Geography and Planning

This introduction to Physical Geography and Earth Sciences examines the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and biosphere, emphasizing processes, flows of energy and materials, and the interconnectedness of these Earth systems. Specific topics include weather and climate, earth materials, geological and geomorphic processes involved in the genesis of landforms, river systems, glaciers, soils, and biomes.

The course will focus on the processes that drive environmental change and how past societies have responded to the constraints that these impose. The emphasis is on the current interglacial, the Holocene, and how increasing population and technology has affected human-environment interactions.

Examines the relations between food, nature, and society. Food is fundamental to human existence, and central to most cultures; it also has significant and widespread effects on the physical and social environments. Food is used as a lens to explore human-environment interactions locally and globally. Serves as an introduction to environmental and human geography.

Economic development and underdevelopment are taking shape in an increasingly interconnected global context. This course examines geographic approaches to "Third World" development, economic globalization, poverty, and inequality. It pays particular attention to the roles of rural-urban and international migration in shaping specific landscapes of development.

Offers an introduction to North American cities and urbanization in a global context. It explores social, cultural, political and economic forces, processes, and events that shape contemporary urbanism. The course adopts the lens of 'fixity' and 'flow' to examine how the movement of people, ideas, goods, and capital, as well as their containment in the infrastructure and space of the city, give rise to particular urban forms.

Have you wondered why we find a ladybug ‘picturesque’ but a cockroach ‘disgusting’? Have you thought of butterflies as feminine and sublime, and bees as an army? Have you ever received advice in your workplace or school to avoid behaving like a ‘mosquito,’ meaning to resist engaging in micro-aggressive conducts? Have you been curious about why the film industry created an enlarged half human/half ant ‘alien’ creature to feed our worst fears? This course engages with these and other contradictory and complex renderings of insects in Western culture and around the world to investigate how we define the limits of social belonging in relation to space and place. The course explores how the anxieties and wonders around insects’ behaviour are related to aspects of the human/nature relationship. By tracking the political ecology of insects, the course provides a first approximation to arguments about the connection between nature and culture and “lived-in” environments; also exploring themes of class, gender, race and settler colonialism. Because this is a first-year seminar, reading and engaging actively with the course material is important for this course.

The course also serves as an introduction to other subjects that are relevant to navigating post-secondary life, such as: critical reading; conducting university-level research; presenting and communicating ideas in the classroom; teamwork; and how to benefit from it; and developing social networks.

Restricted to newly admitted first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Every day we read about climate change, species extinction, environmental degradation and the need for nature conservation. It is increasingly becoming apparent that the environmental problems that we face today arise from a deeper crisis relating to human ways of viewing and connecting to nature. This course asks how we can rework human ways of relating to nature, while querying the idea of “nature” and questioning the dominant approaches to nature conservation. It asks how can concerns for nature and for other species be balanced with that for human livelihoods and well-being? How can inequalities with regards to the distribution of environmental goods and bads be reduced? How are citizens and communities in the different parts of the world struggling against environmental injustice and to protect their local environments? How do these place-based movement demand justice and what visions do they articulate for a more just and sustainable world? How do indigenous worldviews offer conceptual resources for rethinking nature and our ways of relating to nature? The course will explore these questions using lectures, class discussion, videos and student presentations. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Is space political? In what ways? What are the implications of thinking about politics geographically? How do political conflicts both invoke and transform space and place? What kinds of alternative political relationships to space and alternative mappings can we imagine? This course will attempt to answer those questions while exploring a wide range of possible contexts in which political spaces are evident. These may include: conflicts over the intimate spaces of the body, identity, and the home; the racialization and gendering of space; the politics of cities and urbanization; the boundaries of public and private space; struggles over land, property, resources and ‘nature’; the political geographies of labour, citizenship and migration; globalization of economic markets and alternative economic political and social cartographies; borders, geopolitics, and the territorial politics of empire; and the geographic projects of colonialism, post-coloniality, modernity, and modernization. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course will focus on how racial conflict affects the size, shape, composition, and landscape of cities. It will emphasize Canadian and American cities, but other international examples will be discussed for comparison. Ethno-racial conflict has been, and continues to be, an important force on cities throughout the world. Course topics will include housing and employment discrimination, ethno-racial uprisings, and inequality. The course will be a discussion-oriented blend of academic readings, popular journalism, and film. It will serve as an introduction to concepts that are dealt with in greater depth in second, third, and fourth year geography courses. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Introduction to the principles of geomorphology; earth materials; major features of crustal morphology; landforming processes of water, wind, waves and ice; human impact on earth surface processes. One hour laboratory session approximately every other week; a local field trip.

Introduction to the large scale processes responsible for determining global and regional climate and atmospheric circulation patterns, as well as the small scale processes responsible for determining the microclimates of specific environments.

Introduction to soil science dealing with the chemical, physical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation and development; the classification of soils, and the application of soil science to environmental, agricultural and forestry issues. Field trip cost: $20.

Introduction to the hydrologic cycle with emphasis on the physical processes, including precipitation, interception, evaporation, runoff, ground water and soil water. Basic hydrological models will be practiced. Field trip cost: $20.

