This article discusses a course application in urban affairs within a masters program in public administration. The course application utilizes service learning and critical social analysis methods as instructional tools. The article identifies the historical evolution of social analysis, starting in the Enlightenment and finally reaching its current manifestation in critical theory. The development of critical social analysis methodology, otherwise known as "critical consciousness," is then analyzed in the applications of social critics and educators Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich. Based on this form of social criticism, four vignettes are evaluated based on an intensive seminar course in urban affairs. The subsequent techniques are then adapted within a service learning component in the course. The article details examples of focus questions and journal exercises deemed useful in aiding students, administrators and practitioners in critically assessing the study of urban affairs. The potential implication...