Geography BA (Hons)

Planning mediates between competing interests in society and guides, shapes and regulates the use of land and property. The primary policy goal is to deliver and/or facilitate 'sustainable development'.

In this module you will explore the significance of planning in order to facilitate economic, social and environmental objectives within the development process. The module explores the nature of planning from a development perspective by engaging with policy, practical examples and key development concepts. It considers the guiding principles of planning, the statutory processes and procedural dimensions, the management of development, contemporary planning practice, key actors and agencies, synergies between planning and urban regeneration and the competing and evolving dynamics of urban development.

You will develop, throughout this module, academic and professional skills relating to the evaluation of policy; effective communication; self-direction and personal responsibility and appreciate social and ethical aspects of the development process.

You will learn the processes through which research is designed, implemented and analysed. Part of the module addresses questions of philosophy and theory, you will understand the historical development of geographical thought within human geography, and learn how we arrived at the subject’s contemporary sub-disciplines. These ontological and epistemological themes will then be linked to an evaluation of methodologies adopted in contemporary research in the social sciences. You will build a toolbox of approaches which can be applied to your own research.

In the other part of module you will construct your own research project that will become your dissertation at level 6. Through exploration of literature, case studies and best practice from a chosen field of human geography, you will develop the ability to design innovative research questions. You will link these to an appropriate methodology and select methods suitable for your project.

You will learn about the importance of this sub-disciplinary area to the study of human geography, in relation to the key concepts of power and space. You will develop an in depth understanding of the spatial organisation of political institutions, governance practices, processes and agents and critically consider a range of more and less formalised political practices operating at range of geographical scales. You will also acquire important research methods skills by locating appropriate secondary qualitative data including policy and media sources and applying forms of discourse analysis. The module places particular emphasis on the following themes:
- Definitions of the ‘political’
- Globalisation and post-colonialism
- Activism and resistance
- Mobility and migration
- The nation and the state
- Citizenship
- The ‘local’ in politics
- The body and politics

You will learn about the importance of this sub-disciplinary area to the study of human geography. You will discover the ways in which social relations, inequalities and identities are distributed and (re-)produced across space. The module places particular emphasis on:
- the welfare issues which affect people's lives
- the forms of power which lead to socio-spatial inequality and oppression
- individual and collective identities and their spatial (re-) production
- relevant methodological approaches for investigating these issues
Through this module you will also learn a number of important and transferable skills including research skills, team working, problem solving, communication skills, and the ability to use your own initiative but also to follow instructions.

You will learn about environmental issues globally, examining the relationship between the process of development (widely understood) and environmental change. Environmental issues such as sustainability, climate change, desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, wildlife and biodiversity loss, mining and resource extraction will form the focus of the module. These will be contextualised in terms of changes in livelihoods, agriculture, governance, gender relations, population, technology, foreign investment and land ownership and poverty. Initiatives for tackling some of these problems, such as internationally agreed frameworks, community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), ecotourism, urban planning, and corporate social responsibility, among others, will be critically examined. Examples will be taken at a range of scales from the local to the regional and across different geographies spanning the Global North and Global South. You will also learn some key tools and frameworks that are valuable in employment in the development sector, such as stakeholder analysis, logical framework analysis and participatory research tools. Through providing an opportunity to develop creative solutions to development problems in the form of project design, this module will enhance your employability skills.

This module is designed to teach you the concepts and techniques of spatial data handling and analysis using the techniques of remote sensing and image processing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Adding to the cartographic skills and basic spatial analysis that you have learnt from level 4 (first year) you will be taught to carry out spatial analysis from a wider range of sources and types of social and scientific geographical data. You will learn basic theoretical principles underpinning the use and application of digital datasets followed by more advanced techniques of image classification and spatial analysis. You will be taught how to use industry standard computer software applied in research and the workplace that will allow you to manipulate and analyse those data. In particular you will learn:

• the key components of remote sensing acquisition and analysis/display;
• theoretical background of datasets that can be generated and used to interpret change over space and time;
• the techniques used to classify and analyse datasets;
• key critical theoretical concepts associated with the types and associated use of digital data; and
• the practical skills you need to interrogate and analyse data in order to answer spatial queries.

