DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
Undergraduate Modules
First Year Modules
All first year modules are compulsory to students on the BA/BSc Geography programmes.
Geography Tutorials: Critical Thinking & Techniques
Module code: 4SSG1008
Value: 30 credits
Coordinator: Bruce Malamud
Lecturers: All Tutorial Staff.
Teaching arrangement:
Weekly one-hour tutorials in both terms
Assessment:
3 essays (15% each), poster (15%) and 2 essays (20% each).
Other requirements: Attendance is compulsory to pass the module. A non-assessed oral
presentation for the poster is required (failure to do so, will result in 20 marks being deducted off the
mark for the poster).
Module Structure:
This module is taught wholly by small-group tutorials (maximum 7 students) and covers a set of topics
and assignments designed to encourage good study skills, including proper Harvard Referencing, note
taking, plagiarism vs. paraphrasing, fundamental grammar skills and coursework structure, the
difference between different kinds of source material, researching topics, critical evaluation of
evidence, the ability to develop a logical argument, the ability to present research in a variety of
formats, and examination techniques. Tutorial topics will comprise some related to first year taught
modules in the first year Geography degree programme, with others set by individual tutors. The six
assessed assignments required during the course of the year include essay writing, report writing, and
visual presentation. Most of the assessed assignments are intended to be formative, and are returned
rapidly to the students (within two weeks) with group discussions of any weaknesses of a given
coursework, and how to improve on these to strengthen the next coursework.
Geographical Concepts, Skills and Methods I
Module code: 4SSG1011
Value: 30 credits
Coordinator: Karen Bickerstaff
Lecturers: Karen Bickerstaff, Kate Maclean, Andreas Baas, James Millington
Teaching arrangement: 20 hours lectures, 10 seminars/tutorials, 40 field/lab/supervised learning
Assessment: 4 x 1,500 word essay’s/reports (25% each)
Module Structure:
This module considers key concepts that underpin both human and physical geography, and discusses
both the theory of these concepts as well as some of main techniques and methods that can be used to
analyse geographical data. It involves the collection and analysis of data following localised fieldwork,
and training in appropriate software for statistical anlaysis. Examples of the application of concepts and
techniques are drawn from a range of geographical settings, and include familiarisaton with research
performed by geography staff.
Geography, Society, and Development
Module code: 4SSG0141
Value: 30 credits
Coordinator: Mark Pelling
Lecturers: Mark Pelling, Linda Newson, Andrew Brooks and Tony Johnston
Teaching arrangement: 40 hours lectures, both terms
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module Structure:
This module considers the development of human societies at world, national and local scales. It
examines the historical development and current state of the world economic system, the implications
of globalization for national economies, for sustainable development and for changing patterns of
consumption. Examples are drawn from a range of geographical and historical settings.
The Changing Natural Environment
Module code: 4SSG0140
Value: 30 credits
Coordinator: Marcus Kohler
Lecturers: Marcus Köhler, Mark Mulligan, Rob Francis, Bruce Malamud
Teaching arrangement: 40 hours lectures, both terms
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
This module examines fundamental principles and approaches to understanding change in the natural
environment. A range of themes are explored at a variety of geographical scales, from the global to
the micro-level, including plate tectonics, world weather systems and the hydrological cycle, as well
as glaciers, river basins and ecosystems. An important theme is global change, whether tectonic,
climatic or human-induced.
In the Second Year students must take 120 cr edits. All optional modules in
the second year ar e 15 cr edits each.
BA/BSc in Geography
Students must take 5SSG2053 Geography, Concepts, Skills & Methods II (30 credits); either
5SSG2048 Methods in Human Geography (15 credits) or 5SSG2049* Methods in Physical Geography
(15 credits), either 5SSG2046* Fieldwork in Physical Geography (15 credits) or 5SSG2047 Fieldwork
in Human and Development Geography (15 credits).
* Students taking 5SSG2049 Methods in Physical Geography MUST take 5SSG2046 Fieldwork in
Physical Geography, as the two modules link together.
In addition to the compulsory modules noted above, students must opt onto one of the following
pathways and take the compulsor y 15 credit module relating to this pathway:
Physical Geogr aphy Pathway – 5SSG2023 Ear th Sur face Pr ocesses
Human Geogr aphy Pathway – 5SSG2050 Cities: Explor ations in Ur ban Geogr aphy
Development Geogr aphy Pathway – 5SSG2044 Development Geogr aphies: Livelihoods and Policy
Contexts
Envir onmental Geogr aphy Pathway – 5SSG2052 Envir onmental Thought & Pr actice
Cities: Explorations in Urban geography
Module code: 5SSG2050
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Vincent Béal
Teaching arrangements: 16hrs lectures/2hrs seminars/ 2hrs fieldwork
Assessment: examination (50%) and essay (50%)
Module structure.
