Each spring semester students complete their senior capstone seminar course (Urb Std 600: Capstone Seminar in Urban Studies) as part of the last required course in the Urban Studies major. Capstone students over the course of the semester develop an original research project that demonstrates mastery of several Urban Studies learning goals. Since 2016, student research projects have focused on the Milwaukee area and address topics within the housing and community development subfields (e.g. gentrification, eviction, homelessness, public housing, fair housing, affordable housing, urban redevelopment, neighborhood/community development/change, urban agriculture, economic development/BIDs, transit, etc.). Research projects can have a contemporary or historical focus, and employ a variety of methodologies, from GIS to archival and ethnographic approaches. Capstone students present a poster of their research project at the annual Urban Studies Student Research Forum (suspended since the pandemic) and produce a high quality, article-length paper, some of which are published on this site beginning in 2022. In addition to being published here, one of the top three papers from the Capstone Seminar is selected each year by the e.polis editorial board and published under the Best Capstone Paper title as part of its annual issue.

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