Focusing on the impacts that global flows of ideas, culture, people, goods, and capital have on cities throughout the globe, this course explores some of the factors that differentiate the experiences of globalization and urban change in cities at different moments in history and in various geographic locations.

Considers the role of planning in shaping the urban landscape through historical and contemporary examples that illustrate the interplay of modernist and post-modernist approaches to city building. Traces the origins, competing rationalities and lingering effects of planning in the production of urban space. Broaches possibilities for engaging planning critically to address challenges of social and environmental justice in cities today.

Provides an introduction to economic geography and economic geography theory from the 1970s on, illustrating the different ways that geographers have conceptualized the restructuring of resource industries, manufacturing and services. The crisis of Fordism and the rise of new production models will be given particular attention, along with the reorganization of finance, the rise of cultural industries and the globalization of commodity chains. New regimes of governance of the economy will also be considered.

Focuses on society-environment relations and different approaches to resource governance and management. This includes exploration of the spatial, social, and political economic origins and implications of humans' changing relations to nature. Drawing on debates from environmental governance and political ecology literatures, the course also investigates the ways that different actors and institutions have framed and sought solutions to environmental and resource challenges.

This course examines the changing role of geographic information and maps in society. It considers how spatial information is produced, organized, and used in different historical, cultural, and political contexts. Topics examined include: the effects of the shift from print to digital mapping; implications of mobile spatial technologies and the geoweb; open source and open access; production and control of spatial data and information; and alternative cartographies. Introduces concepts of Geospatial Literacy, Critical Mapping and Critical GIS.

This course considers the creation and consolidation of settler colonies in the region known to many as North America. With an eye to the colonial present, the course focuses on the period from the 15th century to the early 20th century. Cultural texts and place-specific cases are used to ground themes and processes that also bear on the wider field of historical geography, including narratives of discovery and possession; ecological imperialism and environmental transformation; the (re)settlement of land and colonial government; enslavement and industrialization; frontiers, borders, and resource extraction; and some of the Indigenous geographies that preceded, were transformed by and transformed, and exceeded the reach of colonial power.

Introduction to the geographies of urban social exclusion and segregation after 1750. Using a selection of cities from around the world, the course examines the impacts and implications of urban social inequalities.

Social and economic differences have been, and continue to be, a prominent feature of Canada’s geography. In this course these differences are examined at a regional and local scale. The course adopts a thematic approach and considers issues such as historical development, urbanization, industrialization, immigration and population change, Canada’s cultural mosaic and native issues. Emphasis will be placed on the evolution of social and economic policies and Canada’s incorporation into a global economy.

Explores how new technologies and industries are generated and sustained, or failed to be. Focuses on the dynamics of leading technological sectors such as electronics, automobiles and biotechnology in their geographical and historical contexts. We critically scrutinise the iconic Silicon Valley along with other major innovative regions/nations, and investigate the key role of universities and finance in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

Geography matters in the success of both public and private sector organisations. Using mostly retail examples contemporary location problems are addressed. The geographies of demand and supply are analysed and trade area and site selection techniques are applied. The relevance of the planning context and utility of geovisualisation techniques such as GIS are also briefly considered.

After a short historical overview of the making of America, this course focuses on contemporary issues in American society, economy, politics, race, regional distinctions and disparities, urban development.

Theory and practical application of elementary quantitative techniques in geography emphasizing descriptive, inferential and spatial statistical analysis, probability, and sampling.

Practical course on field methods designed to enable students to carry out their own research projects. Behavioural observation, interviewing, questionnaire design, sampling theory, content analysis of written and graphic material, data coding and focus groups.

Introduction to digital mapping and spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS). Students learn how to use GIS software to find, edit, analyze and map geographic data to create their own maps, analyze geographic problems and use techniques that can be applied to a variety of subject areas.

Builds on GGR272H1 by providing students with practical spatial analysis methods and the underlying theory needed to understand how to approach various geographic problems using geographic information system (GIS) software and a variety of data types and sources.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/.... Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Elements of drainage basin morphology and hydrology, classification of rivers, stream patterns and hydraulic geometry. Elements of open channel flow, sediment transport and the paleohydrology of river systems. River channel adjustments to environmental change, human impact and the management/design of river habitats. Exercises include experimentation in a laboratory flume. Usually offered every other year. Field trip cost: $20.

Identifies patterns in and explains processes behind plant and animal distributions through space and time. Topics covered include ecological and evolutionary dynamics, disturbance, dispersal, migration, continental drift, speciation, extinction, paleoenvironments and island biogeography. We also examine terrestrial and marine biomes, the meaning of biodiversity, conservation challenges, and recent biogeographic changes associated with human impact.

We will explore the climate geomorphology, soils, hydrology, biogeochemical cycling, limnology and food web structures of the Arctic and Subarctic. Current stresses of climate change and pollution are discussed along with scientific and political solutions.

Socio-economic, technical, political and environmental issues associated with the utilization of forest biomass (e.g., harvesting residues, thinnings, salvage, short rotation woody crops) for a source of renewable energy. Field trip cost: $20.