This module examines the patterns and processes of urbanization in the twenty-first century, with
reference to cities located, primarily, in Europe and North America. It describes and evaluates the
character and importance of the cities we live in, as well as some of the problems that urban
inhabitants face. This shows that people in cities are confronted by problems of different kinds
including poor shelter, environmental pollution and degradation, and inequalities in access to urban
goods and services. This raises key questions about social justice and equity in cities, and the social
and environmental sustainability and management of urban areas. In exploring such themes, the
module comprises 16 lectures, 2 seminars, and 1 field visit. The module is organised around five
themes: (a). A world of cities; (b). Understanding the city; (c). The patterning of urban space; (d). The
production and management of city spaces; (e). Ecological futures.
Climate Variability, Change, and Society
Module code: 5SSG2051
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Marcus Köhler
Teaching arrangements: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
The topics covered in this course include an overview of the principal components of the climate
system, as well as the physical mechanisms of natural and regional climate variability, climate
oscillations and teleconnections, and aspects of the science of climate change. Moreover, the human
response to climate change from the individual to societal and intergovernmental level is discussed.
This includes how climate is perceived and how technological and policy options are used to address
the issue of anthropogenic climate change in order to reduce vulnerabilities, and to provide options for
mitigation and adaptation.
Development Geographies: Livelihood and Policy Contexts
Module code: 5SSG2044
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Debby Potts
Lecturers: Debby Potts and Andrew Brooks
Teaching arrangements: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (75%) and essay (25%)
Module structure
Topics in this module cover a range of areas including Theories and strategies of development,
Poverty, Rural development issues and Urbanisation in the Global South. At the completion of the
module, students should be able to understand and engage with the debates about the contestation
over the meaning of ‘development’ for stakeholders and practitioners and develop a critical
understanding of development policy approaches.
Earth Surface Processes
Module code: 5SSG2023
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Andreas Baas
Lecturer: Andreas Baas, Nick Clifford
Teaching arrangement: 10 double lectures and one laboratory practical
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
This module discusses the basic concepts and principles that underpin geomorphic landforms and
processes operating at the Earth's surface in a great variety of landscapes around the globe. It presents
the significance of time and space scales for recognizing process-form linkages in different
environments and the interactions between fluids and sediment transport that result in the formation
and development of a variety of landforms. Topics covered include: history of geomorphology, fluvial
geomorphology, chaos, fractals, self-organisation, coastal environments, aeolian systems, glacial
landscapes, weathering & mass wasting, soils & vegetation. The module includes a sand-pile
experiment exercise.
Ecological Biogeography
Module code: 5SSG2024
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Rob Francis
Teaching Arrangements: 20hrs hours lectures/seminars
Assessment: examination (50%), essay (50%)
Module structure
The module will consist of a series of ten, two-hour lectures, which will firstly focus on defining
biodiversity, and discussing how it may be measured and utilised. This is then followed by several
lectures desribing large-scale (global and regional) patterns of biodiversity, and which focus in
particular on two of the main biogeographical theories: the latitudinal gradient and island
biogeography. The focus then moves to local patterns of biodiversity, with mechanisms and models of
community and population processes being discussed, such as succession and disturbance. The
section section of the module looks at more applied biogeographocal topics such as species invasions,
urban biogeography and human biogeography, with the final lectures in the series address the
practical application of biogeography and ecology to studying and conserving biodiversity, and
establishing whether a ‘biodiversity crisis’ currently exists.
Economic and Social Change in Post War Europe
Module code: 5SSG2011
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Chris Hamnett
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
The topics covered in this module include the economic transformation of Europe in the C20th from
agriculture to manufacturing industry and services, the changing nature of the labour markets, the role
of the welfare state, income, wealth and poverty, migration and ethnic change, demographic change,
social exclusion and the transition from state socialism to post socialism.
Environmental Remote Sensing
Module code: 5SSG2043
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Nick Drake
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
Topics taught on this module include an introduction to and the history of remote sensing;
Electromagnetic Radiation; Platforms, Sensors(active and passive), and Orbits; Visible and Near
Infrared Remote Sensing and Applications; Using AVHRR for monitoring the Mozambique floods of
2000; Microwave, Thermal; and Ultraviolet Remote Sensing and Mapping, Monitoring and
Modelling.
