/FW/ESPP 847: Global Risks, Conservation & Criminology
  • PLS 811: Proseminar in Public Policy (Sarah Reckhow)
  • PPL 807: Public Policy (Josh Sapotichne)
  • PPL 891: Urban Public Policy (Sarah Reckhow)
  • SOC 852: Migration and Social Change (Stephen Gold)
  • SSC 890: Special Topics In Social Science

400 Level

  • ANP 426: Urban Anthropology (Najib Hourani)
  • GEO 453: Metropolitan Environments (Igor Vojnovic)
  • UP 454: Local Economic Planning (Mark Wilson)
  • UP 488: Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Cities (Eva Kassens-Noor)

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Course Descriptions
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ANP 426: Urban Anthropology

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

This course examines a range of contemporary issues through the study of Middle Eastern cities. It does so through the presentation of a series of theoretical writings, the major contributions of which are examined in the context of cities of the Arab World, Iran and Israel. How do cities and urban forms take on meanings and carry identities? How are cities and urban processes both produced by and productive of larger class dynamics or configurations of power? How do transnational processes contour cityscapes and the lives of those that populate them? These are just a few of the topics that we will address over the course of the semester.

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CJ/FW/ESPP 847: Global Risks, Conservation & Criminology

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

Increased globalization of illicit trade in natural resources threatens the efficacy of sustainable development, deprives developing economies of billions of dollars in lost revenue opportunities, and fuels sociopolitical conflict. The United Nations identified the pace, sophistication, and scale of wildlife and timber trafficking as an international "environmental crime crisis." Similarly, a 2013 United States (US) Presidential Executive Order acknowledged environmental crimes (EC) undermine US efforts in development assistance and threaten national security; the order mandated 17 agencies to reduce risks to the US and its allies from ECs. Calls have been made for risk a management response that strengthens and synchronizes actions targeting coherent policy and behavior change interventions. One strategy to address these global and national threats is to develop better understanding of the causes and consequences of human behavior that underlie EC activities. Conservation criminology is one such strategy.

In this 3-credit online graduate-level course, we will discuss the main actors in the global environmental arena; characteristics of global environmental politics; legal and normative instruments for addressing global environmental problems; key theories from risk, conservation, and criminology related to globalization; and strategies for overcoming global environmental risks. This course is part of the CONSERVATION CRIMINOLOGY online certificate program offered by the School of Criminal Justice, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Environmental Science and Policy Program.

Contact Dr. Meredith Gore for more information about the course
Contact Melissa Christle for enrollment (burrier@msu.edu)

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GEO 453: Metropolitan Environments

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring

The class is specifically devoted to the study of land use change and the physical fabric of the city and its region. The course will emphasize issues associated with development practices in the 20th century and the resulting metropolitan form and function. The course will also explore the nature of environmental, economic, and social stresses experienced by western metropolitan regions. Although the main emphasis will be placed on North American cities, international examples will also be used to illustrate alternative metropolitan forms and structural organization.

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GEO 890: Foundations of Geographic Thought: Space, Place, and Power

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring

This is an advanced readings course open to graduate students from across the University interested in theorizing space, place and power, and related notions of discourse, scale, and globalization. In this course, we will read the seminal pieces by key thinkers, and will examine contemporary works that have engaged these concepts. Through readings and discussions we will interrogate these geographical constructs with the objective to familiarize you, the reader, with these foundational works in order that you are prepared to formulate well-grounded critiques and develop the geographic basis for your own research. We will choose from a selection of authors and texts, including: Doreen Massey (For Space); Henri Lefebve (Social Production of Space); Derek Gregory (Geographic Imagination); David Harvey (Spaces of Global Captialism); Anthony Giddens (Constitution of Society for Structuration); Michel Foucault (Discipline and Punish); Antonio Gramsci (Notes from a Prison Dairy); Donna Harroway (Simians, Cyborgs and Women); John Murdoch (Poststructuralist Geographies).

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GUSP 816/GEO 816: World System of Cities

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

This course will explore 20th century global economic restructuring and its social, economic, and political impacts on cities and their regions. A particular focus of the course will be directed to exploring the transformation of cities during the 20th century—ranging from social, economic and political reorganization to the changing requirements in urban infrastructure and the changing form of the urban-built environment.

