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GEOG20130

Academic Year 2024/2025

Cities in a Global World (GEOG20130)

Subject:
Geography
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Geography
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Dean Phelan
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
Blended
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

By 2050, more than two-thirds of the world population will live in cities across the globe generating multifarious urban challenges. Cities are therefore very important spaces within which complex economic, political, cultural, and environmental processes are produced and experienced. This module will introduce you to urbanisation from a global perspective. The objective is to understand contemporary processes of urban change in historical perspective from both the global north and the global south. The module will draw on case studies and examples from Asia, South America, Africa, North America, Europe, and Australia to exemplify key themes in urbanism. There is a specific focus on Dublin with associated fieldwork in the inner city.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

by the end of this module, students should be better equipped to
1. Explain the key processes of urbanisation in a historical and contemporary context.
2. Identify and assess the processes that produce, and are produced by, urban areas.
3. Compare and contrast the urban experience in different regions of the world.
4. Undertake group fieldwork and work collaboratively in a team-based environment.

Indicative Module Content:

- Understanding the city.
- Early and Medieval cities.
- Colonial cities.
- Industrialisation and urbanisation.
- Responses to industrialisation.
- Suburbanisation, de-industrialisation and shrinking cities.
- Mid to late 20th century cities: socialism to post-socialism.
- Transition to post-socialism: Global cities.
- Megacities.
- Urban inequality.
- Poverty and slums.
- Segregation and enclaves.
- Gentrification.
- The creative city.
- Global housing crisis.
- Gender, cities and feminist urban geography.
- Resilience, sustainability and wellbeing.
- Urban transport and mobilities.
- Urban food systems.
- Smart cities and technological futures.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20

Tutorial

1

Specified Learning Activities

30

Autonomous Student Learning

49

Total

100


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module comprises a mixture of lectures, fieldwork and group activities. The fieldwork will be in a given area of Dublin city and will examine one of the key themes discussed in lectures. An individual field assignment will be developed based on the fieldwork component.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Group Work Assignment: Group Field Report Week 9 Graded No
50
No
Exam (In-person): 1 hour exam with one essay question required from a choice. End of trimester
Duration:
1 hr(s)
Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn Yes - 1 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will be provided with feedback on their assessments via Brightspace after it has been graded.

Name Role
Professor Niamh Moore Cherry Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Dean Phelan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 1 Week(s) - 29 Mon 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 2 Week(s) - 29 Tues 10:00 - 10:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 4 Week(s) - 29 Mon 15:00 - 15:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 5 Week(s) - 29 Tues 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 6 Week(s) - 29 Wed 12:00 - 12:50