Geography BA (Hons)

The aim of the module is to introduce key areas of human geography through the lens of Liverpool and Merseyside. The module has a strong practical and field element and focuses on four aspects of the discipline: Population Geographies; Health and Economic Geographies; Social and Cultural Geographies; and Historical and Political Geographies. These aspects are explored through thematic blocks, each posing a research question about Liverpool and Merseyside. The module also aims to develop skills of data collection, analysis and interpretation and to enable you to link conceptual ideas with real word examples.​ ​

This module examines a number of global scale challenges facing humans on the planet earth related to climate and environmental change.

This module introduces new aspects of geographical thought to the First Year students which are unlikely to have been encountered via an A level geography syllabus. It also aims to enhance students’ understanding and awareness of complex global issues, focusing on two sub-disciplinary themes in human geography. Exact content will vary each year to reflect changes in the discipline, but broadly, one area will focus on understanding human population changes and geographical data (e.g. health or population geographies), whilst another will explore social, cultural and political approaches to geography (e.g. geopolitics, borders and nation-states).

Contemporary Human Geography is a diverse discipline which offers unique insights into many of the most pressing challenges facing the world in the 21st Century. Many of the issues that reach the headlines on a daily basis are inherently geographical and research within human geography makes important contributions to knowledge of a broad range of social, cultural, political, economic, environmental and development challenges. This module provides an introduction to cutting edge debates within contemporary human geography, highlighting the ways in which the discipline contributes to interdisciplinary knowledge production across the humanities and social sciences. Each week, module lectures will provide an introduction to a different sub-disciplinary field, which will be explored with the aid of specific worked examples which encourage students to apply the theoretical issues discussed to ‘real world’ issues. Assessment is by coursework (mid-term essay) and a written exam (end-of-term).

This 30-credit module will provide the bedrock for your degree, and comprises five main elements:

(1) Pastoral and study support, provided via a series of regular one-to-one and small-group tutorials with an allocated academic tutor/adviser.

(2) Development of core study skills, including essay writing, lecture-note taking, critical thinking, presentation skills, and bibliographic searching and referencing

(3) A hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of Geographical Information Systems, helping you learn how to combine spatial data from different sources to create maps that address real-world problems

(4) A fieldwork experience designed to help you develop data collection and analysis skills, to enhance your academic understanding and to provide you with an opportunity to get to know the other members of your degree cohort better.

(5) Employability training designed to help you better understand what graduate employers are looking for, how to apply for summer work and/or volunteering opportunities, and how best to use your time at University to maximise your employability upon graduation,.

The aim of this module is to extend your understanding of the form and operation of planning systems at the local level;
To provide practical experience of surveying, analysis and policy relevance for planning purposes;
To develop skills ingroup working, written and graphic presentation.

The zone of life on earth, or the ‘biosphere’, is a highly dynamic system responding to external pressures including changing human activities. The biosphere obeys a numbers of simple natural principles, but these often interact to create complex and sometimes unexpected responses. Using a wide range of examples we will explore these interactions between organisms and the environment. We will examine how species organise into communities, and how energy and other resources flow through ecosystems. We will explore how ecosystems respond to change, including gradual environmental shifts, sudden disturbance events and the effects of human activities. We will also learn how the key principles of ecology can be applied to conservation. We will assess the current state of the biosphere, and evaluate the major current threats. We will also look towards the future of ecosystems, including whether we can restore degraded habitats, and recreate “natural” landscapes.

The module uses laboratory experiments to allow students to gain firsthand experience of some fundamental physical, biological and chemical processes underlying physical geography, aimed primarily at interactions between people and their physical environment. It is designed to provide a foundation for environmental modules in the second and third years.

This module comprises multiple whole-day practical sessions, each designed to give students first-hand experience of a topic important in understanding our changing environment. Dedicated computer practicals are also run to provide training in use of EXCEL, MINITAB, and basic inferential statistics. Students get formal feedback in each assessed week (1 poster per group ). However, perhaps most valuable is the feedback obtained informally via discussions during the sessions.

