The Urban Initiative

The Urban Initiative has emerged at USC as a means to explore complex urban environments and to help develop solutions to existing urban problems. The goals of the Urban Initiative are as follows:

• To provide knowledge, research and collective wisdom to institutions and leaders regarding the growing political, social and economic disparities between different ethnic groups in order to bring about a higher standard of equity
• To foster a long-term vision among residents and leaders that can guide necessary improvements and forestall potential undesirable future consequences for Los Angeles and all global cities
• To contribute to problem solving by bringing USC's intellectual resources into the service of the region

Using the resources of the Urban Initiative, a wide range of USC's schools and departments extend their reach from every corner of the university into a variety of school-based academic programs. The Urban Neighborhood Studies Program includes courses co-taught by faculty from Architecture, Education, Social Work, and Policy, Planning, and Development; its core studies are a "hands-on" practicum that provide an innovative teaching and research focus for understanding urban neighborhoods and for exploring options to improve life and conditions in those neighborhoods.

Visit the Urban Initiative Web site.