About the Program

The 21st century will be an urban century with more people around the world residing in metropolitan regions than in any other form of human settlement. This urbanization is taking place in both the global North and the global South. Its implications are widespread: from environmental challenges to entrenched patterns of segregation to new configurations of politics and social movements. The Global Metropolitan Studies Initiative is concerned with this urban condition. Bringing together numerous faculty, this multidisciplinary endeavor supports research and houses graduate and undergraduate curricula. It is one of a handful of "strategic" initiatives selected by the UC Berkeley campus to mark a new generation of scholarship and to consolidate an emerging academic field.

The objective of the Designated Emphasis (DE) is to encourage and support multidisciplinary doctoral-level education and research on global metropolitan issues. Multidisciplinary training will be provided through a wide range of course offerings as well as through participation in seminars and conferences organized by GMS.

The Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies is for selected UC Berkeley PhD students with interest in metropolitan and regional issues. Students may come from any discipline across campus. The Designated Emphasis provides students with certification as well as with a context for the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and development of research.

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Admissions

Applicants must already be enrolled or accepted into an existing PhD program at Berkeley (master’s students and students at other institutions are not eligible). Students should apply at least two semesters before the PhD Qualifying Examination.

Interested students must apply for the Designated Emphasis. They are selected on the basis of academic qualifications, appropriateness of their interests to the program's teaching resources, and the enrollment capacity of the required courses.

Admission to the GMS Designated Emphasis is determined by the GMS co-chairs. Applications are due one week prior to the last day of the fall and spring semester.

For further information regarding admission to graduate programs at UC Berkeley, please see the Graduate Division's Admissions website .

Designated Emphasis Requirements

The Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies offers two concentrations: (1) Comparative Urban Studies; or (2) Infrastructure and Environment.

Curriculum

Students in the Designated Emphasis program must complete two core courses required for the Designated Emphasis.

In addition to the two core courses, students in the Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies are required to take three additional courses for graduate credit on topics in metropolitan studies. The courses must be selected from the approved list for the student’s chosen concentration unless a substitution is authorized by the GMS Graduate Group’s Curriculum Committee (see below). The lists of breadth courses will be reviewed and updated by the Committee annually.

Elective courses should be completed prior to advancing to candidacy and no more than one elective course for the Designated Emphasis can be taken from the student’s home department. Students may substitute no more than one course not on the list, with the approval of the Curriculum Committee. 

Elective Courses for Comparative Urban Studies Concentration

Elective Courses for the Infrastructure and Environment Concentration

Qualifying Exam

The student’s PhD Qualifying Exam Committee must include at least one member of the Global Metropolitan Studies Graduate Group core faculty, who will evaluate the student’s knowledge related to the Designated Emphasis.

Once the student has completed the Application for the Qualifying Exam  and the GMS Qualifying Exam checklist (located in the student handbook), they should submit both forms to the GMS DE Graduate Office in 226 Wurster Hall for the Head Graduate Adviser’s signature.

Dissertation

The student’s dissertation topic also must be related to Global Metropolitan Studies and the Dissertation Committee must include at least one member of the GMS Graduate Group core faculty who can evaluate the dissertation from that perspective. 

Courses

Global Metropolitan Studies