Growth and Structure of Cities (Bryn Mawr)
Department Website:
https://www.brynmawr.edu/cities
Students may complete a major or minor in Growth and Structure of Cities. The interdisciplinary major challenges students to understand the dynamic relationships connecting urban spatial organization and the built environment with politics, economics, cultures and societies worldwide. Core introductory classes integrate varied analytic approaches that explore issues of changing forms of the city over time and explore the variety of ways through which people have re-created global urban life across history and across cultures. With these foundations, students pursue their interests through classes in architecture, urban social and economic relations, urban history, studies of planning and the environmental conditions of urban life. Engagement with Philadelphia is an integral part of the curriculum with almost each Cities course requiring site visits and class trips within the region. Advanced seminars further ground the course of study by focusing on specific cities and topics. Opportunities for internships, volunteering, and study abroad also enrich the major.
Complementing the major, students may also choose to do a minor or a second major that allows them to expand upon their focus in Cities with more specialized knowledge, whether in Environmental Studies, Economics, International Studies, Political Science or studies of language and culture. Students also may apply for the 3-2 Program in City and Regional Planning in their junior year, offered in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania, after filling prerequisites there.
Sourced from the Bryn Mawr College catalog: https://catalog.brynmawr.edu/undergraduate-catalog/departments-and-programs/growth-structure-cities/
Major Requirements
A minimum of 15 courses (11 courses in Cities and 4 allied courses in related fields) is required to complete the major.
The 4 core requirements include: CITY B185 (Urban Culture and Society) and CITY B190 (Form of the City: Histories of the Built Environment) comprise the two-semester introductory sequence. CITY B229 is a writing intensive course on urban topics. CITY B253, CITY B254, and CITY B255 represent architectural history topics, one of which is required.
4 intermediary courses from the department or cross-listed courses are required. This is opportunity to develop methodological and research skills as well as to address topical interests. Examples include: CITY B201 (Geographical Information Systems), CITY B207 (Philadelphia), CITY B217 and CITY B218 (Social Science Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods) or CITY B226 and CITY B228 (Architectural Design Studio sequence).
2 upper-level seminars are required to home in on a particular topic of interest, and they may include CITY B350, Praxis seminars that collaborate with community groups or organizations, CITY B378, a seminar on the built environment, or CITY B360, which has had many iterations addressing topics such as urban development and law, new urbanism, and incarceration.
CITY B398 is the senior thesis seminar, a requirement for the major and completed in the fall semester of the final year. Students are encouraged to apply for summer research funding the summer before that fall semester. The project comprises of a 40-60 page written text on a topic of choice, based on primary documents and original research and/or design. Students interested in developing an architectural proposal also have the option of completing an architectural thesis which is for 1.5 credits and requires approval from one of the studio instructors. Students who double major with a department that requires a thesis can discuss alternatives to writing two theses.
The remaining 4 allied courses are determined in consultation with a major advisor. These courses can be outside of the Cities department and are intended to give the student an opportunity to include classes related to their interests with the major. For example, students who intend to apply to architecture schools may count Physics and Math courses. Or students who are applying to the 3-2 program, may count their prerequisites from the University of Pennsylvania.
Minor Requirements
Students who wish to minor in the Growth and Structure of Cities Department must take at least two out of the four required courses (which include CITY B185, CITY B190, CITY B229, and a 200-level architectural survey) and four cities electives, including at least two at the 300 level. Senior Seminar is not mandatory for fulfilling the cities minor.
Faculty at Bryn Mawr
Jeffrey CohenTerm Professor in Growth and Structure of Cities
Stanley Collins
Visiting Assistant Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Jennifer Hurley
Visiting Assistant Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Dirk Kinsey
Visiting Assistant Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Min Lee
Associate Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Gary McDonogh
Helen Herrmann Chair and Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Samuel Olshin
Visiting Assistant Professor and Senior Visiting Studio Critic in the Growth and Structure of Cities Program
M.C. Overholt
Visiting Lecturer in Growth and Structure of Cities
Georgette Phillips
Visiting Professor and Alumna-In-Residence
Lauren Restrepo
Assistant Professor of Growth and Structure of Cities
Matthew Ruben
Interim Co-Chair of Growth and Structure of Cities and Visiting Assistant Professor of Cities and The Emily Balch Seminars
Daniela Voith
Senior Lecturer in the Growth and Structure of Cities Program
Courses
CITY B185 URBAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY (1.0 Credit)
Jennifer Hurley, Stanley Collins
Examines techniques and questions of the social sciences as tools for studying historical and contemporary cities. Topics include political-economic organization, conflict and social differentiation (class, ethnicity and gender), and cultural production and representation. Philadelphia features prominently in discussion, reading and exploration as do global metropolitan comparisons through papers involving fieldwork, critical reading and planning/problem solving using qualitative and quantitative methods.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B190 FORM OF THE CITY: HISTORIES OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Ruben
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course studies the city as a three-dimensional artifact. A variety of factors, geography, economic and population structure, politics, planning, and aesthetics are considered as determinants of urban form.
