Trinity College Dublin

What will the city of the future look like? To what extent are our models of city-making sustainable? Is the road that we are taking leading us towards an environmental utopia in which societies will grow in balance with nature, or are we paving the way for the collapse of our civilization? These are the key questions that will drive students' exploration of the different ways through which, today, sustainable urban development is understood and practiced across the world. Students use the tools of geography to examine the most critical socio-environmental issues faced by cities (climate change, consumption, happiness, environmental degradation, etc.), and discuss both the theory and practice of urban sustainability.
 

The course considers such matters as the iconography of major religious and mythological subjects, issues of style and the functions of works of art and architecture. Art works are considered in the context of influential factors such as historical period, geographic location, inter-cultural influences and the prevailing social, political and religious environments. This course offers a survey of art and architecture up to the end of 17th century, with a focus primarily, although not exclusively, on the Western world. It provides an introduction to the critical analysis of artworks, including painting, mosaic, fine metalwork, manuscripts, sculpture and building types.

This course examines finance and climate justice, and the links between them. As the worsening climate chaos threatens the very existence of humanity, it is increasingly clear that a climate justice approach is needed for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Climate justice approaches emphasize the need for a fundamental transformation of society and the economy, while applying the principles of social justice and economic equity. However, there is a growing realization that such a socio-economic transformation is not possible without radical changes in the sphere of finance. Going beyond the proposition that finance needs to be mobilized to fund "green" transition, this course examines the view that the entire global financial architecture must be transformed to safeguard a better, healthier, more stable, and a more just future for all. Special attention is given to central banks and their role in the financialized economic system, their relation to climate change and their role in hampering and/or promoting climate justice. Alternative economic and financial models, including de-growth and post-growth approaches, are examined. The course also highlights a critical role of geography in understanding both the climate justice issues and the operation of finance in capitalist economies.

This course helps students appreciate the philosophical foundations for conducting qualitative research and to understand why and how qualitative research is carried out in psychology. A sample of current qualitative methodologies and examples of how qualitative methods may be applied in psychological settings are provided. The student is introduced to the processes involved in making sense of qualitative data and how qualitative data can and should be analyzed. Designing qualitative research reports is also covered.

Students learn to read and translate basic classical Old Irish. They describe the orthography of Old Irish and how it differs from its modern counterpart, learn to analyze the grammatical structure of basic Old Irish sentences with the appropriate terminology, and to describe the concept of the "paradigm" and apply it to the grammatical analysis. The course teaches students how to recognize and explain the main differences between Old and Modern Irish, how to apply the skills of grammatical analysis acquired in the study of Old Irish to any other language, and how to use textual glossaries competently.

This course examines the role of human psychology - human thought and behavior - in the climate and biodiversity crises. Students learn about topics such as political and social identities, motivated reasoning and cognitive biases, money and power, human and social systems, morality, and the psychology of protest and civic action. 

This course helps students refine their ability to understand and interpret research from across the discipline of geography and develop their capstone project. It assists students in developing evidence-based opinions about research and assists them in identifying how they can help to push forward research frontiers through their own research activities. Following introductory lectures on the research process the course involves reading research papers and identifying questions about them; participating in seminars given by geography researchers presenting a research project they have been involved with that relates to the papers they read; discussions about opportunities and challenges when conducting geographical research; and reflections on what they have learnt about the research process through the course. Students also practice their own writing skills.

This course focuses upon Supernatural literature and film from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Students study novels by authors such as Ira Levin, Shirley Jackson, Jay Anson, Paul Tremblay, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Koji Suzuki. Selected films from a variety of national contexts are also featured. Students are introduced to the work of key critics and theorists dealing with the supernatural as a literary and filmic form and are encouraged to consider the ways in which classic supernatural themes and tropes have been updated to reflect contemporary anxieties, social mores, and cultural preoccupations. Students reflect upon the ways in which supernatural literatures from a range of global cultures (the USA, Wales, Spain Japan and England) might differ in their approach to depicting the otherworldly and the uncanny. The ways in which past national and personal traumas (and sources of guilt) can be refracted through supernatural narratives is also considered, and issues pertaining to faith, identity, and modernity are discussed.

In this course, students address the question of how political institutions affect economic development.  Students examine three core sets of institutions - state, nation, and regime – examining their character and development in both historical and contemporary perspective.  Students look at how democratic nation states emerged in the West, comparing this to the experiences of contemporary developing countries. They consider the major theories on how these institutions impact on development and what empirical evidence they have about this relationship.

This course introduces some key themes, concepts, and debates in urban geography. In particular it focuses on the concept of urban regeneration. Taking a critical view of urban regeneration, the course first considers the emergence of these tropes out of concerns about de-industrialization and dereliction brought about by the restructuring of the global economy following the 1970s recession. It then focusses specifically on the urban impacts of globalization, in particular how cities in the developed world have managed the shift from industrialism to post-industrialism. Next, the course examines regeneration from a number of perspectives. Finally, the course reflects on the extent to which urban regeneration remains a relevant approach in the post-crisis period characterized by austerity urbanism and growing precarity. Particular attention is given to the circular nature of processes of urban growth and decline and how regeneration efforts include and exclude particular social groups and identities.