​The module uses a lecture and laboratory-based problem-solving approach to explore some of the fundamental physical and chemical processes underlying physical geography. It is designed to provide a foundation for environmental and physical geography modules in the second and third years.​

Town and Country Planning: An Introduction provides an overview of the history of the town planning movement in Britain, an overview of the current workings of the planning system, and the practical applications of planning thinking.

​The module prepares students with a grounding of contemporary planning issues as they pertain to urban and environmental economics.  The module is assessed by 50% coursework and 50% examination.

This module has been crafted to appeal to students who would like to live in a better world and are interested in exploring and discussing critical approaches to inequality. It is designed to assist students in understanding the multiple and contested ways in which "global challenges" and "international development" are defined and studied. Indeed, a degree in either the environmental or social sciences is arguably incomplete if it has not paid critical attention to uneven processes of "development" over time and space, particularly if one is concerned with challenges related to global environmental change, inequality, and health. Similarly, a solid foundation in any field found within the environmental or social sciences must include a fulsome and nuanced analysis of the historical, political, and economic forces related to globalisation, not to mention be critically informed about what globalisation produces for differing communities, cultures, and ecosystems. This module provides precisely those two things: a comprehensive and critical understanding of challenges and inequalities related to "development" and the discourses surrounding it; and a breadth and depth of critical analyses related to the driving forces, processes, and products of globalisation. Students will also gain insight into how varying communities in different places are responding to development, globalisation, environmental injustices, and inequality through both resistance and building alternatives.

This module provides an introduction to the main schools of thought and key issues in the field of International Relations (IR). It starts by offering an outline of these schools of thought and introduces students to important thinkers and theories within them. It then moves on to applying and comparing and contrasting different theories to a range of important contemporary issues, from the persistence of war to the environment. It concludes with a discussion of possible futures.

How does politics function in a globalised world? What explains cross-country and cross-time differences in political institutions, behaviour and outcomes?
This module provides an introduction to Comparative Politics by focusing on key concepts and contemporary issues affecting democracies, hybrid regimes and (to a lesser extent) authoritarian regimes across the world. It introduces students to basic debates around the democracy, its causes and consequences, the crisis of the nation state, institutional configurations and their effects, political parties, nationalism and regional integration. The module also introduces the idea of the comparative method and how to apply it to the study of different countries. Teaching is based on a combination of theoretical and empirical perspectives, using case-studies as illustration throughout the module.

The course aims to introduce students to current and historical debates about the nature, purpose and practice of geography. It compliments Research Skills (ENVS203) and provides a background for all modules in Geography. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the philosophical and conceptual developments within Geography as a discipline and the role of ‘spatial thinking’ in the production of geographical knowledge.

The module will develop students’ knowledge of careers and employability with a focus on enhancing employability through tutorial-based exercises. In addition, the module provides a range of research skills required for the planning, implementation, analysis and reporting (written and oral) of independent research projects. Practical training will be provided in a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques across a broad range of geographical and environmental science themes. From this, students should develop a critical awareness as to the advantages and disadvantages of research methodologies in particular contexts.

This module aims to introduce students to the key methodological debates, and the main qualitative and quantitative methodological techniques that are used in the Social Sciences. In doing so, the module aims to deliver the methods research skills training that will enable students to successfully complete their field classes and dissertations.

This module explores the course of human history, examining the interaction of people with the environment, moving through the different stages of human development, from early agrarian based developments in the Neolithic 9000 years ago, through to modern agricultural practices and landscape management. The following topics and concepts are introduced and examined:

Landscape geography, cultural ecology and environmental history.

Philosophical insights into environmental history, how have societies viewed and understood the environment.

Agriculture and the environment, long term perspectives and present day issues i.e. the environmental impact of hunting and gathering societies.

The agricultural revolution of the Neolithic and its impact, the impact of pre-industrial agriculture and some environmental issues raised by contemporary agriculture.

An ecological history of industrialisation and population growth, i.e. population resources and environment in an industrialised world.

