Graduate Certificate in Applied Urban Informatics

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Urban Informatics at Boston University’s Metropolitan College is concerned with studying urban issues using existing and emerging forms of data, along with analytical and computational techniques. The certificate will provide analytic and computational tools and will focus on skills needed to work with varied data sources to inform policy decisions in a range of government, nonprofit, and private organizations.

This program requires an average of 8–12 months to complete. Students may begin the program in the fall, spring, or summer term.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify key urban challenges in the sphere of planning, policy, and operations, with a particular focus on equity, economic, and environmental issues while critically analyzing the ethical implications of emerging technologies used in addressing these challenges.
• Utilize the informatics toolkit to define and address specific challenges and to derive actionable insight from data.
• Incorporate data analysis results into urban planning and policy decisions to increase the quality of life for residents and support city government.
• Communicate results clearly and effectively in a medium appropriate to a project, without relying on jargon.

Admissions Information

For current admissions information, please visit the Metropolitan College website.

Certificate Requirements

Applicants to the program are required to have a bachelor’s degree. Some courses may have additional prerequisites.

A total of four courses (16 units) is required, as follows:

• MET UA 591 Applied Analytical Methods
• MET UA 598 Foundations of GIS and Spatial Analysis
• MET UA 642 Geospatial Intelligence
• One elective from the following list:
  • MET CS 521 Information Structures with Python
  • MET CS 677 Data Science with Python
  • MET CS 688 Web Mining and Graph Analytics
  • MET CS 699 Data Mining

MET UA 598 is a prerequisite for MET UA 642. 

With advisor approval, students may choose to take courses outside of the electives list.

Transfer of Units

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Urban Informatics can be earned as a stand-alone certificate or combined with the Master of Science in Urban Affairs (MSUA) or Master of Science in City Planning (MSCP) programs. Elective course units taken as part of the certificate may be applied to the MSUA or MSCP programs but not to other certificate programs. Additional elective courses may be approved in consultation with the academic advisor.