Module Information

Module Identifier
GG28910
Module Title
Geographical Perspectives on the Sustainable Society
Academic Year
2017/2018
Co-ordinator
Professor Mark Whitehead
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 11 x 2 Hour Lectures
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 10-minute Group Presentation (Earth Summit Event)  (maximum group size = 5)  25%
Semester Assessment 2,000 word Group Fieldwork Report  (maximum group size = 5)  25%
Semester Assessment 2,000 word Written Essay  50%
Supplementary Assessment Individual poster and script of individual presentation  In lieu of Group Presentation  25%
Supplementary Assessment 500-800 word Individual fieldwork report  In lieu of Group Report  25%
Supplementary Assessment 2,000 word Written Essay  50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Describe and evaluate the principles of sustainability.

Specify clearly the kinds of national and international factors that have given rise to the emergence of sustainability as a political objective.

Exemplify the different ways in which policies for sustainability are being developed in different parts of the world.

Discuss and evaluate, using specific examples, the limitations of sustainability as both an international policy discourse and set of social and economic practices.

Brief description

This module introduces students to the concept of sustainability. While the module introduces students to the environmental, economic, scientific and geopolitical processes that have informed the historical evolution of sustainability, it primarily focuses on the uneven geographical development of the policies and practices of sustainability. The module considers sustainability practices and policies in the More and Less Economically Developed worlds and in socialist and post-socialist societies. The module also explores the application of sustainability policies in different sectoral contexts including the urban and agricultural. The module is taught through a series of lectures, interactive sessions, and fieldwork.


Content

Section 1: Introducing sustainability: Scientific and Geopolitical Origin Stories (Two lectures; One Earth Summit interactive session)
Section 2: Sustainability in Geographical Context (Three lectures).
Section 3: Sustainability in Sectoral Context (Two lectures; One field course session)
Section 4: Critical responses to sustainability (One lecture)


Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number This will be developed and assessed as part of the land-use survey work that students will carry out during the fieldwork session of this module.
Communication The module will develop the students' skills of written communication in writing their assessed essays. Students will also be expected to contribute to group discussions in the lectures (although this will not be assessed).
Improving own Learning and Performance This module has been specifically designed to enable students to improve learning and performance. The mock Earth Summit and Field Course sessions have been paired with thematic lectures so that students can apply the insights they have learned in lectures in applied context. The assessments have also been designed in ways that will enable feedback from one form of assessment to directly contribute to improvements in the following assignments.
Information Technology The assessed essays require students to undertake independent research using bibliographic search-engines and library catalogues. The module will enable students to enhance their research skills and practise their IT skills when writing the essay. (not directly assessed)
Personal Development and Career planning The module will help students to develop a range of transferable skills. The course discusses themes which will be invaluable for students wishing to undertake postgraduate study in geography. The policy analysis sections of the module will also be valuable to students hoping to follow a career in environmental policy making.
Problem solving The module will develop students' problem-solving skills in a number of ways. Students will be required to analyse a range of sources and texts, and they may be required to complete small problem-solving exercises during the lectures. Students will also have to address problems associated with research design when undertaking their assessed essays.
Research skills Students are expected to research and synthesize a range of academic source material in completing their written assignments, and in preparing for their group presentation.
Subject Specific Skills The module will enable students to develop and practice subject-specific skills that they have developed in Level One and in concurrent Level Two modules such as ‘Research skills in Human Geography’. Students will develop their subject specific analytical skills through their assessed essay and oral presentation, and land use mapping techniques as part of the field course session.
Team work Team working will be developed in three ways in this module. First students will work as a team in producing their group presentation for the mock Earth Summit (they will also work as groups for the debate phase of this event). Second students will work as a team when carrying out and writing-up their group fieldwork for this module. Finally, students will be expected to work as small teams when discussing the weekly lectures readings that will be set as part of this module.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5