Sustainability and Society (UoA)

The study of geography, population and environment tend to be treated quite separately, but there are strong and important relationships between them. Understanding these relationships is essential in a world that is facing multiple environmental, social and economic challenges, from food security, biodiversity loss, population pressure and climate change. The development of sustainable ways of living is essential to our future survival. In this course we focus on the interaction between people and place, and the role of place, scale and space in the development of policy and other solutions to build sustainable societies. We introduce the idea of sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We find out how key geographical concepts like place, space and scale can assist us to build sustainable ways of living. We show how geography can help investigate - and find solutions for - issues like climate change, coastal management, urban planning, food security, Indigenous sovereignty, and biodiversity management, amongst others. Case studies from across the world and Australia provide a global focus and will build skills in critical thinking about and building solutions that create sustainable societies across social, environmental, cultural and economic domains. A particular focus is the changing spatial distribution of the population with issues like urbanisation, 'sea change' and rural depopulation and their inter-relationship with the environment being explored. Another will be the factors influencing population growth and migration. Indigenous Australians and their special relationship with the environment is discussed separately. The course will give students a solid introductory grounding in the key concepts in and relationships people and place and how they can nurture sustainable societies.