Spring 2027

Introduction to the City

Introduction to the City investigates urbanization processes and contemporary city forms, emphasizing spatial and social segregation by race, class, ethnicity, and gender.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Sarah Moore

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Maha Ziadeh

The class required a final group project, tedious walking tours, and prompts requiring citations, with no exams.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify the largest factors influencing where, when, and how cities develop.

  • Explain historical and contemporary patterns of social inclusion and exclusion in cities and identify and explain their underlying causes and effects.

  • Apply lessons of the past to the puzzles of today’s cities.

  • Recognize and question assumptions about current city form, including racial segregation.

  • Recognize and question assumptions about the experience of contemporary urban dwellers, particularly as these are shaped by race, class, and gender.

  • Develop a consciousness of self and others.

  • Participate effectively in a multicultural society by embracing your role as a citizen of Madison; valuing the positive aspects of American urban culture, including diversity in its many forms; and understanding cities as primarily social entities and problems of organized complexity.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
GEOG/URBRPL 305

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.73 GPA, 88.6% A/AB (n=105 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.86 GPA, 91.3% A/AB (n=138 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.70 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=109 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JENNA LOYD is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAUREN GERLOWSKI is recorded teaching in Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MAHA ZIADEH is recorded teaching in Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW E LIESCH is recorded teaching in Fall 2009. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH MOORE is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1760
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1760
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Maha Ziadeh

Students described the course as boring with lectures that read off slides, though they found the topics cool and the class easy.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.68 GPA, 83.6% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.70 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=109 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.67 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=75 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Maha Ziadeh

The class required a final group project, tedious walking tours, and prompts requiring citations, with no exams.

Past student reviews · Maha Ziadeh

Attendance was taken via TopHat, and students found the lack of discussion in lectures made attending class feel pointless.

Topics

  • Urbanization and contemporary city forms
  • Spatial and social segregation by race, class, ethnicity, and gender
  • Urban responses to segregation tensions
  • Experiences of populations affected by segregation

Skills

  • Identify factors influencing city development
  • Explain patterns of social inclusion and exclusion
  • Apply historical lessons to contemporary urban issues
  • Question assumptions about city form and segregation
  • Analyze experiences of urban dwellers through identity lenses

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.12 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
GEOG/URBRPL 305 · Spring 2027

Introduction to the City

Recorded 2026-10-14
GEOG/URBRPL 305 · Spring 2027

Introduction to the City

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:416:008222",
    "course_id": "GEOG/URBRPL 305",
    "course_uid": "course_d196bd73edce3e6f805aea4c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008222",
    "source_subject_id": "416",
    "title": "Introduction to the City",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:944:008222",
    "course_id": "GEOG/URBRPL 305",
    "course_uid": "course_d196bd73edce3e6f805aea4c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008222",
    "source_subject_id": "944",
    "title": "Introduction to the City",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "fa276d08be0f3d9ebfae4cf44215e1219add13c75a3c723eab1396798d44050e",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}