The module seeks to demonstrate the relationships between global and local change and the interaction between economic, political, social, cultural and environmental change in one particular locality.
Within this conceptual framework, you will be mentored by a tutor to help you prepare for the field visit by developing specific projects under their supervision and direction. These research projects will be identified by staff, but you will be expected to design a method of inquiry and carry out whatever background study necessary to conduct the work while in the field. Research themes might include:
• Rural development and agricultural change
• Economic change and cultural industries
• Heritage and destination place marketing
• Rural tourism development
• Urban change, urban morphology and redevelopment
• Community development and action

In this module you will learn about the ecological impact of cities and tools for enhancing urban biodiversity, liveability and sustainability. The module begins with an introduction to global trends in urbanisation and the relevance of cities for realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The module will then explore the multiple challenges posed by urbanisation and identify solutions to these challenges. The two overarching questions we will seek to answer are:

1. What are the key environmental, biodiversity and climate change challenges and opportunities facing cities?
2. How can nature-based solutions contribute to addressing the challenges and opportunities of urbanisation?

Skills developed include the ability to:

• Understand global trends in urbanisation and the relevance of cities for the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Identify and assess the contribution of cities to climate change and strategies for mitigation and adaptation
• Understand what constitutes an urban ecosystem, and the key drivers of urban biodiversity
• Identify the benefits that urban ecosystems provide to society (“ecosystem services”)
• Assess the importance of governance, stewardship and environmental justice in cities
• Identify, use and assess relevant planning and policy tools and concepts, with an emphasis on nature-based solutions and green infrastructure
• Critically evaluate interventions to enhance urban nature to address societal challenges
• Develop in-depth specialist knowledge of techniques relevant to green cities and urban ecosystems

You will learn how to adopt and convey an economic-geographical approach to understanding the economy. You will learn about how and why economic activities and processes vary over space and time, and will recognise the importance of history in shaping these spatial manifestations. You will develop accounts of uneven spatial development in the economy based not just on the distribution of economic activities but also caused by decisions taken by a variety of key economic actors such as governments (and their agencies), regulators, firms, third sector organisations, trade unions, and /international/supra-national bodies. By extension then you will learn how these actors shape and produce economic geographies, that is to say economic and social spaces. You will also become conscious of the way in which scale is an important organising principle for the distribution of economic activity and behaviour of firms as well as learning how different economic processes happen at different spatial scales. Finally, you will be equipped with the concepts/ theories and some of the essential methods for analysis required to understand the world from an economic-geographical perspective.

You will learn about the ways in which the study site has been drawn into the global economy through a variety of different activities and processes. You will also be able to study the ways in which some of these globalising forces have challenged local values and cultures. We will demonstrate the relationships between global and local change and the interaction between economic, political, social, cultural and environmental change in one particular region.

Within this conceptual framework, you will be mentored by a tutor to help you prepare for the field visit. Research themes might include:
• Patterns and processes of land-use change
• Development of commercial forms of agriculture
• Economic change
• Tourism development
• Heritage and destination place marketing
• Mobilities and demographic change
• Urban change, urban morphology and redevelopment
• Modernisation of rural villages and landscapes

You will develop your understanding of academic conventions in UK higher education aligned to your level of study, including expectations around critical analysis, structure, argumentation, evidencing, and referencing. The module focuses on developing communication strategies that will help you express your ideas clearly and coherently in written assignments and spoken activities. You will also reflect on your current academic and language skills and develop strategies for development ahead of your assessments.

You will learn how to be a tutor of students in schools or colleges. You will develop your skills in communicating effectively with children or young people. As part of this process you will learn how to evaluate your own learning of how to support these pupils’ learning over a series of lessons. You will be learning how to transmit your own enthusiasm for learning in a professional context to pupils within the schooling system. You will learn about the issues facing teachers and other professionals within the school, college or learning centre. Learning how to apply your existing skills and knowledge in a work related context will be an important focus of this module for you. Knowing how to determine which skills and knowledge are relevant, and make appropriate use of these in the work context, will be a major learning opportunity for you.