A comprehensive examination of the greenhouse warming problem, beginning with economic, carbon cycle, and climate model projections; impacts on and adaptive responses of agriculture, forests, fisheries, and water resources; options and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This course examines recent changes in global migration processes. Specifically, the course addresses the transnationalization and feminization of migrant populations and various segments of the global labor force. The coursework focuses on analyzing classical paradigms in migration studies, as well as emerging theoretical approaches to gender and migration. In addition, it traces the shifting empirical trends in gendered employment and mobility patterns. It uses in-depth case study material to query the frameworks employed in migration studies and to understand the grounded implications of gendered migration. It pays particular attention to the interventions made by feminist geographers in debates about work, migration, place, and space.

The idea of wilderness permeates narratives of Canadian national identity, while policy-makers seek to manage and contain natural areas. This course compares and contrasts historical and contemporary wilderness narratives in literature, painting and film with policies in areas such as conservation, urban planning, land claims and tourism.

Diverse approaches to environmental issues in a variety of multicultural settings are introduced, compared and analyzed, using case studies. Perspectives on environmental management will be discussed as they emerge from contexts such as Latin America, Asia, or Africa.

Explores the diverse ways of understanding and responding to the world that emerge from indigenous cultures around the world. Examines how indigenous ways of being and relating to their natural environment can help us understand and address the current environmental crisis. Using examples of indigenous activism from Canada and around the world, examines how colonial histories shape dispossession and marginalization and inform visions for the future. Topics include traditional ecological knowledge, place-based social movements, environmental concerns of indigenous peoples, bio-cultural restoration and decolonization of nature-human relations.

This course aims to explore how economic agents act and interact in space and how this creates subdivisions within the global, national and regional political economy. In a largely conceptual and interdisciplinary manner, the course investigates the role of institutions in the relational economy and the spatial construction of the political economy. Institutions are viewed as formal or informal stabilizations of economic interaction. Questions which guide the analysis are related to how institutions are established, how they evolve, how they impact economic action, and how they are changed through political and economic action at different spatial scales. Through this, the course introduces a relational and spatial perspective to the analysis of economic action and institutions. This perspective is based on the assumption that economic action is situated in socio-institutional contexts, evolves along particular paths and, at the same time, remains fundamentally contingent. Topics to be discussed include the social construction of economic space, industrial organization and location, the establishment and maintenance of economic networks, as well as processes of firm formation, learning and knowledge creation.

This course examines how violence is enacted in Canada, at various scales, and across domestic, urban, national, and international landscapes. We will interrogate what is meant by violence; examine its colonial, racial and patriarchal dimensions; explore the impact on people and communities; and attend to forms of resistance and repair.

Examines links between global economic integration and geographically uneven economic development. Focuses on debates and empirical studies on global production networks (GPNs), and associated issues such as offshoring, outsourcing, and upgrading. Blends analysis of both theory and practice of business firms and regional development. Seeks to develop an in-depth understanding of the key actors driving contemporary global economic transformation, within the 'transnational space' constituted and structured by transnational firns, state institutions, and ideologies.

Introduction to the work of feminist geographers. The course will explore the relationship between gender and space, emphasizing spatial cognition, architecture, and layout of the city.

Explores changes in the nature of work and the structure and geography of labour markets. Topics will include globalization, lean production, flexibility and risk, industrial relations, workfare, the body at work, and gender and work.

Explores the changing global geographies of food by tracing international movements of food through both mainstream and 'alternative' supply chains. The implications for sustainability, food security, community autonomy and health are investigated.

Introduction to and critical evaluation of major ideas and conceptual traditions underpinning environmental and natural resource politics and regulation. Topics include: parks and protected areas, market-based environmental regulation, property rights and conservation, Malthusianism, and biodiversity conservation. Emphasis is placed on critical reading of primary texts.

Analyses the social and behavioural geographies of climate change, including: climate change communication (how we interpret and communicate climate science); climate change prevention strategies, from the macro to micro scale; and possibilities for climate change adaptation.

Managing demand and supply; linkages between water quality and human health. Case studies from the industrial world and from developing countries, rural and urban. Implications of population growth and climate change for water resource management.

This course explores the emergence and reproduction of class and racial social spaces, the development of new economic spaces, and the growing importance of the reform and planning movements. Emphasis is on metropolitan development between 1850 and 1950.

Principles of optical, active and passive microwave remote sensing; satellite orbit and sensor characteristics; image processing and analysis techniques and software; and environmental remote sensing applications.

Describes and analyses a range of key environmental issues in the context of the Global South. Topics covered include: air quality and water supply, solid waste management, impacts of and responses to environmental change. Considers factors that influence distribution of environmental costs and benefits in geographic and historical terms. Also examines technologies and policy paradigms that have framed and sought to address environmental issues in the Global South.

Investigates North American urban political geography, exploring conflicts over immigration, environment, gentrification, homelessness, labour market restructuring, ‘race’ and racism, urban sprawl, nature and environment, gender, sexuality, security, and segregation. Explores competing visions of city life and claims on urban space. The course investigates how these struggles connect to economic, social and environmental politics at larger spatial scales, and considers different theoretical frameworks that geographers have developed to make sense of both the persistence of old problems and the emergence of new ones. Field trip cost: $20.