CITY B201 INTRODUCTION TO GIS FOR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS (1.0 Credit)
Dirk Kinsey
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World; C: Physical and Natural Processes
This course is designed to introduce the foundations of GIS with emphasis on applications for social and environmental analysis. It deals with basic principles of GIS and its use in spatial analysis and information management. Ultimately, students will design and carry out research projects on topics of their own choosing. Prerequisite: At least sophomore standing and Quantitative Readiness are required (i.e.the quantitative readiness assessment or Quan B001).
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B207 TOPICS IN URBAN STUDIES (1.0 Credit)
Stanley Collins
Division: Social Science
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B217 QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR URBAN RESEARCH (1.0 Credit)
Jennifer Hurley
Division: Quantitative; Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers a hands-on introduction to quantitative research methods for urban planning and policy analysis. Students will work on a real-world research project to develop the practical skills needed to design, conduct, and analyze original research at the complexity of a thesis-length project. The course teaches research design (crafting strong research questions and selecting appropriate methods), quantitative research methods (survey design and collection and analysis of secondary socio-spatial data), and data analysis (basic descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using Excel and SPSS). Additionally, students will engage with both the philosophical foundations and real-world best practices of ethical research.
CITY B218 QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR URBAN RESEARCH (1.0 Credit)
Lauren Restrepo
This course offers a hands-on introduction to qualitative research methods for urban planning and policy analysis. Students will work on a real-world research project to develop the practical skills needed to design, conduct, and analyze original research at the complexity of a thesis-length project. The course teaches research design (crafting strong research questions and selecting appropriate methods), qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, and document analysis), and data analysis (qualitative coding and data analysis using NVivo). Additionally, students will engage with both the philosophical foundations and real-world best practices of ethical research.
CITY B226 INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Daniela Voith, Samuel Olshin
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This studio design course introduces the principles of architectural design. Suggested Preparation: drawing, some history of architecture, and permission of instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B228 PROBLEMS IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Daniela Voith, Samuel Olshin
Division: Humanities
A continuation of CITY 226 at a more advanced level. Prerequisites: CITY B226 or permission of instructor.
CITY B229 TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE URBANISM (1.0 Credit)
Gary McDonogh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
CITY B240 CITIES OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH (1.0 Credit)
Lauren Restrepo
Division: Humanities
This course surveys the dynamic social and spatial processes that make (and constantly re-make) cities in the Global South. We examine what it means to be a city in the ‘Global South’ and study the commonalities that unite these spaces in a post-colonial, post-Bretton Woods world. That said, this is a course that centers diversity among cases in Latin America, the Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia: the unique demands and interventions of people and community groups working for a better urban life, the experimental efforts of local political leaders and planners, and the ways in which particular local histories layer upon themselves to produce a world of singular urban experiences. Local film, memoir, activist non-fiction, and interviews with local planners and practitioners will supplement academic readings to provide a ‘street-level’ view of everyday life in global cities.
CITY B248 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY RESEARCH WORKSHOP: SPATIAL HISTORIES OF HEALTH (1.0 Credit)
M.C. Overholt
This course aims to build students' skills working with and interpreting visual and textual primary sources relevant to the study of the built environment. The course is structured around particular themes that will animate how historians use methods of visual, spatial, and material analysis to illuminate intersectional histories of the built environment attentive to questions of race, class, gender, (dis)ability, environment, empire, and more. Students will gain methods of interpretation to explore the agency of individuals and groups in a variety of roles that have shaped places, and the lives framed by those building activities and sites. The aim is to develop confidence with reading urban and architectural documents—floor plans, perspective drawings, photographs, three-dimensional artifacts, maps, design periodicals, etc.—and connecting them with broader historical themes. The course will be structured as a hybrid lecture and methodology workshop, with each week including both components.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B253 BEFORE MODERNISM: ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM OF THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES (1.0 Credit)
Jeffrey Cohen
Division: Humanities
The course frames the topic of architecture before the impact of 20th century Modernism, with a special focus on the two prior centuries - especially the 19th - in ways that treat them on their own terms rather than as precursors of more modern technologies and forms of expression. The course will integrate urbanistic and vernacular perspectives alongside more familiar landmark exemplars. Key goals and components of the course will include attaining a facility within pertinent bibliographical and digital landscapes, formal analysis and research skills exercised in writing projects, class field-trips, and a nuanced mastery of the narratives embodied in the architecture of these centuries.