Environmental Thought and Practice: Politics, Concepts, and Management
Module code: 5SSG2052
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Daanish Mustafa
Teaching arrangement: 10hrs lectures and 10hrs seminars
Assessment: essay (50%); presentatation and leading of group/class discussion (40%); Poster and
presentation of poster (10%)
Module structure
What are the past, current, and future courses of environmental movements in an age of
environmental managerialism, market triumphalism and media-ted politics? This module looks to
explore environmental thought, practice, and politics from a number of different philosophical
perspectives and instances of environmental politics. It introduces students to a range of theoretical
and policy-driven conceptualisations of the environment, environmental problems and solutions at
local, regional, and global scales. In particular, it looks to address the thinking behind current
environmental movements, politics and environmental management schemes in order to offer a
critical understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of past, modern, and future
environmentalisms. Learning will be promoted through a number of concrete case studies used to
illustrate the multitude of the philosophical under-pinnings of past, current and possible future
approaches to ‘real world’ environmental management across local, regional, national, and
international scales. Students will also learn to utilise a number of different media forms (texts,
visuals, radio, documentaries) to explore the connections between environmental philosophy,
geographic concepts, and environmental management and politics. Finally, students (in assigned
groups) will be able to successfully prepare, present and lead a group discussion based on a given
topic as well as orally present an individual research project to their peers.
Fieldwork in Human and Development Geography
Module code: 5SSG2047
Value: 15 credits
Coordinators: Mark Pelling (India), Chris Hamnett (Paris), David Green (USA)
Teaching arrangement: 6 hours lectures/seminars; 1 week residential field course *.
Assessment: project (70%) and field trip diary (30%)
The fieldtrip aims to encourage an active engagement with the external world through experiential
learning beyond the formal classroom. This provides an opportunity to apply conceptual and
methodological skills learned elsewhere in the curriculum to more complex field environments. The
module encourages students to develop the ability to identify a problem or research question and to
design appropriate methodologies in the field. In doing so it also provides an opportunity to examine
ethical aspects of the research process and to experience and understand the processes involved in
team working.
*The majority of this module is taught during a one-week residential fieldtrip, which takes place in
week 11 of the first term, for which attendance and full participation is compulsory. Should this be
impossible (e.g. due to medical problems) students should contact the relevant Fieldwork Coordinator
for Human and Development Geography and the UG Programme Officer immediately.
Module structure
The fieldtrip aims to encourage an active engagement with the external world through experiential
learning beyond the formal classroom. This provides an opportunity to apply conceptual and
methodological skills learned elsewhere in the curriculum to more complex field environments. The
module encourages students to develop the ability to identify a problem or research question and to
design appropriate methodologies in the field. In doing so it also provides an opportunity to examine
ethical aspects of the research process and to experience and understand the processes involved in
team working.
Prior to the start of the fieldtrip separate lectures/seminars will focus on:
Ethical, moral and safety issues in the field
Processes of effective group working
Geographical and historical contexts of the specific field site, including cultural, political, social and
economic aspects.
Fieldwork in Physical Geography
Module code: 5SSG2046
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Nick Drake
Teaching arrangement: 3 hours lectures; 3 hours practicals; 1 week residential field course*.
Assessment: project (100%) and non-assessed fieldbook.
The fieldtrip aims to encourage an active engagement with the external world through experiential
learning beyond the formal classroom. This provides an opportunity to apply conceptual and
methodological skills learned elsewhere in the curriculum to more complex field environments. The
module encourages students to develop the ability to identify a problem or research question and to
design appropriate methodologies in the field. In doing so it also provides an opportunity to examine
ethical aspects of the research process and to experience and understand the processes involved in
team working.
* The majority of this module is taught during a one-week residential fieldtrip, which takes place in
week 11 of the first term, for which attendance and full participation is compulsory. Should this be
impossible (e.g. due to medical problems) students should contact their the Fieldwork Coordinator for
Physical Geography and the UG Programme Officer immediately. Students taking this module as
an option are required to take the 5SSG2049 Methods in Physical Geography module, which
complements it.
Prior to the start of the fieldtrip separate lectures will focus on:
Safety and ethical issues in the field.
Introduction to the field area where the trip will take place.
After the fieldtrip, lectures and lab practical will focus on:
Analyzing data collected in the field.