An exploration of the aspects of health in which place or location matters. Particular attention will be paid to the role of environments (physical, social, etc.) in explaining differences in health between places, the structuring of health-related behaviour in place, and the development of health policy for places.

Seeks to develop a general understanding of present-day Latin America by focusing on human-environment interactions, past and present. Case studies are used to understand the diversity of Latin American landscapes (physical and cultural), and how they are changing within the context of globalization.

Examines changes in the social, political and economic geography of Southeast Asian countries. Examples drawn from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines as these emerging newly industrialized countries enter the 21st century. Emphasis on political-economy, urbanization and environment since 1950.

The evolving social, political and economic landscape of China. Focus on development strategies and their effects on agriculture, industry, urbanization, city planning and the environment since 1949. Special attention paid to the interconnected development trajectories shaping urban and rural areas, together with the complex interactions between the built and social environments.

The goal of this course is to explore the structure and geography of the German political economy in the context of EU integration and economic globalization. This includes providing an understanding of the economic and political system (and its regional manifestations), which was once (and is now again) viewed as a successful socially-balanced alternative to the market-liberal structures in Anglo-Saxon economies. Drawing upon the varieties-of-capitalism approach, the main themes in the course address the institutional conditions for growth. In a comparative perspective, the course explores topics, such as the role of collective agents, corporate governance and finance, collective bargaining, inter-firm co-operation and regional networks, social security systems, and population structure and immigration. In order to understand the heterogeneous challenges to the “German model”, the conditions are explored under which regional economies develop. This includes an analysis of the reunification process, and of the economic and political situation in the new Länder. Further, the question is raised as to how the “German model” can adapt to challenges related to globalization, climate change and economic crises.

Overview of how planning tools and practice shape the built form of cities. This course introduces twentieth century physical planning within its historical, social, legal, and political contexts. Community and urban design issues are addressed at local and regional scales and in both central cities and suburbs. The focus is on Toronto and the Canadian experience, with comparative examples from other countries, primarily the United States. Transportation costs: $20.

Examines the options available for dramatically reducing our use of primary energy with no reduction in meaningful energy services, through more efficient use of energy at the scale of energy-using devices and of entire energy systems. Topics covered include energy use in buildings, transportation, industry, and agriculture. Offered alternate years from GGR348H1.

Examines the options available for providing energy from carbon-free energy sources: solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, and fossil fuels with capture and sequestration of CO2. The hydrogen economy is also discussed. Offered alternate years from GGR347H1.

Recent calls to action by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Wildlife Fund indicate we are at a crossroads in responding to accelerating global warming and biodiversity loss. Cities are often at the forefront of these transformations, both in feeling their effects but also initiating responses. How might we reimagine our cities in a way that promotes thriving and equitable ecosystems? What tools exist in the policy landscape to initiate needed changes? What innovative responses are emerging to confront the challenges of increased flooding, rising temperatures, habitat fragmentation, and food insecurity? How might we reimagine an urban commons? With a primary focus on Canadian cities, in this course we explore the ways divergent conceptualizations of urban-nature have informed policies and practices drawing largely from critical, political ecology, and Indigenous perspectives; the policy landscape that informs current urban planning; and new and innovative approaches that help us to reshape and reimagine our relationships to urban nature, including initiatives led by municipalities, non-government organizations and citizens groups.

Investigates the changing nature of space and our thinking about it, introducing students to a wide range of contemporary geographers and spatial theorists such as Lefebvre, Soja, Gregory, Harvey, Massey and others as well as challenges to this thinking - voices from the margins or peripheries. It will explore changing conceptions of spatiality that inform geographic thought and that help us understand the ways in which political, economic and social power is constituted and contested at a range of spatial scales.

Infrastructure is the term that describes the transportation systems, sewers, pipes, and power lines that provide urban dwellers with necessary public services. In recent years, billions of dollars of public money have been spent upgrading existing infrastructure, and planning and delivering new facilities. Infrastructure has many impacts on the way that people in cities live. The way that infrastructure systems are planned, financed, and distributed impact on environmental sustainability, job creation, social equity, economic development, and urban livability. Moreover, infrastructure has the potential to both serve existing populations, and shape the way that future communities are built. Through lectures, discussions, workshops, readings of scholarly articles and case studies, the course will aim to engage students in the key topics and debates related to the provision of urban infrastructure. Topics to be covered will include: project planning, causes and cures for cost overruns, funding models, financing mechanisms such as public-private partnerships, and the politics of facility planning and management.

Focuses on the importance of adequate housing and quality neighbourhoods. It roots theoretical explanations and policy debates in realities using Canada and Toronto as examples. Topics covered include the evolution of public policies relating to social housing, rental housing, homeownership, neighborhoods, and homelessness.

This course considers urban public policy. Urban policy is not natural or inevitable response to urban problems. It is actively produced (and contested) by an array of voices, institutions, and social forces. Actualized urban policies are thus best understood and evaluated as products of these influences. The first half of the course will cover broad theoretical matters pertaining to the production of urban policy. The second half of the course will focus more intensively on one problem—urban decline—and explore the actualized approaches that have been brought to bear to manage it.

The history of approaches to the idea of landscape. A consideration of the origins and uses of the term in geographical inquiry will be followed by a series of case studies, global in scope, from the Early Modern period to the present. Emphasis will be placed on the representational and lived aspects of landscapes, as well as struggles over their definition, interpretation, and use.

