Students graduating with an undergraduate major in Urban Studies have been accepted into some of the premier graduate schools in the country, including but not limited to the Harvard University Law School, the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Duke University, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Yale University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Georgetown University, Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University among others.
As an internationally known research university, Washington University in St. Louis recognizes its responsibility to make substantial contributions to these efforts. The Center on Urban Research & Public Policy promises to fulfill this responsibility by becoming a national resource for education, research and public discussion on issues confronting America’s cities. While we are dedicated to the conduct of social science research in metropolitan America, we understand the social, economic and political nexus between ourselves and other cities of the world.
Here, you will find substantial work by Urban Studies students. All graduating students in Urban Studies must complete a senior thesis or senior honors thesis, some of which have been published in subsequent research journals. You will also find work published by CURPP and Urban Studies faculty, as well as urban scholars from around the world, that can help you further your knowledge of the issues our cities are facing.

Research

Call for Book Proposals
Student Theses
All graduating students in Urban Studies must complete a senior thesis or senior honors thesis, some of which have been published in subsequent research journals. The following list provides some of the research topics compiled by our distinguished senior students and graduates for their thesis requirement.
Former Student Research Topics
- Examining Fatal Drug Overdoses and Substance Abuse Treatment Across the Urban-Rural Spectrum: A Case Study of St. Louis City and St Francois County, Missouri
- Affordable Housing Development in New York City: Class Divider or Solution?
- The University of Pennsylvania and University City: The Town-Gown Relationship
- Washington, DC and the Covid Pandemic: A City Confronts Inequality amid a Public Health Crisis
- Community Based Models of Healthcare: The Response to and Result of Baltimore, Maryland's Urban Landscape
- A Study of Race and Class in the St. Louis Metropolitan Region
- Social Media and News Media: Ferguson, MO
- Capitalism and the Carceral State: Who Profits from Mass Incarceration?
- Urban Universities and Urban Redevelopment: A Study of Columbia University and the University of Chicago
- "Benefits of the Direct Access System of Physical Therapy for Medically Underserved Populations"
- 'Medicaid Non Expansion: "If You Don't Die from Sickness, You Die When You See the Bill."'
- "Shaky Foundations: Structural Injustices in Ferguson, Missouri"
- "Placemaking in Detroit: A Story of Decline, Development, and Displacement"
- "The Big Business of Community Real Estate Development in the Post - Industrial City"
- "(Dis) Investment: The Effects of Gentrification in Central Harlem"
- "The Death and Life of Great American Shopping Malls: A Cultural Appraisal of America's Shopping Habits (Past, Present, and Future)"
- "Arts Education in Urban Settings for Marginalized Youth"
- "Urban Communities and Police: The Effects of a Militarized Police Force"
- "Battyman Fi Dead: How Buggery Laws Impact the LGBT Population in Kingston, Jamaica"
- "Affordable Housing in Mixed-Income Communities: Impacts on Community and Economic Development"
- "Intent and Accident: Resistance Through Informed Development"
- "Who Wins, Who Loses? : Host Cities and the Olympic Games"
- The Atlanta Belt Line: How de Facto Segregation Limits its Success
- Gender Equality or Gender Oppression? Understanding Sweden's Sex Work Paradox
- What's Real? Race, Space, Place and the Evolution of Hip Hop in Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Child Food Insecurity and its Implications in our Nation's Capital
- Privately Owned Public Spaces: Are They Truly Public?
- From Hop Alley to Parking Lot to Strip Mall: The Decentralization of Physical Space and Community Needs for Chinese Americans in St. Louis
- Hurricane Harvey: How New Orleans' Housing Policies before and after Katrina can Inform Harvey Recovery Efforts
