Urban and Regional Dynamics

A focus on urban/regional geography flows naturally from the location of the CUNY graduate center in the heart of Manhattan. One aim of this concentration is to combine a general understanding of the role of cities in regional, national and international developments with deep analysis of the elements that make the city what it is - from built environments and transport systems, to an understanding of migration flows, ethnic and religious differentiations, to the cultural uses of space and the transformation of patterns of urban daily life. Theories of the urban process and of the political-economy and political ecology of urbanization are emphasized. The overlap between the understanding of physical processes and of urbanization generates a strong interest in the issue of sustainable urban development and the environmental impacts of urbanization in relation to such issues as climate change and urban health. The other aim is to understand the dynamics of interregional and inter-urban relations in their global context. Within those settings, modeling of transportation systems, optimal locational arrangements, and studies in the optimal organization of governance and administration are brought into contact with detailed inquiries into migration flows, social differentiation, retail arrangements, gentrification, consumption patterns, urban and regional health, financial services, the role of philanthropic institutions and NGOs, practices of governance, urban and regional social movements and the evolution of everyday life within the matrix of urban/regional economies and cultures. Many of the issues taken up in geography and social theory - such as the production of space and questions of race, gender, class and ethnic differentiations, are appropriately examined in their urban and regional settings.