Introduces a diversity of critical perspectives for geographers and others, including anarchism, Marxism, feminism, sexual politics, postcolonialism, anti-imperialism and anti-racism. In so doing it illustrates how such radical ideas about space, society and culture have contributed to our political thought and action.

The goal of this course is to leave students with appreciation of the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to explore and analyze spatial health and medical data. The course will focus on organizing health data in a GIS, clustering detection methods, and basic spatial statistics. Other topics like agent-based models and visualization techniques will be touched upon. Lab work will provide hands on experience with example data, leaving students with a firm grasp of contemporary health and medical problems and a skill set of spatial analytical methods that can be used to solve them.

Advanced theory, techniques, and applications in geographic information systems (GIS), including interpolation, geostatistics, modeling, and raster and vector analysis. GIS project design and implementation.

This course will focus on the social and economic repercussions associated with the formation and evolution of polynuclear urban regions in response to global economic restructuring. Foci will include the importance of knowledge and innovation in the process of economic development, social and economic polarization at multiple spatial scales, planning interventions to address these polarities, and strategies and tactics in the promotion of more sustainable urban-centred regional economies.

Introduction to field studies in human geography. The course includes exercises and a project during a one-week field study in late August or early September, some preparation during the preceding summer and complementary practical work and/or seminars during the Fall Term. Each student is required to pay the costs of their transportation and accommodation (field trip costs: $500). Students must register with the department in the spring. Course is limited by size. Preference given to Geography SPE/MAJ/MIN. Applications open to all students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). The program in which this course can be used depends on its content.

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards GIS, Human Geography, and Environmental Geography programs.

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards Environmental Geography and Human Geography programs.

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards Physical & Environmental Geography and Environmental Geography programs.

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards Human Geography programs.

Introduction to field methods in geomorphology, vegetation mapping/analysis, soils, hydrology, and climatology. The course includes exercises and a group project during a one-week field camp, a little preparation during the preceding summer, and complementary practical work and/or seminars during the Fall Term. Each student is required to pay the costs of their transportation and accommodation (field trip costs: $300). This course meets the field requirement for Physical & Environmental Geography programs. The field camp normally runs for one week at the end of August. Students must register with the Department by April. Consult with the department in case of conflict or concerns. Course may be limited by size. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/.... Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/.... Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/.... Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Content in any given year depends on instructor. The program in which this course can be used depends on its context. Consult Departmental Office in April.

Content in any given year depends on instructor. The program in which this course can be used depends on its context. Consult Departmental Office in April.

This seminar examines the scientific foundations of sustainable natural resource management. Will consider frameworks to assess management and production systems for renewable natural resource and energy development in relation to specific landscapes. Constraints and opportunities to achieving sustainability objectives in different systems will be examined through theoretical and case study evaluations drawn from research literatures.  Seminar and self-directed inquiry through individual and team projects. Field trip transportation cost: $100. 

In this seminar course, we will explore the nature of geomorphology and the Anthropocene (the proposed geological time interval during which human activities have greatly impacted the global environment) using a combination of lectures, readings, and discussions. We will consider the ways in which hillslope, fluvial, coastal, aeolian, and other domains have been altered or influenced by humans and consider the role of geomorphology as a science for understanding and examining the changes in landscape form and processes.

Modern developments in hydrology and ecology, including form and process models, interactions of hydrology, ecology and geomorphology; the course emphasizes the use of computer simulation models of drainage basin processes.

Building on GGR337H1 Environmental Remote Sensing with advanced theories and techniques for land cover mapping, vegetation biophysical and biochemical parameter retrievals, optical and thermal remote sensing of urban environment, and application of satellite remote sensing to terrestrial water and carbon cycle estimation. Basic radiative transfer theories as applied to vegetation will be given in some detail as the basis for various remote sensing applications. Optical instruments for measuring vegetation structural parameters will be demonstrated in the field.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a mechanism for avoiding or mediating the potential costs of development. The course focuses on the theory and practice of EIA in Canada in general and Ontario in particular. Using a broad definition of environment, various components of EIA are addressed, with an emphasis on principles, legal and institutional frameworks, stages in the process, and specific analytical techniques.

Examines political aspects of the appropriation of natural resources, including policy and regulation, environmental impacts, and social justice. Emphasis is placed on reading contemporary literature on the politics of resource access and control from geography and other social science disciplines.

Examines how environmental problems affect people, communities and societies differentially and how marginalized communities and people often bear the brunt of environmental costs, while contributing little to their creation.  It uses readings and case studies from across the globe to address the production of environmental injustice and the struggle for environmental justice.

Examines the politics and processes shaping economic globalization and international development. The course will review a range of critical approaches to development, the historical geography of uneven development, and some emerging approaches to critical development studies. The course focuses on recent scholarly discussions about how to define international development and pays particular attention to the relationships between migration and development in theory and practice.  It takes seriously the politics of difference (race, ethnicity, class, gender, nationality and sexuality) and inequality in the critical study of international development research and practice.