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GUSP 817/GEO 817: China and Globalization

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

This course engages students with ongoing social, economic, environmental, and spatial challenges facing contemporary urban China in a number of areas, such as migration, urban redevelopment, poverty and inequality, new economic spaces, urban sprawl, and sustainability, and presents China as a case vis-a-vis theoretical debates on economic globalization, neoliberal urbanism, citizenship and rights, and place and space. Course materials will be drawn from a prolific body of literature and popular texts by geographers, urbanists, and social and political scientists, and will be supplemented by media commentary and visual materials, offering both inside and outside perspectives on China's major changes in the recent decades. This course will also prepare students for success in developing international or comparative research projects and con-ducting fieldwork and empirical studies

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GUSP 850/HST 850: Urban Infrastructures, Urban Politics

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall, Spring

Infrastructures are a basic part of contemporary cities. They are embedded in the practices and expectations of everyday life, at the same time that they are central to the productive forces that make cities possible. In spite of their centrality, however, infrastructures are often taken for granted, especially in the global north. This course seeks to reveal the often-overlooked world of infrastructures in processes of urbanization, with particular emphases on the relationship between infrastructures and the making of capitalism and modern states.

Drawing primarily on literatures in history, anthropology, urban studies, environmental studies, and science and technology studies, the course adopts a multidisciplinary perspective in order to provide a broad overview of the evolution of urban infrastructures from the nineteenth century to the present. It develops how urban infrastructures have been part and parcel of profound socio-ecological transformations, processes of industrialization, and changes in experiences of time, space, and the body. The course also explores how states have sought to regulate and govern urban infrastructures, including how they have become sites of political contention. Ending in the present, the course analyzes moments of crises defined by the lack, decline, or interruption of infrastructures. Course readings explore cities in multiple world regions, although they have a particular focus on the Americas, including cities in Michigan.

For further information, please contact the course instructor, Associate Professor Edward Murphy in the Department of History, at murph367@msu.edu

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GUSP 868/UP 868 Planning Resilience against Extreme Events

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring 2020 Online

Theory on ephemeral planning and contemporary urbanism. Characteristics of disruptive technologies, disaster planning, and mega-events. Case studies of US and international cities in duress and recovery. Strategic and tactical planning, management practices, and 'winging it' in a state of exception. Implications for policy, management, operations, and planning.

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GUSP 970 Section 2: Urban Networks

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall 2014

This course will examine the use of agent-based simulation models to examine urban phenomena. These models are flexible, simple, and easy to construct, but allow researchers to explore complex processes like segregation, social networking, or transportation in ways that would not be possible in the real world. We will read and discuss published research using these types of models, as well as learn how to build these models using the NetLogo software. Over the course of the semester, each student will develop an agent-based model and share findings with the class (no prior experience is necessary).

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GUSP 970 Section 3: War, Reconstruction and the City

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall 2014

This course critically engages current scholarly and development industry approaches to war, civil conflict and post-conflict reconstruction with a focus upon urban environments. Case studies will be drawn from Eastern Europe, Central America, the Arab World and Africa. This course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates with permission of the instructor. For more information contact Professor Najib Hourani at: houranin@msu.edu.

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GUSP 975: Global Research Capstone (previously SSC 886 Global Urban Research Practicum)

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

The capstone in the GUSP Specialization is the culmination of coursework and research experience in the specialization. In it you are expected to demonstrate knowledge of global urban theories and concepts and skills in writing, analysis, research, and evaluation developed in previous coursework. The final product of the course is a capstone or research project.

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PLS 811: Proseminar in Public Policy

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

A weekly seminar covering the academic literatures on public policy and the policy-making process, primarily focusing on the United States.

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PPL 807: Public Policy

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

This course draws from political science, economics, and public administration to provide an introduction to the theory and practice of making public policies. Students with theoretical interests will find the course useful in providing frameworks for studying policy processes. Students with more applied interests in particular policy areas, venues, or levels of government will find the course useful in thinking about the forces that shape public policies.

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PPL 891: Urban Public Policy

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

A weekly seminar on the political processes that shape urban policy. We will cover several major policy areas within the urban and metropolitan context, including: housing, social services, economic development, public safety, and education.

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SOC 852: Migration and Social Change

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring of odd years

Theory and research on the causes and consequences of contemporary international human migration. Class topics will include determinants and modes of incorporation, immigrant economic systems, gender and racial factors in migration, transnationalism and diaspora communities, and migrant adaptation and assimilation. The primary backdrop for these topics will be immigration of diverse groups into the United States, though the course will examine scenarios in the United Kingdom, the European continent, and Asia.

