URBDP 200: Introduction to Urbanization
5 credits | I&S
MWF 11:30 - 12:20
CMU Rm. 120
URBDP 200 is an introductory general education course for a wide range of undergraduates. It is for anyone curious about cities. It explores why the world is urbanizing and what consequences that has for people’s lives. It examines why cities take on different character — dense or sprawling, segregated or integrated, thriving or stagnant, car or transit oriented, democratic or authoritarian. It is a 5-credit course is open to all majors, satisfies the I&S requirement, and counts toward the Urban Planning minor. It a great choice for students considering Geography, Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, Comparative History of Ideas, Program on the Environment, or Community Environment, and Planning.
The professor, Mark Purcell, has twice been nominated for the UW's Distinguished Teaching Award. Moreover, he has extensive experience and success teaching in large-lecture settings at UW. He taught Geography 100 (300-600 enrollment) nine times between 2000 and 2003. He has taught URBDP 200 each of the last 4 springs, and the student evaluation numbers have been very high. Last year, for example, there were 40 respondents, and the medians were:
Course as a whole: 4.4
Course content: 4.5
Instructor's contribution: 4.7
Instructor's effectiveness: 4.7
All other medians were between 4.2 and 4.9 (the latter for instructor enthusiasm).