GEO - Geography

An introductory study with major attention to the principles and concepts of the subject.

Landforms, soil, flora, fauna, climate, water, minerals and the forces that shape earth's physical geography. Understanding latitude, longitude and the use of maps in the study of physical geography.

Preservation, conservation and exploitation of natural resources. Survey of global resources and their influence on society.

A survey of the resources, industry and commerce of the United States and foreign countries.

This course presents the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Students will learn how to design and create digital maps and will master the basic techniques of spatial analysis. We will use maps and other GIS tools to uncover the hidden geo-spatial relationships that shape the world around us. Through lectures, discussion and hands-on exercises and projects, the course will explore the many applications of GIS in the social sciences and environmental sciences as well as in the humanities, public policy and urban affairs.

How are our identities, cultures and social relationships shaped by the physical world around us? How, in turn, do our cultural patterns come to shape our natural and built environments? This course provides an overview of cultural geography. It covers the basics as well as new developments in cultural geographic theory. The main aim is to understand relationships between cultures and environments through geographical analyses of social processes, landscapes, cultural meanings, place-making and identities. We will examine questions of power, performance, diffusion, diversity, hybridity, homogenization, hegemony, conflict, expression and resistance through case studies of local, regional and global spatial-cultural dynamics.

How do cities grow and change? What environmental, economic, social, and political forces bring them into being? Why are they the source of so much of the world’s economic and cultural dynamism and at the same time the site of so much dysfunction and conflict? In this course we will use writing to investigate the geographic contours of key urban challenges such as economic development, segregation, inequality, housing, slum growth, gentrification, environmental justice, violence, downsizing, and urban sprawl. We will wrestle with the opportunities and constraints facing urban reformers and city planners, and explore visions of urban social justice and sustainability.