The history of geography as an intellectual subject, focusing primarily on the modern period, and on the genealogies of central concepts. Disciplinary developments will be situated next to broader contexts, including imperialism and militarism, the relationship between culture and nature, and the shifting social role of the academy.

Introductory overview of major issues in interurban and intraurban transportation at the local, national and international scale. Topics include urban transportation, land use patterns and the environment, causes of and cures for congestion, public transit, infrastructure finance, and transport planning and policy setting.

The course focuses on a broad range of topics related to innovation and governance, such as (i) technological change and its social and economic consequences, (ii) the spatial effects which result from this, and (iii) the necessities for economic policies at different territorial levels.  Since international competitiveness of industrialized economies cannot be based on cost advantages alone, future growth in the knowledge-based economy will be increasingly associated with capabilities related to creativity, knowledge generation and innovation.  As a consequence, questions regarding the performance in innovation and effectiveness of policy support become decisive at the firm level, regional level and national level.  The first part of the course deals with conceptual foundations of innovation processes, such as evolutionary and institutional views of innovation.  In the second part, national configurations of innovation processes are investigated.  The third part deals with innovation at the subnational level, focusing on regional clustering, institution building, multilevel governance, and regionalized innovation systems.

Focuses on actually-existing markets and their geographically-mediated formation and assemblage. Explores how markets are produced, stabilized, reshaped and fall apart at multiple geographic scales. We examine issues such as the debates on states versus markets, embeddedness of markets, neoliberalism and moral justification of markets, varieties of capitalism, regionally variegated capitalism, post-socialist market transitions, and the dynamic evolution of market institutions and economic landscapes.

  Economic activity, and related indices of socioeconomic well-being and human capital, have always tended to concentrate in space, leaving specific regions to be classified as “creative”, “developed”, or “core” regions and others as “have-not”, “less-developed, “peripheral”, or “marginal” regions. As a result, regional economic change has been very difficult to fully explain (and certainly predict) using conventional (orthodox) theories and methods. This course examines the theoretical linkage between related trends in terms of globalization, vertical disintegration, specialization, innovation, and the locational behaviour of firms. We will focus on the seemingly counter-intuitive finding that regional economic change in a time of increasing global interdependence is increasingly dependent on the local context. Topics will include evolutionary economic geography, path dependence, economic clusters, learning regions, the role of institutions, knowledge spill-overs, and the geography of innovation, among others. We will see why the economic activity is becoming ever more concentrated in space even as it globalizes. The course makes extensive use of empirical case studies from around the globe. 

Linking across fields that include public health, geography and planning, this course examines the growing evidence and ways in which human health is affected by the design and development of the built environment in which we live, work and play. The course considers how various planning and development decisions impact population and individual health, particularly in relation to chronic diseases, injuries, and mental health. Field trip transportation cost: $20.

Examines concepts of resilience as a way of building the capacity of communities to (a) respond to predicted disruptions/shocks associated with climate change, global pandemics, anticipated disruptions in global food supply, energy insecurity, and environmental degradation; and (b) nurture the development of alternative spaces that support the emergence of more life-sustaining structures and practices. Includes explicit attention to equity and public health, and explores issues such as: participatory governance of social-ecological systems, the nature of social change, complexity science, the role of social movements, indigenous and political ecology perspectives.

Examines the implications of development – as an economic and social project – for how the environment is used, by whom, and to what ends. Draws on literatures in political ecology and critical development geography. Topics include: interpretations of scarcity and degradation, questions of consumption, and the greening of development. Examines expansion of and struggles over new forms of green infrastructure in urban and rural settings. 

This course draws on theoretical texts of Indigeneity, with a primary focus on Indigenous spaces in the Americas. Course participants will examine how core geographic concepts such as place, territory, land, movement and the scale of the body are sites of colonial dispossession and violence, as well as sites for decolonial and liberatory thought and practice. We will primarily engage with Indigenous-led scholarship within Geography and Indigenous Studies, and creative forms of knowledge production generated across Indigenous communities.

Our understanding of space and power has shifted radically in the past half century. Space no longer implies only regions, nations or territory; power is not simply a question of domination, control, or forms of political representation. Space and power are intricately related. This course explores a shift in our ways of thinking about space and power, focusing specifically on the works of Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze. Through the works of Deleuze and Foucault, students are introduced to a variety of ways that space and power are organized and contested. The course begins with the maps in our heads: what kinds of spatial systems organize dominant world-views, how have these changed over time? What spatial metaphors do we use to think about power – as hidden and operating at a depth, or as a surface effect? How does the social organization of space figure in the development of different technologies and techniques of power? How do technologies of power become organized, serialized, dispersed, transformed and contested?

Focuses on the role of a planning practitioner in contemporary society using a wealth of examples drawn from recent issues and debates in Canadian cities and regions. The course will walk students through the demands made of planners in terms of both technical expertise as well as political necessity and ask them to think actively about how to prepare for the extraordinary growth of cities during the next century. Examples of issues that will be discussed in some detail include the myths surrounding the city vs. the suburbs, the creativity and passion involved in planning work and the need to see Toronto’s future from a regional perspective.

