Evolution of American Planning
Course surveys American planning concepts, institutions, comprehensive planning, and professional roles across community, metropolitan, and state scales.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Evaluate urban form and design using ideas from planning history and contemporary practice.
Explain the legal, institutional, economic, political or moral justifications for planning.
Analyze planning as a collective enterprise in relation to individual freedom, politics, autonomy, and private property.
Explain the concept of the public interest in relation to planning.
Describe the role of urban planners and the tensions planners face as professionals.
Evaluate the relevant scales for urban planning, e.g., Individual parcels? Neighborhoods? Communities? Municipalities? Counties? States? Regions? Nations? Watersheds?
Explain suburbs and the process of suburbanization.Describe the role of race and racism in shaping cities and metropolitan regions.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapJunior standing
- Junior standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Junior standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Historic roots and recent trends in American planning concepts, institutions, and professional specializations.
- Comprehensive planning methods for community, metropolitan, and state development policies.
- Scales of urban planning from neighborhoods to regions and watersheds.
- Suburbanization and race in shaping cities and metropolitan regions.
Skills
- Evaluating urban form and design through planning history and practice.
- Explaining legal, institutional, economic, political, and moral justifications for planning.
- Analyzing planning as a collective enterprise involving freedom, politics, autonomy, and property.
- Describing planner roles and professional tensions.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2024
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
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Selected offering source records
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Raw records
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Student reviews
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Read original reviews
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Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
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