Perils of a restless planet: an introduction to hazard research.

The module uses wide ranging literature and case studies to explore a range of human-environment interactions (fuel, food, water, culture and space), exploring how human activities have modified, and been modified, by their environments, and how sudden changes whether natural or human induced have changed this relationship.  

This module has proven popular over the years and is of relevance and interest to both social scienceand physical science based students.

The study of catchment hydrology is concerned with water above and below the land surface, its various forms, and its circulation and distribution in time and space within drainage catchments; it is based on fundamental knowledge of the hydrological cycle and its governing factors. Understanding the hydrological cycle is fundamental to physical geography. All life is supported by water and all earth systems incorporate fluxes of water to some extent. The module covers the main hydrological processes operating in drainage catchments in terms of their measurement, operation and controlling factors. The module provide ‘hands-on’ experience of both observing hydrology and modelling hydrological systems, with an emphasis on applied learning, which might be useful in a vocational sense in the future. The module will aim to deliver excellent training in the knowledge required to work in a wide variety of environmentally-facing careers, including those with the EA, Natural England or DEFRA, as well as Environmental Consultancies.

The Earth is subject to a myriad of threats and stresses, ranging from a changing global climate to  unprecedented scales of human impacts on ecosystems, so that a new geological time period, the Anthropocene was created. Placing future change in freshwater and coastal wetlands and lakes into a long-term context is a critical science, and without it, society cannot constrain the ‘natural’ baseline against which future changes could be judged. ​ This module will provide a critical insight into the global changes currently impacting the Earth over decades to millennial timescales. We will introduce a series of contemporary environmental concerns, and teach how we can reconstruct climatic and environmental conditions, the landscapes and vegetation of the past. We will explore a wide variety of archives (lakes, freshwater and coastal wetlands, oceans) and develop an understanding of the key techniques used to trace environmental conditions (physical properties, biogeochemistry, biological indicators). We will assess how the drivers behind these changes will affect future landscapes and ecosystems.

Cities and regions have undergone tremendous changes over the past decades. The world is undergoing an unprecedented wave of urbanisation, particularly in the developing world. In this module students will explore the process of urban restructuring from a social, economic and environmental perspective and its spatial manifestations. The module teaches students to analyse change, and discuss and reflect on current policy responses. This module will be delivered through lectures, each highlighting a specific theme of urban and regional change and through self-directed learning. The assessment is based on two seminar papers (each 50%).

The module covers energy balance and transfer processes at the surface, clouds, rain formation, weather forecasting, monsoons, tropical cyclones, weather in the mid latitudes, and the regional climates. The module has a balance between theory, processes, impacts, and hands-on experimentation and data analysis.​

Environmental concerns have become increasingly pressing over the last few decades, especially the global challenge of climate change. Environmental sustainability directs our attention to finding new approaches and methods for many of our activities and is an increasingly accepted principle that many professions are seeking to work out in practice.

This module explores the notion of environmental sustainability particularly within the context of urban planning. In this context, it can help us to develop the places where we live in a way that makes them cleaner, more energy efficient and better adapted to climate change, and that provides more biodiversity and a better quality of life. Planners, geographers and environmental scientists can all contribute to achieving a more sustainable world around us.

The module develops an understanding of these major geomorphic systems and how they create terrestrial landforms. It explores the basic processes that have helped shaping the geomorphology of Britain and investigates magnitude and frequency of events, as well as time and space scales over which the processes operate.

The module is divided into four components, each composed of 4 sessions: glacial systems, glacial geomorphology and environmental change, aeolian processes, and coastal geomorphology . Weekly face-to-face sessions are supported by access to online videos, power point presentations, lecture notes, reading lists and some selected web sites. Weekly timetabled sessions will be a combination of lectures, discussions around reading and Q&A. Two days of fieldwork form the basis of the summative assessment addressing set problems and questions. A formative GIS exercise is also delivered via timetabled support sessions.

