Certificates

If you are interested in an interdisciplinary approach to studying cities and urban life, we hope you will join our community of urbanists, artists, designers, scholars, and practitioners.

The Undergraduate Certificate in Global Urban Humanities provides a framework for the study of cities and urban life that brings together approaches from many disciplines, with an emphasis on approaches from the arts and humanities and the design disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, and urban design. Participation in the certificate program makes you part of an active community of scholars, urban practitioners, and artists engaged in the development of new methods of research and teaching.

The Graduate Certificate in Global Urban Humanities provides a framework for the study of cities and urban life that brings together approaches from many disciplines. Participation in the program introduces you to an active community of scholars, urban practitioners, and artists engaged in developing new methods of research and teaching. The certificate is intended to provide you with the opportunity to find new ways of thinking about cities by exploring methods and theories from outside your home discipline.

In today’s world, innovations require weaving together the knowledge, theories, and skills of different disciplines. The Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation (BCDI) introduces design as the creative and critical means to innovate — to define, imagine, and advance a globally just future.

BCDI assumes that innovation will not come from any one discipline, but rather from the meaningful integration of methods, technologies, knowledge, and thought from a wide range of different disciplines. As such, the certificate connects the design approaches and disciplines from four schools (College of Engineering, College of Environmental Design, the College of Letters and Science's Arts and Humanities Division, and the Haas School of Business) to ensure that students know how to innovate. The program trains students to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of innovation, from idea to execution and beyond.

The Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) provides an academic structure for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas around geospatial information and analysis. Geographic information science and technology, along with geostatistics and analysis of satellite imagery, have emerged as major cross-disciplinary tools used in academic research, industrial applications, and public policy analysis.

GIST enables specialized, multidisciplinary training and research opportunities in various emerging areas of geospatial information science and technology. Certificate students will not only participate in a cutting-edge program and receive explicit recognition of specialization in GIST by virtue of the Graduate Certificate, but will be well positioned to compete for the most desirable jobs in geospatial technology, both in academia and in industry.

The program is hosted by the Department of City and Regional Planning and governed jointly by the deans of the College of Environmental Design, College of Natural Resources, and College of Letters and Science, Division of Social Science.

The Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Real Estate (IGCRE) recognizes interdisciplinary training in real estate, including real estate investment, real estate law, and the role of real estate development in the built environment. IGCRE offers graduate students in the College of Environmental Design, the Haas School of Business, and Berkeley Law (first-year JD candidates only) the opportunity to supplement their major areas of study with courses that specifically focus on real estate.

As part of IGCRE, students may (1) undertake specialized, multi-disciplinary courses in city planning and design, (2) learn about the process of development and gaining entitlements, (3) gain skills in financial and asset market analysis, (4) learn the legal foundations of construction and real estate transactions, and/or (5) explore housing and land use policy.

IGCRE will give students explicit recognition of a specialization in real estate, which in complement to their graduate program, will position them to compete for jobs in law firms, public and private corporations with real estate investments, planning positions, design practices, local government, real estate development, and companies involved in real estate capital markets.