Geography

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.

The course focuses on the natural world and our relationship with it. It offers an in-depth exploration of topics in environmental geography, focusing on the biological, chemical, and physical processes that sustain life on Earth, human impacts on these processes, and strategies for mitigating environmental damage. Students engage with concepts of sustainability, conservation, and environmental policy. Topics include biodiversity loss, water, air and soil pollution, climate change, land modifications, environmental technologies, environmental policies and management decisions. By fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills, the course prepares students to contribute positively to environmental conservation, policy development, and sustainable management practices in various sectors.

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.

A knowledge of the past and the long reach of historical processes is vital to an understanding of the modern world in terms of both physical landscapes and the evolution of economic, social and cultural landscapes. Past imperial and colonial practices and their legacies are key to understanding contemporary global inequalities (e.g. uneven economic development, resource access, population structures) and the societal challenges facing developing countries. Historical geography focuses on the dynamic relationship between space and time offering a geographical analysis of the past and an historical analysis of geographic patterns. This course charts the evolution of human society across the globe examining the emergence of regions and places with distinctive identities and characteristics in an increasingly globalizing world. In doing so it introduces key concepts in historical geography that illuminate processes of continuity and change, linkages, and ruptures and the intersections between power and society.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course examines the atmosphere, weather and climate. It covers atmospheric processes as the driving forces of weather and climate, weather systems and world climates and their classification. Illustration of weather elements and the related fundamental physical principles, as well as their applications in studying weather and climate, will be emphasized. Major concepts and principles of meteorology and climatology constitute the core of this course. Weather systems and climate will be examined from a global perspective, yet with a regional focus on Hong Kong, mainland China and East Asia.

This course teaches the foundational concepts of geomorphology in preparation for advanced courses and a final Capstone project. It relies less on traditional rote lecture and more on activities and application of concepts presented in the text and during class time. This course focuses primarily on large-scale geomorphology, and how the large-scale topography students observe on Earth today is both created and broken down through time. Students examine the two primary drivers of geomorphology: tectonics and climate. They consider questions that on their face seem very basic- for example, why is the Earth round? but which have complex, fascinating answers with implications for the whole of the Earth surface. 

‘Geographies of Youth in Changing Societies’ studies how young people (between 4-25 years old) experience and use various places in changing societies, based on the premise that their experiences differ from those of adults.  The course examines what happens at the intersections of age and life-course (e.g. children, youth, teenagers, young adults), and places (body, home, street, neighborhood, community, city, urban, rural, (trans)national, trans local, global). The course considers young people’s lives from various but interconnected perspectives. Transformations in the context of globalization, migration and societal change define young people’s lives across the world. However, growing up in an increasingly interconnected world affects young people in different and unequal ways depending on local relations and historical contexts. This course contributes to the field by teaching how geographers and spatial planners understand and examine youth-related themes, youth’s positions in various societies and places, and their subjectivities and orientations in a constantly changing world with new possibilities as well as risks. The course provides an in-depth understanding of processes and dynamics that shape young people’s lives on various spatial scales. The places where we are born, go to school to, play, hang out, exercise, study and work are an important part of young people's lives, their everyday experiences and their identities. But young people’s relationships with these places are subject to ongoing transformations due to changing priorities, needs and aspirations across their life course. The concepts of childhood and adolescence are, however, relatively recent phenomena in Geography. Rather, in much scientific work by geographers and spatial planners, young people are seen as ‘adults in becoming’, even though the perspectives of young people on the world are qualitatively different than those of adults. The course consists of lectures and tutorials. Guest lecturers from the various sections within the Human Geography and Spatial Planning department introduce different perspectives on young people’s geographies. The first part of the course is an overview lecture that recapitulates youth as a socio-spatial construct. The geographies of youth are explored through relevant themes, such as identities and belonging, inequalities, and youth & public space. The second part of the course investigates a youth-related topic by working on their own research group project.