Geographical Concepts, Skills & Methods II
Module Code: 5SSG2053
Value: 30 credits
Coordinator: Nick Drake
Lecturers: various
Teaching arrangements: A mixture of lectures, practicals and tutorials; both terms
Assessment: 2 X 1500 word essays (20% each), Cartography (20%), Online test (10%), 2000 word IGS
Proposal (30%)
Module structure
Broad topics relating to the application of geographical concepts, skills and methods will be covered
during a series of lectures, while specific skills and methods will be developed in seminar or practical
sessions given over blocks of several weeks. Parallel tutorial sessions will also take place to develop
research skills relating to, among other things, the development of the third year dissertation project.
Historical Geographies of Urbanism
Module code: 5SSG2017
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: David Green
Teaching arrangements: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (50%) and analytical report (50%)
Module structure
This module covers topics such as Cities and Industrial Capitalism; Private and Public open spaces
and Urban problems. The module aims to give an understanding of the comparative dimensions of
urbanization from the eighteenth to early twentieth century. We compare and contrast urbanization at
different places and times in both quantitative and qualitative terms and explain the relationships
between social, cultural, political processes and the production of urban spaces and urban forms.
Hydrology (Not running 2011/2012)
Module code: 5SSG2022
Value: 15 credits)
Lecturer: Hannah Cloke
Teaching arrangements: 18 hours of lectures, 2 hour lab practical
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
This module develops an understanding of hydrological processes. This module covers the movement
of water through the hydrological cycle, and its interaction with the surface and sub-surface. The first
part of the module concentrates on the main components of the hydrological cycle, their measurement
and estimation. The second part puts these components together to look at larger scale catchment
behaviour, flood forecasting and management of water resources.
Methods in Human Geography
Module code: 5SSG2048
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Tony Johnston
Lecturers: Tony Johnston and Andrew Brooks
Teaching arrangement: 10 one-hour lectures; 5x2 hour practicals
Assessment: essay (100%).
Module structure
The module enables students to understand different methodologies that may be available for human
geography research and the impacts they have on the possible outcomes of that research including:
ethnographic methodologies; sampling and survey work; questionnaire design; interview techniques;
focus group work; textual analysis; and data analysis techniques. By the end of the module students
will have the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out their IGS successfully.
Methods in Physical Geography
Module code: 5SSG2049
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Nick Drake
Lecturers: Nick Drake and Andreas Baas
Teaching arrangement: 7 hours lectures; 15 hours practicals
Assessment: project (100%).
This module aims to encourage engagement through experiential learning beyond the formal
classroom, concentrating on practicals in a lab and/or computer setting. This provides an opportunity
to apply conceptual and methodological skills learned elsewhere in the curriculum. The module
encourages students to develop the ability to identify problems and research questions in a lab and/or
computer setting, and to design appropriate methodologies. For Physical Geographers, the main
purposes of the this required 15 credit module is to give students enough background in a variety of
research methodologies and research techniques that they can (1) do an effective Independent
Geographical Study during their third year and (2) have a better appreciation, though hands-on use of
computer, lab and field techniques, of material they learn in more theoretical-based modules.
Module structure
The module enables students to understand different methodologies that may be available for physical
geography research and the impacts they have on the possible outcomes of that research. To apply
geomorphology, geology, ecology, GIS and remote sensing techniques to practical projects. To
understand different approaches to data analysis. To apply simple statistical techniques. To have some
of the necessary research methodology tools to carry out their IGS successfully.
*Please note that students taking this course are required to take the 5SSG2046 Fieldwork in
Physical Geography module.
Natural Hazards
Module code: 5SSG2042
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Bruce Malamud
Teaching arrangements: 12hrs lectures; 8hrs seminars/tutorials
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
Both the causes and results of natural hazards provide a dramatic intersection between physical and
social geography. Many disasters that occur are a complex mix of natural events and human
processes, including political, social and economic. This course provides an overview of natural
hazards, including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, mass wasting, floods, climate (severe storms,
strong winds, droughts), and wildfire, and the complex relationship that exists between each natural
hazard and society. This course is aimed at both physical and human geography students.
Territoriality, State, and Nation: Political Geography in the Developing World
Module code: 5SSG2040
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Richard Schofield
Teaching arrangements: 16hrs lectures; 4 seminars
Assessment: examination (75%); report (15%) and oral exam (10%)
Module structure:
This module gives an overview of political geography’s historical and contemporary treatment of the
questions of territoriality, state and nation. Topics covered will include Nations and nationalism and
Boundaries and territorial disputes and will answer questions of how territoriality, nation and
sovereignty are viewed in developing regions of the world.
