Course Offerings

The Urban Studies Program normally offers courses in fall, spring and summer terms, with courses held in the evenings at the Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver. We offer most courses only once per year or in some cases less frequently, depending on student demand and faculty availability. To see full list of courses, please click here.

Urban Studies graduate students receive priority registration for the first two weeks of the registration period.

External students: If you are a student in another graduate program, you will need permission from your senior supervisor or graduate chair to join our courses and may enroll only after the two-week priority registration period for urban studies students has ended, assuming there is space in the course at that time. Please forward the permission to our program manager at urban@sfu.ca

Upcoming: Spring 2024

Course  Title Instructor Day Time
URB 602 Urban Professional Development II Andy Yan Thursday (Th) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 413 – 613 Storyscapes Kamala Todd Wednesday (We) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 645 Urban Sustainable Development Annika Airas Monday (Mo) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 670 Research Methods Annika Airas Wednesday (We) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 695 Debates in Housing Theory Yushu Zhu Tuesday (Tu) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 499
- URB 692

Urban Innovation Lab
*Timing for URB 692/499 is Thursday 5:30-9:20pm AND some Monday and Thursday afternoons at City of New Wesetminster City Hall. Registration is by permission of instructors.

Interested students should contact mholden@sfu.ca/tmullerm@sfu.ca and watch the recorded information session on our YouTube channel.

Meg Holden & Tiffany Muller Myrdahl Thursday (Th) 5:30-9:20 PM

Upcoming: Summer 2024

URB 691/497: Helsinki Field School - Comparative Urban Sustainability

For students interested in joining the Helsinki Field School in Summer 2024, applications are due January 28, 2024. All applications must be submitted through the SFU Study Abroad System.

Current: Fall 2023

Course  Title Instructor Day Time
URB 620 Urban Communities and Culture Annika Airas* Monday (Mo) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 650
Urban Governance Jonathan Cote Tuesday (Tu) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 696 Seminar in Urban Studies Karen Ferguson Tuesday (Tu)   5:30-9:20 PM
URB 665

Urban Housing Policy

Yushu Zhu Monday (Mo)  5:30-9:20 PM
URB 605 Great Urban Thinkers Annika Airas* Wednesday (We) 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 601
Urban Professional Development Annika Airas* Thursday (Th) 5:30-7:20 PM
URB 647 Urban Ethics Meg Holden Thursday (Th) 5:30-9:20 PM

* = Pending confirmation

Past: Summer 2023

Course  Title Instructor Day Duration  Time
URB 620 Urban Communities and Cultures Annika Airas Mo/We  May-Jun 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 635 Urban Inequality and the Just City Mohsen Javdani  Tu/Th  May-Jun 5:30-9:20 PM
URB 497-
URB 691
International Field School: Comparative Urban Sustainability, Nordic region Units: 6 graduate | 9 undergraduate Annika Airas   Aug  
URB 695 Debates in Housing Theory Yushu Zhu Mo May-Aug 5:30-9:20pm

Please note: Anyone wishing to enroll in the international field school courses (URB 691 for grad students) needs to go through the field school application first. It is not possible for students to directly enroll themselves in that course.