Beginning in Fall 2026, the Sociology Department is pleased to offer a new undergraduate Specialization in Urban Studies for sociology majors and minors.

This specialization will be of interest to students:

• who want to study the origins and reproduction of social inequality,
• who want to apply that knowledge to address issues of pressing public concern, and
• who have a particular interest in investigating how inequalities manifest in urban spaces, including St. Louis.

Our department’s core areas of expertise are critical for urban studies: racial and gender inequality; economic sociology; work, organizations, and occupations; health; immigration; and political sociology and social movements. And our location in St. Louis provides an ideal vantage to engage the complex interplay of inequity and policy, along with the vibrant social movements that have emerged to address entrenched injustices in the city and region.

An interdisciplinary component of the specialization also ensures that students’ investigation of urban studies is informed by other relevant disciplines at Washington University.

Below are the requirements for students who want to declare the Urban Studies specialization:

• Declared Sociology major or minor.
• Three regular courses with a focus on urban issues:
  1. At least one course should be taken from a “group A” list of sociology course offerings.
  2. At least one course should be taken from a “group B” list of courses outside sociology.  
  3. The third course may be any other class in either group A or B.

Notes on courses:

• The Group A and B lists are updated annually (see the current list here ).
• One or more of the three classes needs to be at the 3000- or 4000-level.
• Because this program is a specialization, and not a major or minor, students may count their “group A” courses toward both their urban studies specialization and major/minor requirements in sociology.
• The specialization adds 3 credits to the sociology major and minor because of the requirement that students take one course from the “group B” list of courses outside the department.
• As with courses that satisfy major requirements, those that satisfy the Urban Studies specialization requirements must be completed with a letter grade of C- or better (Pass/No Pass courses do not satisfy requirements).
• An urban studies capstone consisting of one of the following four options. Only one capstone is required (i.e., not one for Urban Studies and one for Sociology). The capstone requirement for the specialization adds an additional 1-7 credits for sociology minors, depending on which of the options below student select (majors are already required to complete a capstone):
  1. A regular capstone project (1-3 credits) with an urban studies lens that draws on the current urban studies literature (key subfields include but are not limited to: residential, school, or other forms of segregation; (sub)urban social life; (sub)urban wealth and poverty; (sub)urban policy; global cities; locally embedded social interaction and community life; (sub)urban cultures and the meaning(s) of place; (sub)urban political economy; (sub)urban spatial arrangements; social impacts of local natural and built environments; urban, suburban, and rural neighborhood/community inequalities.
  2. An internship (1-3 credits) relevant to urban studies, broadly defined.
  3. A special capstone course (3 credits) with substantial focus on urban studies.
  4. An honors thesis (6 credits) with substantial focus on urban studies. The Sociology Honors thesis is a year-long program (3 credits in the fall, 3 credits in the spring).

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How do I declare the specialization? In Workday.
2. How will anyone know I have a specialization in Urban Studies? A notation will appear on your transcript and diploma.

Please direct questions to the Urban Studies Adviser, Director of Undergraduate Studies Caitlyn Collins (c.collins@wustl.edu) and Kaitlyne Motl (kaitlyne.motl@wustl.edu).