Urban and Social Inequalities: Thematic Issues
Module code: 5SSG2025
Value: 15 credits
Coor dinator : Loretta Lees
Lecturer: Loretta Lees, Tim Butler
Teaching arrangements: 17hrs lectures; 2 field exercises
Assessment: examination (50%) and essay (50%)
Module structure
This module looks at the question of inequality from a number of different theoretical perspectives
and empirical contexts some of which have been drawn together in research on gentrification. It
involves a discussion of traditional forms of inequality in terms of social class, employment and
housing as well as by gender, ethnicity, sexuality and culture. The module draws predominantly on
studies of cities and neighbourhoods in the UK, North America and Australia. We bring the
investigation of urban social inequality together at the end of the course with a fieldclass in East
London which explores how many of these issues have emerged in the relatively recent
transformation of the East End of London.
In the Thir d Year students must take 120 cr edits. With the exception of the
IGS which is 30 cr edits, all modules in the thir d year ar e 15 cr edits each.
BA/BSc in Geogr aphy/BA Development Geogr aphy
Students must take 6SSG0610 Independent Geographical Study AND 6SSG3052 Geography: Histories,
Concepts, Philosophies
Advanced Issues in Natural and Environmental Hazards
Module code: 6SSG3064
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Bruce Malamud
Teaching arrangements: 10hrs lectures; 10hrs seminars/tutorials
Assessment: examination (75%) and presentation, leading of group/class discussion plus handout
(25%)
Module structure
This module is aimed at understanding current methods for assessing risk and reducing disaster for
hazards that are natural (e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, mass wasting, floods, climate, and
wildfire) and environmental (e.g. heavy-metal contamination), and the complex relationship that
exists between these hazards and society. This module is aimed at both physical and human
geography students.
Cultural Landscapes – North American Style
Course code: 6SSG3023
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Loretta Lees
Teaching arrangements: 15hrs lectures and 5 seminars
Assessment: examination (50%) and essay (50%)
Module structure
This module draws on the cultural studies and cultural geography literatures to illuminate, navigate,
and enable comprehension and critique of, cultural landscapes in North America. The module
analyses a selection of landscapes and cities, ranging from the suburbs to chat shows, Los Angeles to
Atlanta, and explores their social and cultural construction and the part they play in constituting a
particular North American identity. The temporal focus on these landscapes is the turning point from
modernity/Fordism to postmodernity/post-Fordism. Exploring these landscapes highlights certain
discourses on postmodern American culture, such as Baudrillard’s notion that America is neither
dream nor reality but hyperreality, the theme park thesis and the McDonaldization thesis. The role of
the media in what has been termed a ‘media saturated society’ is shown to be endemic in both the
production and communication of these landscapes.
Desert Environments
Course code: 6SSG3025
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Nick Drake
Teaching Arrangement: 20hrs Lectures
Assessment: Two research essays (50% each)
Module Structure
This module will be taught in ten two hour lectures covering how deserts are defined, drought and
water scarcity in deserts and their consequences for humans, desert life and its adaptations to a harsh
environment, desert geomorphology, past climate change and its effects on human occupation or arid
regions, the development of civilisations is arid areas and desertification.
Directed Readings in Geography
Course code: 6SSG3040
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Henry Rothstein
Lecturer: various
Teaching Arrangement: personal study, either term
Assessment: research project (100%)
Module structure
The module should be taken in association with ONE other third year module (the prime module).
This module is a particularly challenging option and only students who have a keen interest in the area
of study concerned and wish to develop it further should consider registering for this option. Students
registering for this module will need to request a consent form from the UG Programme
Officer. You will need to consult with the lecturer concerned on the prime module, who will
authorise your consent form if they are happy for you to take this option. The method of
assessment for this prime module is not affected by taking the directed readings module associated
with it.
The Directed Readings module provides the opportunity for an in-depth
review/critique/analysis of material related to the prime module. This will involve one meeting with
the lecturer on the prime module, who will provide you with a set of key references on a particular
theme. You must adhere to the topics set to ensure that there is no overlap between the Directed
Readings coursework and the coursework/exam questions for the associated module. It is your
responsibility to work independently to produce the coursework.
Discovering Order in Geography (Not running 2011/2012)
Module code: 6SSG3031
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Bruce Malamud
Teaching Arrangement: 10hrs lectures; 10hrs seminars/tutorials
Assessment : essay (10%) and project (90%).
