Geography

This course explores the geographical, physical, demographic, and economic characteristics of the Madrid region. It discusses the origin, formation, and historical evolution of Madrid. This course also focuses on the current urban, economic, and territorial processes in the Community of Madrid, as well as the city's role in a globalized world.

This course introduces the concept of sustainability through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and shows how to quantify the progress towards sustainable development. It enhances students’ understanding of the issues relating to sustainable development and quantification of sustainable development. Although the course cannot provide complete answers to the issues, it helps develop students’ ability of critical thinking and suggest promising directions in which answers may be sought.

This course teaches students how money and finance, and processes of global political economy more broadly, enable, shape, and condition development, environment, and conservation processes. It draws on economic geography, but also social, financial, and cultural geography, anthropology, development studies, and work on society and environment relations. The course includes examples of financialization, conservation, and eco-system services from the UK, Africa, and Asia. 

The course covers a wide variety of tourism typologies and the spaces they shape. Through the analysis of different tourism models—such as golf, nautical, nature, cultural, ski, and urban tourism—it explores how specific tourist practices develop around key resources and how they impact territories socially, economically, and environmentally.

This course explores the role of geography in understanding the structure and transformation of human spaces. Students learn how to interpret the spatial distribution of populations, economic activities, and political divisions, and to assess how these elements interact to shape the territory. The course also addresses the importance of sustainability and territorial equity in a globalizing world.

The course introduces a range of key issues, concepts, principles and methods in environmental management. The major components, processes, and attributes to environmental management are also covered. The roles of civil society, market mechanism and government regulations in environmental management are examined. Real-life examples from Hong Kong, China, and overseas countries are discussed to illustrate how integrated approaches should be applied for identifying optimal options in environmental management decision-making processes. 

How do people understand, experience, and shape place and space? How do space and place interface with difference, identities and groups in day-to-day life? How can we make sense of the social world through a critical lens? How does culture shape, and how is it shaped by, space and place? What are the practices, material artifacts, values and lived experiences that express and reinforce cultures? These are all key questions to social and cultural geography, an exciting and vibrant sub-discipline. This course sets out to examine themes such as place, space, power, difference, culture, and identity and demonstrates the value of a geographical perspective on a range of social and cultural phenomena worldwide. It also deepens students’ critical engagement with theoretical and methodological approaches that underpin contemporary social and cultural geography.

The goal of this course is twofold. First, this course offers insights into the relationship between digital technologies and the city by engaging with ‘smart city,’ ‘surveillance,’ ‘big data,’ and a few other concepts. A range of case studies will be provided to demonstrate the agendas of various technologies, their effects on the material condition and organization of cities, and to evaluate the promises (and failures) of the “technological fix” with respect to social justice and equality. Second, this course introduces the opportunities of digital research in urban studies by offering hands-on experience in using basic Python and data analysis skills to extract and interpret data from social media platforms. Digital skills can be used toward dissertation research or projects at work. No prior knowledge is required.
 

This course offers students a conceptual and geographical grasp of key debates within human geography. Most notably, the course explores how geographers have understood and examined issues of social difference, identity (gender, sexuality - along with race and ethnicity), morals and ethics, bodies and emotions, the geopolitics of nation-states and borders, the politics and process of international migration, and the social geographies of the city. Using a range of contemporary examples from both the Global North and the Global South, the course helps students understand the ways in which geographical debates have shaped our knowledge of culture, place, and politic

This course introduces students to the principles of environmental pollution. Students explore the major types of pollution in air, water, and on land. Students think about the impacts and issues posed by environmental pollution. Finally students reflect on the strategies used to prevent and control environmental pollution.