Karen Lin

Established in 2019, the urban studies major emerged at Yale in response to demand from students. 

Originally the “urbanism” track within the architecture major, urban studies now stands alone as its own major to provide students with an interdisciplinary course of study emphasizing critical analysis of cities and built environments. 

“There’s a Venn diagram of the architecture and urban studies majors, and there’s a very intense overlap between them,” Surry Schlabs, the director of undergraduate studies for the architecture major, said.

However, there are also critical differences between the majors, he added. Urban studies students have the flexibility to create their own path within the major by taking a variety of courses in different disciplines.

“We’re able to draw from a wide range of classes across the university that relate to cities, urban themes, or urban culture,” Elihu Rubin ’99, director of undergraduate studies for the urban studies major, said. 

Architecture students, however, have to go through a sequence of studios in preparation for their degree. The first course in the sequence is “Scales of Design,” a prerequisite for architecture majors, which is also recommended for those in urban studies.

Enrollment capacity is also a major distinction between the disciplines. The architecture major is formally capped at 20 per year due to limited studio space, though a student has never been turned down since Schlabs began his role as DUS in 2020. Within the shared studio, junior and senior architecture majors each get a desk with a computer workstation. 

This semester, Schlabs admitted 20 students on the “design” track and two students on the “history, theory, and criticism of architecture and urbanism” track. In May, 19 students are graduating on the design track alongside two students on the history, theory and criticism track.

Urban studies, however, does not have designated studio space within the School of Architecture and has no formal enrollment cap. The program had 12 graduates last year and grew to 16 expected degrees this year. 

 “We find that our students are interested in the social, cultural, historical, economic, and political aspects of cities and urban places,” Rubin said of urban studies majors. 

Postgraduate urban studies students often pursue a variety of careers, including urban planning, real estate, journalism and more.

According to Schlabs, about half of the architecture majors pursue graduate school, while the other half pursue related fields. He said numerous undergraduate students are able to find paid work in the architecture field without being enrolled in a graduate professional program but have to do more legwork to get noticed. 

As opposed to studios — which are required for juniors in the architecture majors — juniors in urban studies are required to enroll in urban labs, such as “Urban Lab: Urban World” and “Urban Lab: Citymaking and Food Policy.”

Urban labs are signature courses of the major developed specifically to introduce a range of different research techniques and skills.

“Our [urban studies] students are very interested in architecture, and the architecture students are very interested in urbanism,” said Rubin. “Both majors are part of the larger community here of Rudolph Hall and the School of Architecture.”

Gillian Mui ’26, an architecture major in the design concentration, spoke on the close relationship between the students in the major, highlighting the community fostered between students because of required studio courses and shared space in the School of Architecture. 

“It functions more as a cohort, which I think is unique to architecture,” Mui said. 

Naomi-Jeanne Main ’26 decided to major in urban studies because she felt it was more accessible to her as a student who did not have a background in the model-building and design aspects of architecture. With urban studies, she found she was able to merge her interest in the built environment with music and the arts.

“Everyone is in urban studies for a different reason,” said Main. “It seems there’s no one model urban studies student. Some people are more interested in public transportation and infrastructure, and other people are more interested in policy.” 

For Main, urban studies opened the door to the world of architecture.

Amit Kamma ’26, another urban studies student double-majoring in political science, said the major is like any liberal arts major at Yale. He added that it is open but still has enough structure.

“It doesn’t inherently prepare you for a career, but you can leverage it to prepare for your career,” he said.

Kamma feels he has tailored his course of study for his career. He learned Geographic Information System, a technology for visualizing hard data spatially, through his selection of one of the department’s three required “method courses.” This gave him the skills necessary for an internship as an urban planning consultant.

Aaron Miller ’25, who plans to pursue a master’s in urban planning after graduation, found direction within the urban studies major, which he described as an “open canvas” in which students are able to “compose” their own “masterpiece.”