- Ciudad Juarez: Violence in a Transborder Space
- Urbanity and Art: Neighborhood Change and the Evolution of Hip-Hop in Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Projects from earlier years:
- "Corruption, Corporatism and Campbell's Soup: The Story of Failed Renewal in Camden, New Jersey"
- "Independent Cities in the U.S.: Two Unique Cases of Regional Fragmentation - Case Studies of St. Louis (MO) and Baltimore (MD)
- "Homeless Youth in Urban America"
- "Segregation and the Suburbs: How Discrimination Keeps Minorities from Residential Freedom"
- "Sentencing War: Disparities and Injustices in Cocaine Sentencing"
- "Sentencing Youth as Adults: Childhood, Crime and Culpability"
- " Divided Space: How Baltimore's Exclusionary Housing Measures Support Segregation"
- "An Analysis of Human Trafficking Policy and Discourse in the U.S. from 1870 to the Present"
- "Youth and the 'Arab Spring': Demographics, The Economy, Perceptions and Culture in Cairo"
- "The Audy Home for Wayward Youth: One City's Response"
- "Eminent Domain, Urban Economic Development and Social Justice"
- "Pain, Trains and Automobiles: Urban Marginality and the Politics of Public Transit"
- "Charter Schools in America: The Ongoing Debate"
- "Public Subsidy, Private Development and the Public Interest: A Case Study of Public Subsidy for the Barclays Center and the Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn, New York"
- "Public Housing in St. Louis: Pruitt-Igoe and Contemporary Design"
- "Less Punitive, More Productive - Correcting Correctional Education: An Examination into the Roots of Post Secondary Correctional Education"
- "Bringing Hope to East St. Louis"
- "Beyond the Virus: Exploring the Social Determinants of Health Among Marginalized Populations in Urban Settings through HIV/AIDS"
- "Parole and Prisoner Reentry in the United States"
- "The Intersection of Health Disparities, Education and Social Policy of Diabetes in the United States"
- “U.S. Refugee Policy: Implications for the Admission and Integration of Refugees of the Iraq War Since 2003;”
- “Where Streets Have No Neighborhoods: Marginality and Decline in St. Louis, Missouri;”
- “The Social Determinants of Health, Urbanization and Health Disparities;”
- “Fighting the Free Market: Rethinking Community Benefits Agreements and Fourth-Wave Gentrification Resistance in Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project;”
- “Dump City: Environmental Hazards of Illegal Dumping in St. Louis;”
- “ ‘Not Far From Ethiopia:’ Immigration and the Habasha Identity in Washington, D.C.;”
- “Privatizing the Prison Industry in the U.S.;”
- “Urban Agriculture in Post-Industrial Cities: A Case Study of Detroit and Its Implications for Future Urban Renewal;”
- “Urban, Rural and Class Tensions by Comparative Advantage: Current Domestic Conflict and International Relations in Chile;”
- “The Landscape of Early 21st Century Urban Detroit Efforts;”
- “Public Private Partnerships: A Key Tool in Infrastructure Integration in Developing Economies;”
- “Professional Sports’ Impact on Modern American Cities: The Case of the 2004 Detroit Pistons;”
- “Slavery by Another Name: The Economic and Social Implications of Privatizing Prisons in the United States;”
- “Climate Change and Urban Social Change: The Challenge of Our Times;”
- “Subprime and Predatory Lending and Their Effect on Low-Income and Minority Communities and Homeownership;”
- “East St. Louis, Illinois: Opportunities for Education and Economic Development;”
- “Education Vouchers as a Tool for Urban Revitalization? A Case Study of Cleveland, Ohio;”
- “The Masters in America: An Examination of the International Influence on Modern Architecture and Art’s Impact on Life.”
- " 'Geography of Opportunity': A Comparative Study of Urban Neighborhoods."
- "Housing Affordability in Pacific Rim Nations for Marginalized Populations."
- "The Mexican Immigrant Experience in Chicago, Illinois."
the faculty bookshelf

Urban Studies gives me the opportunity to think critically about the racial, socioeconomic, political and historical context of communities across America. With this knowledge, my goal is to build upon the work of others who have come before me – working to shift policy and power structures to empower our most vulnerable and marginalized voices throughout this country.
―H. DanielsClass of 2020