Module structure
Wars, crime, cities, the economy, natural hazards, and the climate are all complex systems governed by
a variety of parameters. This module provides an overview of some of the concepts and ideas that
researchers in the social and natural sciences use to explore order and gain insight to such complex
systems. The module will discuss fractals, chaos, self-organized criticality, cellular-automata models,
neural systems, growth models, and spatial and temporal persistence. Many examples from the social
and physical sciences will be presented. The student will gain an overall view of some of the
philosophies currently being used in the study of complex systems. In addition, there will be an
overview of quantitative methods without the use of advanced mathematics. A practical project will be
an integral part of the module, allowing the student, with the aid of the lecturer, to investigate in depth
one concept or philosophy for studying complex systems, and apply it to an area of his or her choosing.
This module is intended for both human and physical geographers.
Economy, Society, and Politics in 19th Century London
Module code: 6SSG0365
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: David Green
Teaching arrangement: 18hrs lectures plus 2 classes
Assessment: examination (50%) and essay (50%).
Module structure
In the context of London’s development between c. 1800 and c. 1914, the course aims to (i) develop
an understanding of London both as a physical place and a conceptual entity, and (ii) explore the
relationships between economic, social, cultural and political processes and (iii) understand London in
its wider geographical and historical setting. Topics covered will include London Impressions: the
material and imagined worlds of nineteenth-century London, Leisure and pleasure: London’s cultural
industries and Wealth, poverty and social mobility.
Environmental Remote Sensing II
Module code: 6SSG3028
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Martin Wooster
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
The majority of this module is delivered in a lecture format, which will include use of educational
resources provided by space agenices such as NASA and ESA. In addition there are two practical
sessions which provide the opportunity for students to use remotely sensed data in practice, as well as
learning about it in theory, and to build on the practical skills they may have gained during the earlier
part of the degree programme by using state-of-the-art image processing software to analyse a series of
hazard-related datasets derived from Earth observation satellites.
Environmental Risk, Governance, and Society
Module code: 6SSG3058
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Henry Rothstein, Ragnar Lofstedt
Teaching arrangement: 10hrs lectures, 10hrs seminars
Assessment: examination (50%); coursework essay (50%).
Module structure
This module starts by considering how geography has approached issues of environmental risk, and
goes on to discuss contemporary social theoretical explanations of the salience of risk within so-called
‘late modern’ society. The module then explores the factors that shape the wide variety of ways in
which environmental risks are governed, using case studies to explore the factors that shape the
politics, processes and outcomes of risk governance. The module then moves on to discuss the factors
that shape public perceptions of environmental risk and the associated problems posed for policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders in communicating risk issues. Public risk perceptions are
explored in greater depth through a series of case studies such as nuclear power, climate change and
chemcial, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism. The module finishes with reflections on the
future management of environmental risk issues.
Gendered Geographies of Development and Globalisation
Module code: 6SSG3057
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Kate MacLean
Teaching arrangement: 15 hours of lectures, 5 seminars
Assessment: essay (75%) and oral presentation of project with handout (25%)
Module structure
The module will open with a discussion of what exclusion by gender means and how scholarship and
activism in the field of gender and development has progressed and engaged with changing economic
and political realities. In order to highlight the different constructions of gender in different
geographic contexts, household diversity and gendered divisions of labour will be examined. This
will lead to discussions of how gender intersects with development, the environment, globalisation,
livelihoods, education and multiculturalism. Throughout the module, the way that the construction of
development can disguise differential gendered impact and alternative ways of thinking about
development, for example the human capabilities approach, will be highlighted and alternative
feminist visions of development explored.
Geography: Histories, Concepts, Philosophies
Module code: 6SSG3052
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: David Demeritt
Teaching Arrangement: 20hrs lectures and seminar discussions
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
This module will provide students with a broad awareness of the historical development of ideas
within the discipline of Geography, together with an appreciation of its interaction with developments
in cognate disciplines within the humanities, social and natural sciences. A key rationale for the
module is to alert students to the social construction of knowledge and to develop an understanding of
how and why specific knowledge becomes accepted, validated, contested and rejected within the
intellectual community. The module will, therefore, introduce the diverse engagement of Geographers
with particular models of scientific practice and competing philosophies of knowledge, within the
broad historiography of the subject’s development. The module is explicitly designed to provide an
integrative framework for final year undergraduates, in which students can locate and re-evaluate the
substantive and methodological bodies of knowledge acquired in other areas of the course. Students
are divided up into groups for seminar discussions.
