Planning in Government, taught by Prof. Will Cockrell, is one of the cornerstones of the urban planning undergraduate major. This is a required class for urban planning students. For non-urban planning majors, I may not necessarily strongly recommend this class, as the contents of local government planning may not apply directly to your subject area. However, if you are observant and remotely interested in how cities are planned, this class is a quintessential must-take.

Prof. Cockrell himself is a consultant with the planning consulting firm EPR PC, and he is a 4+1 graduate of the urban planning program. He knows the curriculum and the students' feelings well. His vibe is super chill. As the other review says, he may be too laid back about the class sometimes. If the class is a little more demanding and has more meaningful short homework assignments between the 3 tests that make up the 30% of your grade, the class may be more rewarding. It is one of those classes where you get what you put into the class. Prof. Cockrell is a busy person, but he is open to all questions. The student is always encouraged to explore more if they have the heart to do so.

With that said, the class itself tends to be sleep-inducing at times, even coming from a relatively passionate urban planning undergrad. The layers and layers of bureaucracy and planning processes do get tedious and a bit dry. Prof. Cockrell uses his wry humor to keep the class as interesting as possible, though. His anecdotes are some of the greatest moments of the class, where he shares funny to serious moments from his professional career as a local government planner.

For the test, it is surprisingly like a trivia-like test. If you are an aspiring planner who might take the AICP exam, the class's exam questions are somewhat styled like the AICP questions. They are mostly trivia and memorization-based as opposed to using "planning theory". A lot of the planning processes do require memorization of the basic facts laid out by this class. This class and "Land, Law, and the Environment" (PLAN 3060) also sheds light on how many, many localities violate due process or the correct planning process legally.

I will share all the lecture topics. Hopefully you will take this class!

Introduction, Introduction to Planning as a Practice, Local Government Basics, Regional Planning, Planning in State and Federal Levels, Six Tools of Local Government Planning, The Comprehensive Plan An Introduction, The Comprehensive Plan The Process, Zoning An Introduction, Zoning Continued, Zoning ZMAs and ZTAs (How To), Zoning The BZA and Variances, Zoning Form-Based Codes and Other Approaches, Subdivision Ordinances, Other Development Regulations, Local Government Budgeting, Financial Tools in Local Government, Capital Improvement Program (CIP), Utilities and Infrastructure, Development Review Process, Staff Reports and Meetings, Site Plans and Plats, HOAs, Mock Development Exercise

I was really excited about this class as a prospective Urban Planning minor, but much to my dismay, I found it boring and unorganized. The class itself was basically just reading power points, which would lend someone to believe the exams would be easy. But they were not. Anyway, you can get an A if you want to by reviewing notes before exams, which in all fairness are take home and open for a week, but you probably still won't get that much out of the class. That being said, the professor is friendly and wants you to succeed, but I would have preferred to take 3 credits elsewhere.