This course investigates the city as a space sculpted by particular configurations and relations of power, and productive of those forms. It considers shifting urban geographies of identity, economy and desire with a focus on race and racism, settler colonialism, empire, the laboring body, sexuality, and sexual identity. Course participants will engage a series of case studies of particular urban spaces and struggles, drawing on conceptual support from scholarship in urban geography, anti-colonial thought, political economy, black studies, feminist and queer theory, Indigenous and settler colonial studies, as well as literature and other artistic work.

Investigates post-war suburbs, beginning with an examination of their competing contemporary meanings. It considers images of prosperous private enclaves, of declining and difficult to access places, of racialized and segregated areas, of banality and homogeneity, of precarity and polarization, and of creative social struggles. It assesses these different visions through an analysis of urban growth and change since WWII. The course will focus on themes of public and private space; class, race and segregation; gender and suburban space; immigration; urban sprawl, and the changing social and economic geography of the suburbs. It examines North American areas, with examples from Australia and Europe.

This course focuses on a special topic in urban geography and covers it with more depth than would otherwise be the case in a survey-oriented class. The aim is to utilize this single topic as a vehicle to understanding how urban geographical ideas are produced more widely. Check the department website for the theme (updated each year).

This seminar addresses the relationship between urbanization and global economic, political, cultural, social, demographic, technological and ecological dynamics. It does so with an emphasis on the contested legacies of city planning, urban design, architecture and urban political activism, by drawing on historical studies of global cities as well as critical-theoretical perspectives on the ‘production of space’. While broaching the question what’s ‘production of space’ got to do with social justice, we explore—with reference to pioneering thinkers in the fields of planning, architecture and critical theory—such concepts as radical planning, the urban revolution and the right to the city.

Students work in groups to develop their own research project and then acquire, organize and analyze geographic data to complete it. Emphasis is placed on research design, project management and the application of GIS concepts and skills learned in previous courses to a practical problem.

Explores the power of web mapping and CyberGIS, with a focus on hands-on learning and open source software. Students will learn about relevant software (exploring various APIs), data structures, methods, and cartographic and visualization techniques. Finally, students will work in groups to develop and deliver their own online web maps from scratch, on a topic of their choosing.

Introduction to field studies in environmental geography. The course may include individual assignments and group work. Field trips are concentrated during a one-week period in late August or early September. Some preparation during the preceding summer may be required. Periodic course meetings and shorter field trips continue, along with course work, during the Fall Term. Each student is required to pay the costs of their transportation and accommodation (field trip costs: $100). Students must register with the Department by April. Course may be limited by size. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Examines the production of urban landscapes, built environments and social spaces in Toronto and surrounding areas through indepth case studies. Coverage will vary some depending on instructor. The course consists of local field trips and in-class seminars and lectures. Students must apply with the Department. Contact the Department in January for deadlines. Course is limited by size. Preference given to Geography SPE/MAJ/MIN. Applications open to all students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. Field trip costs: $150.

Specially designed for students wishing to gain experience in conducting research in their area of specialization. Of particular value for geographers interested in graduate study, or positions in government, planning and consulting firms where research skills may be an asset. Students select a research problem and complete a project under the supervision of a faculty member. Enrolment requires written permission from a faculty supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate; early discussion with a likely supervisor is encouraged. Enrolment may be completed at any time up to September; open to students in a Specialist or Major Program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Students design and implement an independent applied geography/planning project in consultation with an employer (paid or volunteer), who will act as their “client.” Enrolment requires written permission from a staff supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who are enrolled in a Specialist or Major program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Students design and implement an independent applied geography/planning/GIS project in consultation with an employer (paid or volunteer), who will act as their “client”. Enrolment required written permission from a staff supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who have completed 10 FCEs and who are enrolled in a Specialist, Major or GIS minor program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Undertake professional placement matching academic interests and career goals. Students meet regularly during the year in class to cover topics such as: reflective writing, project management, career planning, and the application of academic skills in professional contexts. Research project required that connects a topic related to placement with academic literatures. Normally, one day per week spent at placement site. For students in their final year of a Geography major or specialist program of study, or the GIS Minor. Satisfies program requirements based on placement. Space limited. Applications are reviewed in early spring. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent research extension to one of the courses already completed in Geographic Information Systems. Enrolment requires written permission from a faculty supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who have completed 10 FCEs and who are enrolled in the GIS program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent research extension to one of the courses already completed in Environmental Geography. Enrolment requires written permission from a faculty supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who have completed 10 FCE's and who are enrolled in a Specialist or Major program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent research extension to one of the courses already completed in Physical Geography. Enrolment requires written permission from a faculty supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who have completed 10 FCEs and who are enrolled in a Specialist or Major program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent research extension to one of the courses already completed in a social science or humanities branch of Geography. Enrolment requires written permission from a faculty supervisor and Associate Chair, Undergraduate. Only open to students who have completed 10 FCEs and who are enrolled in a Specialist or Major program sponsored by the Department of Geography. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This module is concerned with the changing roles of cities in an age of globalization. The first part examines cities as part of urban networks at the national, regional and international levels, and focuses on the implications arising from the rise of mega-cities and global cities. The second half of the module investigates the challenges facing cities on the ground, including issues of the revitalization and re-imaging of city cores, changing retail landscapes, and the impact of telecommunications on the location of urban activities and peoples’ mobility. The module is targeted at students with an interest in urban issues. (Co-listed as GE2204 National University of Singapore)

