Geography

The course provides a foundation for the understanding of fundamental concepts and current ideas in physical geography. The course begins by considering in broad terms the development of physical geography and the key concepts and phenomena of change and evolution, cycles, fluxes and events, the environment as resource and hazard, and the human impact on the environment. The remainder of the course explores these themes in more detail in the context of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, and biosphere. The course emphasizes the importance of spatial variation, and temporal and spatial scales, and interactions between human society and the biophysical environment.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course focuses on some main issues of the contemporary geographical thinking, starting from authors like David Harvey, Edward W. Soja, Neil Brenner, Ash Amin, and Nigel Thrift. Specific topics concerning the spatialization of the ideas of city, sovereignty, and border will be analyzed during the lessons. Theories, models and their implications will be connected to specific case studies. The course offers advanced critical instruments to understand some issues affecting contemporary geographical space both at local and global scale.

"Economic Geography" is a major component of geography, which is the most developed sub-discipline in most National Geographic Science Systems. The development and characteristics of economic geography, on one hand, are closely related to the development of economic activities. On the other hand, they are greatly influenced by geography, economics and other related disciplines. As an independent discipline, economic geography has only a history of over a hundred years. However, its origin and development can be traced further.

This course introduces students to key geographical debates, theories, and concepts. Students gain a broad understanding of the interaction between human societies and the spaces in which they exist, looking at a range of economic, cultural, social, and political processes at a variety of scales. The course explores four key themes: environment; colonial afterlives; bodies, identities, and difference; and people and mobility. Through these themes students examine why geography matters to a series of contemporary debates and concerns, including globalization, climate change, social inequality, capitalism, and the future. A variety of local, national, and international case studies are used to examine these substantive issues and to consider issues of social justice, values, and ethics. 

This is a problem and knowledge based course that offers a unique insight in the linkages between peoples’ recreational use of nature and the sustainable management and planning of nature areas in the Anthropocene. The course deals with practical and theoretical aspects of planning, management, and governance of outdoor recreation with strong focus on balancing use and protection of nature. From a management point of view, it discusses how to deal with visitors and users of nature areas. The course has an international set-up and includes examples and cases from Denmark and other countries. Outdoor recreation is an integrated part of multiple policies, e.g. forest and afforestation policy, public health policy, municipal landscape planning, urban green space planning, agricultural policy, rural development, nature policy, and protected area management. These different policies, planning, and management fields form the basis of the course. Hence, a multitude of recreation environments are in focus, including urban green space recreation, forest recreation, countryside recreation, protected area visitation, wilderness recreation, and coastal and marine recreation. The following themes are included: visitors’ values, norms, attitudes, experiences and behaviors; conflicts between user groups; monitoring of visitor flows; accessibility and availability; children and nature; pro-environmental behaviors; and nature-based integration.  The planning and management focus includes: novel and traditional visitor monitoring; strategies and tactics in management of visitor flows; use and protection of nature; protected area management; volunteering; zoning and multifunctional approaches. In a sustainable development perspective, outdoor recreation connects people and nature, and thereby offers insight into social-ecological interactions and dynamics that are central to sustainability science. The course relates to Sustainable Development Goals 3 (good health and well-being), 10 (reduced inequalities), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 14 (life below water), and 15 (life on land).  

This course has two aspects. The first is to increase students' understanding of more technical issues of geospatial data management and the underpinning geospatial databases necessary for GIS to be useful. The second is to develop practical skills and understanding of GIS by using it in a more extensive applied project, which takes the form of a work-based task (a "virtual placement") where students assist a virtual company to respond to client requirements for GIS analysis.

From Roman traders to modern commuters, millions of people have lived in the same few square miles where students now study. In this course, students form into groups with fellow Liberal Arts students and stage an investigation into some of these London lives. Students begin an interdisciplinary exploration of the history and culture of London and are introduced to some essential skills and methods of academic study that students use throughout the course. Students form into groups and enquire into an aspect of London, past, or present. Guided by a tutor, students seek to answer questions by engaging not only with primary and secondary readings and resources for study within King’s, but with the streets and spaces of the city itself. They present their findings via a digital portfolio and a group presentation. As students come to see by the end of this course, London - in all its struggles and achievements - is a fascinating microcosm of the wider world; and as such, an ideal laboratory for the study of Liberal Arts.

This course examines the social, cultural and economic processes that have shaped and transformed cities over the last several decades. It considers the impacts of these transformations on the people living in urban areas and whether they enhance or hinder the opportunities of different social groups in the city, and what this might mean for our global efforts to meet the UN SDG, especially goals 5 (gender equality), 10 (reducing inequalities) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities). Through the use of case studies, students will explore notions of difference, encounter and inequality in the city. Students actively participate in geographical enquiry through independent research on difference and diversity in the city. This courses utilizes active and action-orientated pedagogies to work with students to build their own knowledge of the city and urban experiences and to develop a range of graduate attributes to enable students to be confident researchers, effective communicators of geographic knowledge and socially responsible global citizens who understand the complex nature of social life and inequalities in cities across the globe.

This course introduces and develops a financial geography perspective, understood as the study of the spatiality of money and finance, and its implications for the economy, society, and nature. It introduces students to the complexity and controversy of financial globalization, vocabulary of finance, drawing on research relating to the global financial system, financial centers of London, New York, Shanghai, and Singapore, and their geographical footprint.