Geography

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.

This course introduces the track on innovative and sustainable regions and sets the ground for the next course on themes. A broad perspective on innovation and sustainability is adopted. Innovation goes beyond creating economic opportunities only and addresses broader issues including quality of life and job opportunities for different types of workers; environmental sustainability and greening of firms and industries; the ability of regions to renew their profiles in response to major crises and to secure their economic development in the long run. Sustainability captures the ability of regions to innovate and renew itself and respond to major shocks (economically sustainable), to be socially inclusive (socially sustainable), and to green their economies (environmentally sustainable).

This course primarily focuses on the ocean's role in the global biogeochemical cycling of elements, with special attention given to the impact of human activities on the transport of these elements within these cycles. The course begins by covering basic ocean chemistry, followed by an exploration of the concept of global geochemical cycles based on water/rock interactions. The discussion then delves into nutrient and trace metal cycling, emphasizing redox reactions and the biologically mediated oxidation of organic matter. Steady-state models will be employed to explain the global distribution of these components in the oceans. 
 
In addition, the course examines the role of sediment in shaping ocean chemical composition, considering both equilibrium and kinetic perspectives and touches upon marine chemistry related to radioactive and stable isotopes. 
 

This course aims to provide young marine scientists with a foundation in the fundamental concepts of ocean chemistry, while offering a global perspective on the subject. There are no prerequisites for enrollment, but a background in basic chemistry (e.g., Chemistry 101) is preferred.   

This course examines geographical information systems (GIS) using basic statistical methods and spatial analysis. It focus on various spatial analysis and modelling techniquesﾠand geo-visualization for applications relating to the natural and built environments and human activities.