The module introduces the principles of geographical information systems and science with a focus on human geography. Examples will be drawn from population geography with components linked to data sources, analysis and visualisation. Students will learn how to use GIS to map population data, to explore social deprivation, geographic inequalities, and commuting patterns, amongst other themes.

This module introduces students to the study of globalisation in the early 21st century. In the 19th and 20th centuries there were big debates between those who think things work best when people are left to decide how they want to live and get what they need by trading with each other, and those who wanted a communist society where people get what they need and contribute what they can to the common good. Of course it did not work out that way, and now for many people free markets, or neoliberalism is the only serious game in town. The course examines those debates before moving on to examine case studies of how they have worked out in practice.

​This module aims to provide a general introduction to the field of population geography, in which a basic demographic understanding of population change is placed within a spatial framework, allowing exploration of the nature and causes of national, societal and cultural differences in these changes. This module is also designed to serve as the foundation block for those interested in pursuing a population geography or GIS/Spatial Analysis ‘pathway’.

The overall aims of this module are to help develop a critical awareness of the changes taking place in contemporary rural areas, to stimulate informed debate about the geographical difference and inequalities in rural areas both in the UK and the wider world and to draw attention to, and encourage critique of, the empirical studies and conceptual approaches taken by geographers and social scientists to the study of these issues.

Social and Cultural Geographies are two diverse, interlinked fields within contemporary human geography. Social geography is, broadly, interested in the relationships between social identities, power and space, and cultural geography examines the ways in which meaning is produced through ‘culture’ – social ideas, discourse, performances, objects, art, entertainment, images, music etc. This module will introduce you to these broad themes through a focus on the interrelations between identity, space and power and the ways in which these are produced through cultural forms. This includes exploring a range of social differences and identities such as gender, class, disability, sexuality, body size, race and ethnicity, and exploring representations and modes of engaging with the world including online/virtual space, mobilities, music, TV, and material culture.

This module, focuses around a field class in Scotland, provides practical experience and training in designing, executing, analysing, writing-up and presenting a field research project. For much of the module you will work as part of a group, providing you in addition with the opportunity to develop team-working and communication skills. The field class will be in Edinburgh but adapted for virtual teaching if public health conditions do not allow for a physical trip.

This module, focused around a virtual field class in Ireland, provides practical experience and training in designing, executing, analysing, writing-up and presenting a field research project. For much of the module you will work as part of a group, providing you in addition with the opportunity to develop team-working and communication skills.

This module, focused around a five-day field class in Scotland’s largest city, provides practical experience and training in designing, executing, analysing, writing-up and presenting a field research project. For much of the module you will work as part of a group, providing you in addition with the opportunity to develop team-working and communication skills.

​This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake an independent research project into a topic of the choosing, under the supervision of an allocated member of staff.

This module examines climate change impacts on humans and ecosystems. The module is designed to give the student a good overview of the strength and weaknesses of climate modelling approaches. Elements of the global carbon cycle are discussed.

This module considers the evolution and response of coastal environments to marine and riverine processes and their variations in relation to past, present and future climate change. Attention is given to physical processes and inter-relationships acting along coastlines and coastal changes in response to sea level rise, variations in storms activity, wave climate and sediment supply. Consideration is also given to coastal management and climate change adaptation & mitigation measures. Topics will be investigated through a combination of lectures, field trips, and development of a project aimed at identifying optimum coastal protection schemes for real case studies.

This module aims to give students a sustained and critical understanding of the relationship between bodies, space and power, with a particular focus on critical approaches to public health. Building on ENVS275 Social and Cultural Geographies, the module will provide students with an in-depth engagement with critical theory (particularly feminist and poststructural theory) as applied to contemporary and historical examples surrounding public health.

Fluvial processes are found all over the world and are some of the most important in sculpting the Earth’s surface and producing landforms. This module examines fundamental concepts and recent ideas relating to fluvial geomorphology, building on study throughout your educational career. A key point about studying fluvial environments is to understand how the system functions, its links and interactions. It is important to look at all the main components of the system, to understand the dynamics and controls on water and sediment flux and how these produce different types of landforms. The amounts of water and sediment can vary with the environmental conditions and thus study of the drivers of these systems such as climate and human activities and how they have changed over time is essential for being able to interpret the current landscape. Understanding of the present functioning of fluvial systems is essential for any environmental management since rain and runoff are ubiquitous and floods are a major natural hazard.

