The Urban and Regional Governance concentration prepares students with the ideas and technical skills needed to address the challenges and opportunities found in urban areas.
The Urban and Regional Governance concentration leverages the expertise of O’Neill’s faculty, the urban location of the university, and the social, demographic, and economic trends that are attracting greater numbers of students to study, live, and work in metropolitan areas.
Cities generate the majority of economic output and represent the political and cultural centers of states and nations. Moreover, 60% of the world’s population is projected to live in cities by the year 2030.
At the same time, cities are facing pressing challenges including fragile budgets, deteriorating infrastructure, education and housing pressures, declining public trust in government, and a shrinking middle class.
In addition to the MPA core, management, and finance requirements, students that choose to pursue a concentration in Urban and Regional Governance must complete the following required courses:
Analysis of concepts, methods, and procedures involved in managing public organizations. Problems of organization, planning, decision making, performance evaluation, and management of human resources are considered. Cases are drawn from a variety of public services found at federal, state, and local levels of government.
This course focuses on the interaction between the public, private, and nonprofit sector to achieve consensus in decision making to influence federal, state, and local policies. The courses conveys theoretical and practical aspects of multi-sector collaboration to achieve more effective outcomes that each sector could individually conceive.
An examination of the role of public affairs professionals in policy processes. Focuses on relationships with political actors in various policy areas.
Conceptual and technical overview of geographic information systems (GIS). Applications in various fields of public affairs and environmental science.
SPEA-V 527: Urban Sustainability
This course is an introduction to urban government and policy issues within the context of sustainability. Specifically, the course introduces social, fiscal, economic, physical, and political aspects of sustainable policy in urban areas.
SPEA-V 531: Urban Planning and Placemaking
This course covers the creation and management of public spaces as well as aspects of urban planning. Students will be exposed to selected topics of importance in urban/local management including service delivery and sustainability, and methods for improving urban spaces through understanding the relationships between people and spaces.
Some courses required for your concentration may count toward the MPA core curriculum. When this occurs, you may choose elective courses that match your interests and career goals while still meeting the degree requirements. All students pursuing the Master of Public Affairs (MPA) degree are required to complete 39 credit hours.
