Course overview
The world faces significant environmental, social, and economic challenges, including food security, biodiversity loss, population pressure, and climate change. Through the lens of sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), students will explore key geographical concepts like place, space, and scale, and what the implications are when it comes to policy and solutions for building sustainable societies. Using case studies from around the world and Australia, students will study topics that include climate change, coastal management, urban planning, biogeography, food security, Indigenous sovereignty, and develop critical thinking and solution-building skills across social, environmental, cultural, and economic domains.
- Introduction to Space, Place, Scale and Wicked Problems
- People, Places and Spaces in Human Geography
- Physical Geography and Sustainable Development
Course learning outcomes
- Describe the scale, issues and nature of the relationship between population and environment in the context of sustainability and society.
- Apply key geographical concepts (place, space and scale) and their relevance to the relationships between society and the environment.
- Demonstrate how the spatial distribution of Australia’s population (urban, regional, rural) impacts on the environment, and the environment on population
- Present arguments using high-quality written and verbal skills relevant to the workplace.
- Locate, read and summarise peer-reviewed literature and apply to key geographical concepts.
- Employ interdisciplinary problem-solving skills in the context of geography, environment and population.
Degree list
The following degrees include this course