The scale, diversity, balkanized governance, and natural environment of Southern California all contribute to making it an extraordinary natural laboratory for learning about urban and regional issues, whether the focus is on immigration, employment, the built environment, transportation, poverty, natural resources or a host of other challenges. The Minor in Urban and Regional Studies offers undergraduates a means of addressing some of these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective, offering a balanced mixture of theory, practice, and service learning courses.