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SOC 931: Topics in Structural Inequality: State, Space, and Globalization

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

Economic, political, and cultural globalizations have posed both theoretical and methodological challenges for social sciences. The nation-state is no longer a container for transnational socioeconomic processes. Other sub-national and supra-national scales have become meaningful sites for agenda-making. This advanced graduate seminar examines the processes of variegated globalization(s), the main agents and institutions, and the impact of these processes on the state, cities, and citizenship practices. The main topics to be examined include neoliberalism, state transformations, the world system perspective, global cities, rights and citizenship, conflicts, and transnational social movements. By the end of the semester, students are expected to (1) develop a critical understanding of economic, political, and cultural globalizations, their origins, problems, and prospects, and (2) complete a full-length research or review article (5000-6000 words) addressing one of the weekly topics covered during the semester.

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SOC 985: Qualitative Field Research

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

Restrictions: Open only to graduate students in Sociology.
Description: Qualitative research methods. Participant observation, interview, and field documents. Design, data gathering, and analysis.

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UP 454: Local Economic Planning

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

In recent decades, the practice of economic development planning has risen in importance and prominence, as the United States economy has transitioned from a focus on heavy industry and manufacturing towards cultivating a knowledge-based economy and technology and service-oriented industries. This course introduces students to the practices and processes underlying the field of economic development and examines the economic and fiscal components of urban planning and development. The first half of the course focuses on the development planning process, classic approaches to economic development, and the role of government and public private partnerships in shaping economic development efforts. The second half of the course focuses primarily on current topics and dilemmas in the field of economic development and municipal fiscal planning and budgeting.

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UP 488: Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Cities

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring

"How do you create a sustainable and climate-resilient city?" is the central question that guides the course. By comparing cities in the US with their international counterparts, we will understand the concept of sustainability and how each city attempts to move towards it. Ranging from master planning the city, via an analysis of different functions (construction, housing, transport etc.) to individual behavior, the class provides an overview of the different processes and approaches cities are taking to become more sustainable, in particular addressing climate change. Critical thinking about this process in the unique cities' contexts (their histories, their political environments, etc.) is crucial and requires looking at the problem from different viewpoints (e.g. citizens, engineers, policy makers, planners). At the end of the class, students will be able to analyze and broadly assess any city qualitatively on the effort it is making towards sustainability and provide policy recommendations on how to improve the city's sustainability efforts.
This course is intended for graduate and undergraduate students as a cross-cutting class engaging students from various disciplines, while being conducted as a mixture of guest lectures (incl. geography, economics, agriculture) and group discussions. For your research project, you will explore two cities of your choice and describe one or more of the cities' sustainability efforts based on your particular interests.

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UP 801: Concepts and Issues in Planning and Development

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Fall

This is an introductory course that examines urban planning and development in the United States. Students will learn to analyze the evolving structure of the cities and how cities can be designed and developed. The course will also introduce urbanization and planning in other nations, particularly the East Asian countries. Throughout the course, we will consider three distinct goals of planning: (1) to preserve and improve the natural and built environments; (2) to protect social justice and ensure equality; and
(3) to promote economic well-being of the society.
The course is organized into three parts:
I. Urban development
II. Urban planning & design
III. Emerging issues in urban planning and development

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UP 844: Decision Theory for Urban Planning and Development (to be called in the future: Planning Theory and Ethics)

Additional course information - MSU Office of the Registrar

Semester: Spring

Planning theory informs our understanding of how planners make decisions. The first part of the course is dedicated to learning about and understanding planning theories as critical aspects in the urban and regional planning profession. We will learn the rational-comprehensive planning perspective, the participatory planning perspective, but also which roles planners can take in the planning profession, e.g. advocate, mediator. We will critically assess the political and economic assumptions of each planning theory, and explain their evolution within the historical context. During the second part of the course, we will focus on ethics and values, because they should guide our professional choices. As we analyze the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) code of ethics, we will apply this code and the planning theory concepts to practical case examples in the US context. During the third part of the course, we will venture out to international examples. As a focus topic we will discuss preventive hazard planning, disaster recovery and international response strategies - which planning theories have/are/will be applied during the Pakistani flood, the Mexican Gulf oil spill, the earthquake in Haiti? And with which ethical dilemmas planners are struggling?

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Courses