A Survey of Undergraduate Course Syllabi and a Hybrid Course on Global Urban Topics

Abstract

In recent years, many planning departments at American universities have begun to teach introductory world-cities courses at the undergraduate level. This trend is explained by the growing recognition of the role and importance of undergraduate planning education, increasing interests in effects of globalization on cities, and pressures from university administrators for planning faculty to increase enrollment. This article reviews strategies adopted to teach world cities to undergraduate students. It presents insights from several sources: a content analysis of forty-three world-cities syllabi, a survey of instructors whose syllabi were analyzed, and the experience of one of the authors in teaching a hybrid course in world cities in which part of the course was taught online and another in class. The study findings provide useful suggestions for instructors, departments, and universities interested in innovative approaches to teach undergraduate courses in global urban topics.