Geography

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. 

This course introduces critical approaches in human geography to understanding the relationships between landscapes, power, and society. The critical approaches applied in this course stem from ideas within cultural, political, and social geographies which centralize the role of power in socio-spatial dynamics, and how power produces complex relations between society and the landscapes we inhabit. Critical approaches in human geography provide a framework to understand society and landscapes as carrying multiple meanings. Students examine society as composed of knowledge, institutions, community dynamics, representations, discourses, inclusions/exclusions, material aspects, and more. Similarly, landscapes are explored in terms of nature, bodies, the imagination, digital realms, technology, everyday experiences, and other dimensions. These various perspectives demonstrate how power imbues landscapes and society with various meanings, and how ideas in human geography can critically analyze the co-production and experiences of landscapes, power, and society.

In this course, students explore the intersection of environmental geography and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) to address the grand challenges facing our world. This course equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to design, implement, and advocate for NbS that effectively contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By understanding the intricate relationships between natural systems and human development, students are prepared to create innovative solutions that promote environmental sustainability, economic viability, and social equity – key concepts in environmental geography.

This course provides students with a foundation in geographical data, mapping, spatial analysis, and writing skills. It explores the organization and manipulation of geospatial data, cognitive mapping, and basic statistics, and addresses locational considerations (e.g. coordinates and space), map projections, and map design. It also introduces technological tools and methods available to map, analyze and disseminate geographical information. The course is mainly tutorial-based but includes lectures and local fieldwork, providing an interactive and applied learning environment to explore technical and technological geospatial methods and approaches. In doing so, it enhances students’ geospatial awareness and provide them with skills to examine relationships, interactions, and interdependencies between human and physical components of the environment. 

This course involves student-led research and dissemination around contemporary environmental topics e.g. renewable energy, food security etc. Working in groups, students explore an issue or problem, undertake research on it, and communicate their work in a form accessible to non-academic audiences e.g. a policy note or a science communication piece. This helps students to develop key graduate attributes and consider their own employment prospects beyond the academy.

This course explores the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch marked by significant human impact on Earth's ecosystems, climate, and geology. By focusing on pluralizing the Anthropocene, the course examines a diverse range of perspectives, including postcolonial, feminist, indigenous, and ecological frameworks.  The course interrogates how the term 'Anthropocene' can be problematized and expanded, reflecting on how different cultures, knowledge systems, and disciplines engage with the concept.  

This course explores the idea of the Anthropocene in two parts: 

(1) Theory and Concept: The course analyzes how scholars define the Anthropocene with different theoretical backgrounds, providing diverse understanding of nature-social and human-nonhuman relations. 

(2) Case studies: The course dives into various case studies to learn how geographers and anthropologists adopt diverse methods to study the uneven impacts of the Anthropocene across the world.  

This course examines the impact of global change - broadly defined as the impacts of climate change and demographic change influencing global-scale changes in land use, environmental degradation and pollutant emissions - on physical and human environments in Africa and Asia with a specific focus (thread) on water supply. The course deliberately engages issues of climate injustice, equity, and adaptive capacity from the local to the global. A distinctive aspect of this course is its engagement not only with the hydrological science underlying the impact of global change on water supplies but also with the pathways and processes of water governance including transboundary issues that inform solutions towards more equitable and sustainable water supplies in a warming world. The course draws from case studies informed by active research programs in Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and India.

This course investigates how human societies adapt to climate change and variability. Central concepts and theories in current adaptation research are presented and discussed using case studies from different parts of the world. In doing so, central actors, policies, and management strategies are analyzed. This includes private and public stakeholders and institutions, and adaptation strategies and initiatives at different geographical scales (local, regional, national, and supranational).