This module will introduce students to the nascent field of Geographic Data Science (GDS), a discipline established at the intersection between Geographic Information Science (GIS) and Data Science. The course covers how the modern GIS toolkit can be integrated with Data Science tools to solve practical real-world problems. Core to the set of employable skills to be taught in this course is an introduction to programming tools for GDS – specifically the programming language ‘Python’, which is the only scripting language officially supported by the industry-leading GIS packages ‘Arc/GIS’ and ‘QGIS’. The programme of lectures, guided practical classes and  independent study  illustrate how and why GDS is useful for social science applications.

This module introduces students to specific geographical developments in Poland since 1939. The course will be structured around three key time periods: second world war, socialism, post-socialism. Within these, shifts in the control and use of space will be explored. The second world war theme will consider the impact of war on population and territory in Poland, and the subsequent contestations surrounding wartime memory within the country, focusing especially on museums and memorial sites as contested sites of memory. The second section of the course will consider the spatial dimensions of everyday life under socialism, including: political uses of public and private space, queuing and the shortage economy, imagined geographies of the west, and resistances. The final section will investigate changes in Poland since 1989: to what extent the country has ‘returned to Europe’, the impact of shock therapy on social geographies, and how Poland is still working through socialist legacies. Special attention will also be given to Polish migration, before and after EU accession. Ultimately this module enables students to develop an in-depth empirical knowledge of a key site of change in contemporary Europe, while encouraging deep engagement with a range of historical, political, social, cultural and post-socialist geographical readings.

Humans have constructed visions of a better world throughout history: in fact, social movement scholars argue that the history of humanity is the history of this struggle. Certain forms of protest have existed throughout time: taking up arms to fight for what you believe in, or to defend a way of life. Some forms of resistance date back centuries: the revolt, the uprising, the rebellion, the strike, the march, the petition, sabotage, etc. More recently, social movements have used social networks and media to create what some argue are new forms of protest. This course surveys how geographers and others have theorised protest, resistance and other strategies for change though a range of approaches and case studies.

The module aims to demonstrate and explore how both human and physical geographers can combine expertise to work at the intersections of human-environment interactions and environmental humanities. Emphasising the importance of interdisciplinarity, students are introduced to a variety of research areas, such as health studies, data sciences, and climatology to examine the variety of cross-disciplinary and collective approaches to studying environmental science. Through group tutorials, students develop a group project based on their shared interests, culminating in a group presentation and individual essay as part of their assessment.

This module aims to provide an integrated perspective on a range of natural hazards, the different levels of impact on human societies, and the mitigation and adaptation strategies adopted before, during and after extreme events. At the end of this module students will have an understanding of the physical processes and societal impacts associated with a range of geophysical and meteorological hazards. The course is delivered in a series of lectures supported by tutorial sessions and is assessed by an exam and coursework assignment.

Over the last decade the environment, and perhaps more importantly the concept of sustainable development, is claimed to have become a critical dimension that underpins decision making at a variety of different spatial scales, more particularly international, European, national, regional and local arenas. In this module we explore the extent to which environmental concerns are taken into account in various decision-making processes within the public, private and third sectors. The module will be assessed by an essay (50%) and an open book exam (50%) which provides students with significant choice to explore those parts of the module they find most interesting.

Whilst for many people, colonialism has ended, we live in a world where the effects of colonialism are still visible. Many academics have taken a critical perspective on these continued legacies, and this field of thought is now broadly known as ‘postcolonialism’. This module explores the social, political and cultural effects and legacies of colonialism as they occur in particular contexts.

The module is divided into two sections, one exploring the theoretical ideas of postcolonialism, the other looking at how thinking postcolonially helps us to understand the world.