CITY B254 HISTORY OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE (1.0 Credit)
M.C. Overholt
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
A survey of the development of modern architecture since the 18th century.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B306 ADVANCED FIELDWORK TECHNIQUES: PLACES IN TIME (1.0 Credit)
Jeffrey Cohen
Division: Social Science
A hands-on workshop for research into the histories of places, intended to bring students into contact with some of the raw materials of architectural and urban history. A focus will be placed on historical images and texts, and on creating engaging informational experiences that are transparent to their evidentiary basis.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B328 TOPICS IN ADVANCED GIS (1.0 Credit)
Dirk Kinsey
Division: Natural Science
Domain(s): C: Physical and Natural Processes
An advanced course for students with prior GIS experience involving individual projects and collaboration with faculty. Completion of GIS (City 201)
CITY B337 THE CHINESE CITY (1.0 Credit)
Lauren Restrepo
This course examines Chinese urbanization as both a physical and social process. Drawing broadly on scholarship in anthropology, political science, geography, and city planning, we will construct a history of the present of Chinese cities. By taking the long view on China’s urban development, this course seeks to contextualize and make sense of the sometimes dazzling, sometimes dismal, and often contested landscape of everyday life in contemporary urban China. Prior familiarity with China and the Chinese language is welcomed but not required.
CITY B340 HISTORY AND DESIGN WORKSHOP (1.0 Credit)
Jeffrey Cohen, Samuel Olshin
This course combines historical and theoretical research with studio and design practice in architecture. It is project based and allows students to work collaboratively on research questions relevant to built environments. This iteration tracks the form and choices shaping three successive built landscapes over five centuries – from the agricultural communities of Quakers in Wales and the Welsh Tract in Lower Merion in the 17th and 18th centuries to the commuter suburb of the 19th and 20th. The course also looks ahead from this history as a studio collectively exploring key elements of a “New Bryn Mawr” as an idealized sustainable community of 1000 residents whose design specifically addresses environmental concerns, inequality, anxiety, joblessness, and spatial fragmentation.
CITY B350 URBAN PROJECTS: CITIES PRAXIS (1.0 Credit)
Jennifer Hurley
In this course advanced students will work with local groups around concrete projects. Class sessions will convene to discuss background readings as well as evaluation of tools and experiences.
CITY B360 TOPICS: URBAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY (1.0 Credit)
Dirk Kinsey
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B365 TOPICS: TECHNIQUES OF THE CITY (1.0 Credit)
Gary McDonogh
Division: Social Science
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B377 TOPICS IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE (1.0 Credit)
M.C. Overholt
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is a topics course on modern architecture. Topics vary.
CITY B378 FORMATIVE LANDSCAPES: THE ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING OF AMERICAN COLLEGIATE CAMPUSES (1.0 Credit)
Jeffrey Cohen
The campus and buildings familiar to us here at the College reflect a long and rich design conversation regarding communicative form, architectural innovation, and orchestrated planning. This course will explore that conversation through varied examples, key models, and shaping conceptions over time.
CITY B398 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Gary McDonogh, Jennifer Hurley, Stanley Collins
Division: Social Science
An intensive research seminar designed to guide students in writing a senior thesis.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B399 SENIOR THESIS (1.0 Credit)
Gary McDonogh, Jennifer Hurley
Students can write a senior thesis written as an independent study in the spring under extraordinary circumstances and with special permission.
CITY B403 INDEPENDENT STUDY (1.0 Credit)
Dirk Kinsey, Gary McDonogh, Min Lee, Samuel Olshin
Division: Social Science
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B415 TEACHING ASSISTANT (1.0 Credit)
Gary McDonogh
Division: Social Science
An exploration of course planning, pedagogy and creative thinking as students work to help others understand pathways they have already explored in introductory and writing classes. This opportunity is available only to advanced students of highest standing by professorial invitation.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
CITY B420 PRAXIS FIELDWORK SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Lauren Restrepo
Note: Students are eligible to take up to two Praxis Fieldwork Seminars or Praxis Independent Studies during their time at Bryn Mawr.
CITY B425 PRAXIS III: INDEPENDENT STUDY (1.0 Credit)
Daniel Ferman-Leon, Jeffrey Cohen
Praxis III courses are Independent Study courses and are developed by individual students, in collaboration with faculty and field supervisors. A Praxis courses is distinguished by genuine collaboration with fieldsite organizations and by a dynamic process of reflection that incorporates lessons learned in the field into the classroom setting and applies theoretical understanding gained through classroom study to work done in the broader community. Note: Students are eligible to take up to two Praxis Fieldwork Seminars or Praxis Independent Studies during their time at Bryn Mawr.