“I think a lot of Yale students are looking for a major which points them straight into a career path,” Miller said. “But there’s a beauty in the urban studies major not having a direct career path. It gives you the freedom to take this urban toolbox that you’ve cultivated over your time at Yale, and then apply it to whatever you’re passionate about.”

Although urban studies is often viewed as the more interdisciplinary of the two majors, Schlabs thinks architecture is also an interdisciplinary field. 

Schlabs said that both urban studies and architecture require an understanding of various fields, and he disagreed that either field is “more” interdisciplinary than the other. 

“Thinking like an architect demands that you take a variety of perspectives into account,” Schlabs said.

Schlabs said that the architecture major is reflective of a liberal arts and humanities-based education to help students develop a critical way of thinking. He says he tries not to present the architecture major as a stepping stone to graduate school and architecture, but more as an “exemplar of a liberal education”.

“I think that architecture, in very important ways, shares and explores the kind of core values and tenets of the humanities that is thought and experience, aesthetic and cultural value, the communication of meaning across time and space and history,” said Schlabs. 

In terms of career preparation, Schlabs thinks majoring in architecture may be helpful in developing a high-quality portfolio for students who want to go to graduate school but have less of a background in studio arts.

He acknowledged that it is not necessary to major in architecture to attend graduate school in the field.

Urban studies majors have access to Yale City, an alumni network focused on assisting students in a variety of careers, ranging from real estate development to nonprofit work to housing and transportation.

“We are going to continue to build our alumni database so that our students have a lot of opportunities for summer internships and postgraduate opportunities,” said Rubin.

Mui noted that there was no specific alumni network for undergraduate architecture majors to help with post-graduation planning but she emphasized the architecture major’s other distinct resources.

Mui initially came to Yale to major in urban studies and computer science but became interested in architecture after taking the introductory course in “American Architecture and Urbanism.”

The community aspect and access to resources in the School of Architecture were significant factors in Mui’s decision to switch majors.

“I liked the access to resources. It’s kind of unparalleled,” Mui said. “[Architecture] is pretty similar to urban studies, except that the focus is much more on design.”

Schlabs said that because the architecture major is a Bachelor of Arts and not an accredited degree, it does not formally prepare students for certification as a design professional.

However, Mui believes the studio aspect of the major is crucial for design education in architecture. 

Tian Hsu ’26, a double major in architecture and mechanical engineering, also finds the architecture studio environment very fulfilling and important for pursuing a career in architecture.  

“Studio focuses on something very important, which is form,” said Hsu. “You can’t really be an architect if you don’t have a fundamental understanding of form, how shapes fit together, line weights, colors and all these things.”

For Hsu, double-majoring was straightforward because she knew what she wanted to do when she first came to Yale. 

“I think if you’re naturally interested in the two things you’re majoring in, and you found that you’ve been taking those classes from the first year, it’s pretty easy, and it’s even easier when their classes are cross-listed,” Hsu said.

Luke Louchheim ’27 declared as an architecture major on the design track a few weeks ago. 

Louchheim said he wasn’t confident in majoring in urban studies, which is a relatively new major compared to the architecture program. Instead, he was drawn to the design aspect of architecture as well as the tight-knit community and shared studio space amongst majors in the School of Architecture.

He came to Yale intending to major in architecture, but spent his first year and a half exploring other majors and classes. 

“My advice would just be the basic thing to try classes from both realms and see what you’re most interested in,” Louchheim said.

While the majors are academically operated as distinct entities, they often collaborate outside of classroom spaces.

Mui, former president of the SOA-funded undergraduate architecture society Ink & Vellum, said the group is trying to bridge the gap between architecture and urban studies. Events hosted are open to anyone interested in either discipline.

As the current president of Ink & Vellum, Louchheim acknowledges the group’s importance. His former mentors from Ink & Vellum helped guide him in the exploration of architecture, and he wants to continue that tradition. 

“Both the DUS’s are very involved,” Mui said. “They will regularly meet with us, and the funding is always for the purpose of promoting this community for both majors.” 

Both architecture and urban studies majors are housed within the School of Architecture.