Global Cities: Processes, Problems, and Policies
Module code: 6SSG3016
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Chris Hamnett
Teaching arrangement: 18hrs lectures, two video-based classes
Assessment: examination (100%)
Module structure
The module covers the following four major sets of topics:
The global city thesis: from Hall to Sassen. Approaches to the designation and classification of global
cities. Global cities as the control and command centres of the international economy.
From manufacturing to financial and business services, and the rise of the cultural industries: the
changing economy of global cities; Global cities as centres of finance capital and competition.
The changing occupational structure and income structure, Social polarisation and dual cities; Race,
ethnicity, migration and segregation; Inequality, social exclusion and the rise of the urban
underclass?; The housing market: gentrification and homelessness;
Property development and global cities; Canary Wharf and remaking of London and New York.
Planning global cities. The rise of the cultural industries and global cities as centres of cultural
production and consumption.
Landscape Ecology
Module code: 6SSG3032
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Rob Francis
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs hours lectures/seminars
Assessment: critical literature review (100%).
Module structure
It is now accepted that any ecological management or conservation effort must be conducted at the
landscape scale or they will almost certainly fail. This makes an understanding of landscape ecology
useful for land planners and managers, policy makers, landscape architects, ecologists and
conservation biologists, amongst other professions. The module is a series of ten, two-hour lectures,
which will begin by defining landscape ecology and establishing its status as an ecological and
geographical discipline, and defining its theoretical and practicle roles in developing our
understanding and management of landscapes. This includes the way in which we can group the
landscape spatially and temporally into patches, corridors and matrices, all of which may function in
different ways and affect how biota and abiota flow around the landscape.
The discussion will then go into greater depth, looking at landscape patterns that may be observed in
both natural and anthropogenically-modified environments, and the explanations and implications of
these arrangementss in terms of ecological processes. This will be supported by a look at spatial
models involved in landscape ecology (e.g. networks and landscape metrics) and their application to
land management and conservation of biodiversity. This section will include a practical land
management exercise lasting for one session and focusing on an evaluation of landscape management
techniques for applied conservation. The series will end with an examination of new directions and
future trends to be expected in landscape ecology.
New Geographies of Economic Development in the Global South
Module code: 6SSG3067
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Andrew Brooks
Teaching arrangement: 20 lectures/discussions/short films, second term
Assessment: essay (50%), examination (50%)
Module Structure
This module considers recent changes in the economic geography of the Global South and the current
direction of development interventions and discourse. The failure of mainstream development is
investigated in relation to the political context of neoliberal hegemony. Connections between
production and consumption and affluence and poverty are explored using the concepts of ‘global
value chains’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ to frame discussions and explore how the lives of the urban poor
are inter-connected with broader economic patterns. This module gives students the opportunity to
evaluate the ways in which the growing influences of China in Africa and other South-South
economic engagements are affecting people in the developing world. A cross-cutting case study of
clothing industries links the discussion of different geo-economic movements through the module.
Political Economy of Hazardscapes
Module code: 6SSG3056
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Daanish Mustafa
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: essay (50%), poster (30%) and presentation (20%)
Module structure
The module will consist of eight in class lectures and two sessions of student presentations. We will
review the history of hazards research from religious based explanations of enviromental hazards, to
more scienitific and engineering based approaches, to the recent shift towards political economic and
discourse based reasons for human vulnerability to hazards. The discussion of hazards will be
specifically nested within broader concerns with human enviornment interactions and environmental
thought from the paleolithic, neolithic, classical and ultimately modern period.
Having established the temporal and spatial context of hazards research and human experience of
hazards, the concept of hazardscapes will be introduced as a hybrid perspective emphasizing both the
material and discursive underpinnings of vulnerability to hazards. Through the second half of the
course the concept of hazardscapes will be discussed with reference to such topical concerns as
geographies of development and underdevelopment, gender, terrorism and violence, and disaster
relief and recovery. The course will conclude with an exploration of pathways for building resilience
against hazards and politically emancipatory and socially just conceptions of sustainable development
Social Theory and the Environment
Module code: 6SSG3065
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Jamie Lorimer
Teaching arrangement: 12hrs lectures and 8hrs tutorials/seminars
Assessment: essay (75%) and presentation and chairing of group discussion (25%)
Module structure
The aim of this module is to introduce students to a range of social theories that are currently of
interest to critical human geographers and explore their implications for understanding environmental
thought, practice and politics. Theoretical positions covered will include free market
environmentalism, Marxist and feminist political ecologies, postcolonialism, poststructuralism,
science studies, and ‘more-than-human’/post-humanist approaches. Illustrate the potential of social
theory to comprehend and inform real world environmental issues – including biodiversity
conservation, climate change, agriculture and food, genetic modification and public engagement in
science and technology and for those students who have taken the 5SSG2052 module enable them to
consolidate and develop ideas.
