With more than 3 million people calling Orange County home, the 34-city, 948-square-mile region is large, complex and dynamic, said Zia Salim, professor of geography and the environment at Cal State Fullerton.
The county is also part of a much broader metropolitan area, sharing its northern border with Los Angeles County, making the entire 5,000-plus-square-mile expanse the perfect “classroom” for examination through the lens of urban studies.
So, it made sense for Salim and Mark Drayse, also a professor of geography and the environment, to lead the effort to establish an Urban Studies minor at the university.
“We live in an area that has a lot of cities and neighborhoods around us, and the students experience the topics we talk about in Urban Geography every single day,” Salim said. “So, I think that idea has been in our heads.”
Developed from existing courses across 10 departments within the colleges of Health and Human Development and Humanities and Social Sciences, the Urban Studies minor became an official area of study that started in the fall 2025 semester.
Salim and Drayse had been contemplating the idea of urban studies for several years and connected with a student who was also interested in the topic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the student researched the feasibility of an urban studies minor by first searching for any course related to cities, basically anything that had an urban focus, the professors said.
“Multiple colleges already teach this content. Salim said. “We took an existing set of classes and brought them together in a coherent framework that now students can add in as something they can show an employer or share in an interview.”
The professors put a proposal together and, in 2023, sent the proposal to several department chairs for feedback and went through the approval process at several layers of administration.
“I think that was one of the things that was really attractive about this idea to me and Zia, is that you’re doing an interdisciplinary minor, one that’s pulling from different departments but is still really grounded in studying the city,” Drayse said. “I think one of the great advantages is that one thing that every one of our students has a deep knowledge of is the city … of living in an urban environment. The city becomes their classroom.”
The 18-unit Urban Studies minor requires students to take a three-unit geography course titled Cities and Suburbs.
Students then choose to take either a three-unit course titled Urban Anthropology or Sociology of City Life.
From there, students select four electives from nearly 30 courses from a wide variety of disciplines.
Among the electives are American Nightlife; Activism, Engagement and Professional Development; Race, Sex and American Urban Culture; Bario Studies; Barios and Health; Immigrant Orange County and Urban Planning Principles.
Professor Elaine Lewinnek, an urban historian, American Studies scholar and coordinator of the Environmental Studies Program, said the Urban Studies minor is designed to address “issues of the moment,” such as sustainability, disability, and artificial intelligence, by drawing on courses from multiple departments.
The minor helps students see thematic connections across multiple disciplines, said Lewinnek, who co-authored “A People’s Guide to Orange County,” described as a “tour guide that documents sites of oppression, resistance, struggle and transformation in Orange County, California.”
“These are issues that are really issues of the moment, issues that might structure our students’ careers and their lives, but they’re issues that are fundamentally interdisciplinary,” Lewinnek said.
An Urban Studies minor can be useful for career opportunities in local government, urban planning, real estate, social services and other fields.
“Understanding urban spaces is crucial for navigating issues like homeownership, generational wealth, health, education and identity,” Lewinnek said.
Any student interested in learning about the unique structures and needs of urban populations can benefit from the Urban Studies minor, said Celestina Barbosa-Leiker, dean of the College of Health and Human Development.
“Our mission is to help improve the health and well-being of our surrounding communities, and this minor offers a unique opportunity to impact the health of those living in urban areas,” Barbosa-Leiker said. “Across service-learning projects and opportunities for research and scholarship, this new minor complements the many opportunities that CSUF students have to serve their communities.”
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