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General Catalog

Urban Ecology

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City & Metropolitan Planning Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science

Program Contact Information

Program Description

Urban ecology is the study of human settlements - from rural communities to megacities - consisting of dynamic relationships between social, natural, and built systems. The urban ecology program in City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah takes an action-oriented, community-engaged approach to help students gain the knowledge and skills to foster sustainable, resilient, and equitable communities. The program is responsive to urban and rural problems and opportunities that exist in the Intermountain West such as population growth and demographic change, economic restructuring, natural resource management, and climate change.

As a student in the urban ecology program, you will engage with topics such as sustainability, ecological planning, land use and transportation, economics, law, housing, disaster resilience, dark skies, and community engagement. Many of the classes will take you out of the classroom and involve you in hands-on research and engagement in local communities and environments. In your senior year, you"ll take the Ecological Planning Workshop, which applies and synthesizes what you"ve learned to tackle a real-world planning project with a local community. The undergraduate program in urban ecology will prepare you for graduate study or a career in planning or design, sustainability, public health, public policy, community development, and other fields working at the nexus of people, place, and design.

Approved Combined/Dual Degrees

Additionally, the BA/BS in Urban Ecology can be completed as a combined degree with a Master of City & Metropolitan Planning (MCMP). The BS/BA + MCMP is a 4+1 program through which eligible students complete both a Bachelor's in Urban Ecology and a Master of City & Metropolitan Planning in five years. The 4+1 program combines the strengths of both programs, preparing students to think ecologically in guiding the growth and development of cities and regions both locally and globally. Please see our website for more information.

Program Admissions Requirements

Design Foundations: The Design Foundations program provides pre-major students with cross-disciplinary design-related literacy and skills in a supportive, cohort-based learning environment. In their first year, Design Foundations students work together in three courses—Design Contexts (DES 2630), Design Ecologies (CMP 2010), and Design Foundations Workshop (ARCH 2630). During their second year, students explore in greater depth one of three streams of inquiry—design, urban ecology, or architecture--preparing them for entering one of the college's three undergraduate majors.

Prior to beginning studies in Urban Ecology, students should have satisfied the University’s Lower Division Writing Requirement, the American Institutions Requirement, the Quantitative Reasoning Requirements, and most of the Intellectual Explorations. Transfer students should have completed, or nearly completed their general education requirements. Those interested in majoring in Urban Ecology must meet with an Academic Success Advisor to declare. For more information go to: https://www.cap.utah.edu/student-success-center/

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