Third World Political Ecology
Module code: 6SSG3013
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Raymond Bryant
Teaching arrangement: 19hrs lectures and 1 class (video)
Assessment: examination (50%), essay (50%)
Specific aims of the module:
This module aims to introduce students to environmental change in the Third World (or South) with a
view to assessing the prospects for success of sustainable development strategies, along with an
evaluation of the causal forces and socio-economic and political ramifications of such changes.
Topics covered will include Colonialism and environmental change, Transnational corporations
(TNCs) and the environment, Non-government organisations (NGOs) and the environment,
Environmental movements as livelihood struggles and Sustainable development.
Tropical Forests in a Changing Environment
Module code: 6SSG3030
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Mark Mulligan
Teaching arrangement: 15hrs lectures, 1 workshop plus 4 seminars
Assessment: examination (50%), research essay (50%)
The module includes hands-on demonstrations with monitoring equipment, canopy access techniques,
biological specimens and hardware models in our experimental laboratory. The coursework requires
students to venture deeply into the scientific literature and thus develop good reading, note taking,
summary and research skills. Topics covered will include Humid tropical climates, Climate history
and scenario for the humid tropics, Ecosystem processes and Biodiversity.
Urban Climatology (Not running 2011/12)
Module code: 6SSG3055
Value: 15 credits
Coordinator: Professor Sue Grimmond
Lecturers: Professor Sue Grimmond and Dr Marcus Kohler
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures/seminars
Assessment: Examination (50%) and project (50%)
Module structure
This module will cover aspects of urban climatology including:
Key concepts: Features of urban environments that affect climate – people, land use and land cover;
Scale; Atmospheric Structure; Surface radiation, energy and water balances
Observing the urban atmosphere: Establishing experimental control; Urban-Rural Comparisons;
Siting and exposure of instrumentation; Remote sensing; Large urban climate projects; previous work
in London
Modelling the urban atmosphere: Urban climate models at the building, canyon and meso-scale;
Simulations of urban effects
Urban climates: The Urban Heat Island; Airflow in the urban canopy (surface layer and outer layer);
Moisture and Precipitation fields
Applications of urban climatology: for example, Building design and local planning; Risk and
Emergency Management; Water conservation; Sustainability and Global Change
Urban Governance and Regeneration
Module code: 6SSG3054
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Vincent Béal
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: exam (100%)
Module structure
The module covers three principal themes: governing the city; regenerating the city; and the
sustainable city. It examines provides students with an understanding of the key concepts in
understanding urban governance and processes of regeneration by examining: theories of governance,
the role of different interests in the governance of cities, broader processes of globalisation and socioeconomic change, and recent visions of the sustainable city.
Urban Japan
Module code: 6SSG3035
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer responsible: Richard Wiltshire
Teaching arrangement: 20hrs lectures
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (50%) and 1 hour exam (50%)
Module structure
The module aims to give students an awareness of urbanisation and urban life in another advanced
industrial society but expressed within a unique cultural context, the understanding of which requires
reflection on how far personal and scholarly appreciation of the city is inherently culture-bound. The
evolution of cities and urban systems are tracked from early Chinese influences through to the
emergence of Tokyo as a global metropolis. Thematic aspects of Japanese urbanism are then
explored, each selected for an aspect of difference that can help challenge conceptions of normative
theory, including population mobility in a highly structured economy, corporate interventions in the
housing market, segregation and social mix, the regeneration of company towns for a post-industrial
era, and the centrality of consumption and leisure in the contemporary city. Urban and regional
planning policies and practices are also explored, at a variety of scales and from both state dominated
and community led perspectives.
Water and Development
Module code: 6SSG3066
Lecturer: Naho Mirumachi
Teaching arrangement: 10 lectures, 10 seminars, second term
Assessment: essay (80%), presentation (20%)
Module structure
The module explores the interface of water resources management and sustainable development
through the perspective of politics of water use and allocation. The module first examines different
types of water and their uses and relevance to sustainable development. Secondly, the module
examines politics of water use and allocation and the challenges of water governance at the local,
national and international levels using case studies of community irrigation, Integrated Water
Resources Management and international transboundary river basin agreements. Particular focus is
on the actors and institutions involved in water governance at these three spatial scales. Thirdly,
through discussions, group work and student presentations during the seminars, the module will assess
the policy responses to the problems of water resources management in developing country contexts.