Fall 2026

Introduction to the City

Introduction to the City investigates urbanization and the physical, social, and political forms of cities, emphasizing spatial and social segregation.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Nick SturdevantSahil SasidharanSarah Moore

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews for Jenna Loyd report high difficulty with excessive weekly readings and specific exams, whereas reviews for Maha Ziadeh indicate low difficulty with no exams but require participation and group projects.

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

Fall 2026

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

Historical reviews of Maha Ziadeh: Sarah Moore is the current instructor, but reviews for Maha Ziadeh describe her lectures as excruciatingly boring and attendance checks via TopHat as tedious. Students found the course easy but the lecture format unengaging and pointless.

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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction77 / 1760
DIS 301Classroom Instruction12 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction11 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction9 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction14 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction12 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction9 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction5 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction5 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction46 / 1120
DIS 301Classroom Instruction6 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction11 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction5 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction8 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction10 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction4 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction2 / 220
DIS 308Classroom 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

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews for Lauren Gerlowski praise her organization and knowledge, while reviews for Maha Ziadeh describe the course as extremely boring with tedious walking tours and mandatory attendance checks.

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

Historical reviews for Jenna Loyd report high difficulty with excessive weekly readings and specific exams, whereas reviews for Maha Ziadeh indicate low difficulty with no exams but require participation and group projects.

Students frequently criticize historical instructors for monotone, unengaging lectures and irrelevant content, though some note that discussion sections with helpful TAs provide the primary value of the course.

Topics

  • Urbanization as a general process
  • Contemporary forms of cities
  • History and current forms of spatial and social segregation
  • Tensions from segregation history

Skills

  • Investigate urbanization as a general process
  • Understand experiences of those affected by segregation

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · 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 · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

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

1283 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.

Selected offering source records
GEOG/URBRPL 305 · Fall 2026

Introduction to the City

Recorded 2026-09-07
GEOG/URBRPL 305 · Fall 2026

Introduction to the City

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:416:008222",
    "course_id": "GEOG/URBRPL 305",
    "course_uid": "course_d196bd73edce3e6f805aea4c",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "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": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:944:008222",
    "course_id": "GEOG/URBRPL 305",
    "course_uid": "course_d196bd73edce3e6f805aea4c",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "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
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "51a8953ca657ac05486744eba6db15c64f4320fccb0f13a6af67d31900f65692",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}