You will be assessed through two pieces of coursework, one a theoretically driven essay on a student-chosen topic, and one, focused on authentic assessment, which analyses the postcolonial aspects of contemporary culture (e.g. a film, book or museum).

This module provides insight into social and spatial inequalities, and their inter-relations. The module will consider how and why inequalities might have persisted over time, how social inequalities have specific geographies, and the implications of this unevenness for those who are marginalised. The module is structured through four major themes: for example, inequalities and the labour market; ethnicity and inequalities; spatial understandings of poverty; amd theories about inequality. The difficulties in defining and measuring social and spatial inequalities, and how such definitions may relate to broader theories, perspectives or frameworks of relevance are issues covered in the module, as well as how these terms are interpreted and (mis-)represented. The module draws on empirical evidence, theoretical approaches and policy responses. The module provides insight into government responses that aim to combat social and spatial inequalities and related issues in the UK, at the regional and sub-regional level.

This module is designed to give students experience teaching geography to secondary school pupils, via the mentoring of A-level students Birkenhead Sixth Form College, St. Edward’s College and St. Hilda’s CE High School and via the delivery of a field and/or class-based learning activity. To support these activities training is provided on campus in Semester 1 in Geography at key stages 3-5, learning and teaching strategies, assessment for learning, fieldwork activities, lesson planning and delivery. Mentoring is undertaken in partner schools and colleges in Semester 2. Students taking this module will need to obtain a DBS Certificate – this will be done through the respective partner School/College.

​This course explores contemporary population dynamics across Europe. Students will explore fertility, mortality and migration dynamics across selected countries in Europe; review explanations for population change; and examine the policy challenges posed by such population change. Students will also explore these debates in a local context through a field-walk in Liverpool.

The module will involve both individual and group work, workshops, group presentations/debates, and engagement with the most current scientific literature and social media and science communication. This module is open to all students, but those taking this module must be willing to engage in quantitative analyses of carbon and nutrient cycling and its importance to climate mitigation strategies.

This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake an independent research project into a topic of their choosing, under the supervision of an allocated member of academic staff. The work-based dissertation additionally involves students in working collaboratively with an external organisation on a mutually agreed research topic, thereby providing students with valuable work-related experience.

​This module is a fieldwork-based comparative study of Liverpool and Barcelona, based around a 5 day period of field work in Barcelona, alongside research activity in Liverpool throughout the semester. Students will be introduced to the ideas of urban comparative research, and will undertake a group fieldwork project on a project that is feasible in both cities.

This Field Class module gives students experience of designing, collecting and analysing field data based on the analysis of a current issue related to city in the UK, usually somewhere in the North West of England such as Liverpool or Manchester.

The learning outcomes of the module provide students with further experience in the design and undertaking of research. The module acts as a further development of students’ analytical skills begun in Levels 4 and 5, and during the dissertation module at level 6.

The module has been designed to allow students who may not wish to travel or undertake residential fieldwork in Human Geography to continue to develop their fieldwork skills. Students will conduct a grou-based short-duration fieldwork project, collecting data using a variety of methods (using both primary and secondary data). Assessment is via both group proposals and presentations, plus individual write-ups of aspects of the projects findings.

We live in a youthful world: 41% of the world’s population are under 25. Young people’s experiences of growing up are deeply shaped by dynamics that span the globe and have particular local effects: economic restructuring, environmental change, political conflict, cultural currents. Yet young people are not just passive subjects, rather, their actions are on the frontline of how societies and places are remade for good or ill. This module explores young lives in a variety of global settings. It considers how geographers and others have theorised childhood and youth, and explores the real-world challenges young people face in particular contexts. In doing so, the module aims to enable students to engage with a range of conceptual debates in the social sciences, and to ‘think from’ youth in order to critically examine how power relations are being reproduced or contested around the world. The module will be taught primarily through lectures (broken up with in-class discussions), and one interactive workshop. Assessment will consist of two pieces of coursework: one academic essay, and one web article or podcast script written for a non-academic audience. The module builds on foundations from ‘Social and Cultural Geography’.