This module deals with a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the regional geography of Southeast Asia. Students are expected not only to critically analyze their readings but also to be able to synthesize materials to provide a holistic understanding of the region. Specifically, it looks at the region through historical, cultural, social and political-economic perspectives. The module also discusses sustainable development issues. This is a module that is open to all students in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Engineering, Law, Science, School of Design & Environment and School of Business. (Co-listed as GE2226 National University of Singapore)

Southeast Asia has been, and still is comprised of predominantly rural and agrarian societies. This module seeks to develop an understanding of peasant life in the region. Topics to be studied include the village as a construct, the “moral economy” of the peasantry, land and man relations, economic output, and peasant beliefs, consciousness, and cultural expressions. With the peasants’ increasing involvement in the world market and the nation-state, it is also important to consider the penetration of capitalism into the rural economy, as well as the demand for supra-village identification and loyalties. Notions of “development” as they pertain to the peasants, and as postulated by the state, non-governmental organizations and the peasants themselves are also discussed. (Co-listed as SE3213 National University of Singapore)

This module examines relationships between economy and space through a focus on ‘development’. Through interrogating theories, strategies and trajectories of ‘development’, students will develop an understanding of the past and contemporary global political economy and its geographies. The course will emphasize the geopolitical and cultural backdrops to ‘development’ and attendant economic geographies amidst debates about ‘globalization’, international trade and investment. (Co-listed as GE2202 National University of Singapore)

This module explores debates in geography about social issues. It emphasizes the relationship between social identity and social space, and how different places reflect and shape diverse ways of life. The module examines the role of space in the interplay of different social groups (e.g. ethnic groups, men/women), and in relation to different aspects of daily life (e.g. housing, leisure). Its emphasis, however, is on how to think about these issues in different scales/contexts (streets, public spaces, global cities). The course is intended for geography majors, and students throughout NUS with an interest in the relationship between society and space. (Co-listed as SE2224 National University of Singapore)

Are Southeast Asian urban models unique from those of the West? This module uses historical and emerging developments to re-evaluate debates on Southeast Asian urbanization. The particularities of Southeast Asian urbanisation will be examined both in terms of its intertwined history with the rest of the world as well as the politics of time and space. The module aims at developing a critical understanding of the interaction between historical, political-economic and cultural processes that constitute urbanization in Southeast Asia. (Co-listed as SE2212 National University of Singapore)

This module attempts to understand the rationale of changes in Singapore’s urban landscape. It places these changes within a framework that considers Singapore’s efforts to globalize and examines how policies are formulated with the idea of sustaining an economy that has integral links sub-regionally with Southeast Asia while developing new spatial linkages that will strengthen its position in the global network. Emphasis is also given to recent discussions about how diversity and difference in the perception and use of space pose a challenge to the utilitarian and functional definition adopted by the state. (Co-listed as GEK2001/SSA2202 National University of Singapore)

This module examines important geographical, ecological and political concepts and approaches to natural resources management. In particular, we focus on ownership regimes, access, exploitation and conservation in different social, economic and cultural contexts. Detailed cases of fisheries, forestry, freshwater and agriculture conflicts and problems are discussed. (Co-listed as GE3210 National University of Singapore)

The module exposes students to different geographical methods, both human and physical, and as such it is an ideal preparation for any student wishing to undertake further primary research at higher levels in geography, and other social science disciplines. After a series of lectures/seminars on fieldwork methods, fieldwork ethics, and health and safety issues in the field (which may include some basic introductory language classes), students then undertake a 2 – 5 week period of field study overseas, depending on logistical and other constraints. Previous field studies have been for periods of 4-5 weeks overseas in Thailand and Malaysia. While overseas, students undergo orientation workshops, meet peers in host universities, and visit potential field sites before conducting an intensive period of fieldwork in small groups of 3-5 students. (Co-listed as GE3230A at the National University of Singapore)

This module examines aspects of the geography of East Asia, which includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Emphasis is placed on the developmental processes and the underlying physical, political, socio-cultural and economic factors that account for their development. It evaluates various discourses on East Asian development and also assesses the impact of East Asian development on regional conflicts, patterns of social change, urbanization and sub-regional integration. (Co-listed as GE3209 at the National University of Singapore)

This module aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the social, political, and economic changes at various geographical scales with respect to globalization. More specifically, the module focuses on developing understandings of the complex forces driving globalization and the related urban and regional changes and the relationship between globalization and regionalization. This module is not just for geography students, but for all students who are interested in the urban and regional changes in the Asia-Pacific with respect to globalization and regionalization and the driving forces of the changes. (Co-listed as GE3219 at the National University of Singapore)

This module is concerned with understanding and assessing the development experiences of the South Asian countries. Students are expected to grapple with concrete case studies of development programs in their work. The coursework covers issues pertaining to rural, agricultural, urban, industrial and human development, as well as their impact upon people and the environment. Particular attention is given to the situation of the poor and the weak, including disadvantaged children, women, and ethnic minorities. (Co-listed as SN3232 at the National University of Singapore)