This class is understandable even if you have not taken an intro to urban planning class. Someone noted this class is surface level, but I have to disagree. It's more theoretical than it is economical. I wish he would have been a bit clearer about some of the unions and the vernacular. I found myself often googling many things that were already second nature to the grad students.

The class requires a fair amount of reading and weekly postings of those readings. I'd say I was reading 20-30 pages a week. In addition to readings, you are given a take home midterm and final, both of which are graded pretty harshly. I would say 90-95% of the questions are definitely covered in the readings. There were one or two questions that I could not recall learning.

There is a lot of extra credit offered to offset any points you may lose from either not showing up or from the take home exams/weekly postings.

Overall, I learned a lot from this class and really appreciated the knowledge I walked away with.

This class was quite interesting, but the material seems a bit surface level. Even though he said in the beginning that the class was descriptive and not analytical, I still would have liked to go deeper into some urban planning theories and concepts. Exams are very doable. Both are take home, and as long as you took some notes on the lectures and readings, you can easily get an A on these. There are weekly forum postings that are required as well. These cover the material from the readings and the previous week's guest speaker. The purpose of the forum posting is to demonstrate to the TA that you read the readings. They are fairly straightforward and don't require too much thinking. I would definitely recommend this class!

Prof. Wolff has been involved in Urban Planning for a long time so he has a lot to offer to this class. There is a lot of reading and the weekly assignments can feel like a lot, but the class is once a week so if you keep up it works out. There are interesting guest speakers and the two exams are take home. Exams must be thorough and concise but if you are clear, you can do well. Remember to put your own thoughts into your work and not just recite articles. This is a good class to take to fulfill the Public Policy minor. Extra credit offered also.

Great Professor! knows his stuff, is pretty laid back and tries to make the class fun and worth your time. work load is fairly good, and as long as you do that plus participate in class you should be fine. he's also very approachable outside of class. definitely my favorite ucla professor so far. take him, you won't regret it!