Spatial Implications of Environmental Change

Course manual 2019/2020

Course content

The climate and the environment is changing at an increasing pace and at the root of these changes is human action. The scientific community now even speaks of a historical epoch called the Anthropocene. It is a period in history when the impact of humans on the planet is greater than any other natural process. Humans have spread across the world in ever-increasing numbers and have physically changed the landscape of the earth. This course considers several different fields of environmental change as the main focus of the first period. In the second period, we will investigate local/urban implications and responses to environmental change. 

Of course, environmental problems are by definition human constructs. Nature is always in flux. Think for instance of the ice ages. For nature in general, change is a fact of life. However, the fact that the changes are occurring so rapidly and impact human livelihoods are the main reasons why humans consider environmental change a problem. Therefore, it is in the interaction between social and natural systems that we must turn our theoretical lenses. Theories such as Social-Ecological Systems, Political Ecology, and Environmental Justice will be used to understand these complex relations between society and nature and concepts such as risk, climate governance, ecological modernisation and institutionalisation will be studied as individual and collective reactions to environmental change.

Study materials

Literature

• Academic Articles (available on Canvas), GEO6, and

  Moseley et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human-Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell

Objectives

• Students are able to critically reflect on environmental changes and their relation with social and physical processes.
• Students have an understanding of different theoretical perspectives and be able to use them to reflect on environmental changes.
• Students understand the role of space and geography in analysing these changes.
• Students have an understanding of the existence of institutional arrangements (from local to global) and their functioning in serving the solution of environmental problems.
• Students are able to reflect on their own actions and their consequences for social-ecological systems.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Seminar

This course has a lecture+tutorial format in which the tutorials are used to solidify further the knowledge presented in the lecture. The approach will differ per tutorial, but the goal for you is always to make sure you have understood the course material and the lecture correctly. This requires an active engagement with the material, with your fellow students, and with the lecturers. Read the texts before the main lecture, reread the texts before the tutorial.

The lectures will not be recorded

Learning activities

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

• In case of practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least of 90% of the sessions and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely.
• In case of tutorials/seminars with assignments, the student is obliged to attend at least 90% of the tutorials/seminars and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the course cannot be finished

Additional requirements for this course:

You are expected to prepare and participate during class, as a basic course requirement. This means that you have to submit a preparatory assignment before the deadline. Failing to submit the assignment equals being absent. Most of the tutorials have a standard format and will facilitate a discussion about the compulsory literature for that week. There are two tutorials (the ones before the written exams) in which students are expected to take part in a collective learning session. See Canvas for a more detailed description

Assessment

The final grade is based on two components:

1. Two preparation assignment (25%): For each tutorial – except the last tutorial you are required to submit a preparatory assignment. Two of these will be randomly selected by the lecturers and graded.  

2. Examination (75%): There will be an exam on all the course material (lectures, readings, tutorials) at the end of the first and second period. Together they form one grade and as such can compensate each other.  

Assessment requirements & criteria:

Calculation: 75% exam, 25% two preparation assignments = 100% grade

The exam (the two parts combined) needs to be a minimum of 5,5 to pass the course. This is also true for the combined grade of the two graded assignments.

 There is no additional limitation to taking the retake. The grade for the retake will be the grade for the exam and overwrite the other exam grade. Take note that the retake is about all the materials of the whole course

Inspection of assessed work

The moments of inspection for the exams will be communicated through Canvas

Date final grade

The final grade will be announced within 15 work days after the last deadline

Feedback

The tutorial preparation assignments are not meant for feedback but as preparation for the tutorial. The exam will be graded, and you will have the opportunity to look at your answers and ask questions if you have difficulty understanding what the answer was supposed to be. This will be arranged within two weeks of the publication of the results. You will receive feedback on the two graded papers through an evaluation form by the criteria in the description on Canvas within the official grading term. The tutorial lecturers are there to help when you have a feeling you might not completely grasp as subject, but it is your responsibility to ask them to help.

Assignments

For eight tutorials, you are required to submit a preparatory assignment. Two of these will be randomly selected by the lecturers and graded.  Assignment descriptions are provided on Canvas. 

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Last year's course evaluation

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. M. Giezen

Staff

• Joris van der Klei
• J.V. Rothuizen
• Misha Velthuis
• M.S. van Vemden
• Ruben Weesie