Geography BA

Core modules:

Living with Environmental Change

This module will introduce students to a wide range of critical environmental issues facing the world today from physical science and social science perspectives. Using a range of environmental problems evident in the Global North and Global South (such as climate change, habitat loss, water resources, land-use change, agriculture), the physical and social processes implicated will be examined. Drawing on a range of examples, students will critically explore the causes, consequences, management and solutions to environmental issues and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.

20 credits

Why Geography Matters

Geography helps us plan for the future by investigating social and physical processes as they interconnect from the past through to the present. Geographers actively contribute to contemporary debates across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.  We address some of the most pressing issues facing the modern world linking to social justice and environmental change.  Serving as a bridge between the general introductory modules, and the more specialist modules taught at levels 2 and 3, this module provides an opportunity for students to engage with topical issues in contemporary human and physical geography led by academics actively engaged in cutting edge research who are informing real world policy and practice.  The module provides a challenging but accessible insight into the origins of the discipline and how these translate into the cutting edge of contemporary geographical research, and how this helps us understand and contribute to our changing world.  The module will also begin to highlight for students how knowledge is always produced and reflective of those who produce it in ways that reinforce the positionality of some and silence others.

The following particular skills will be achieved in this module: exchanging knowledge; networking; emotional intelligence; inclusivity; positive mindset; innovation; commercial awareness.

20 credits

Geographical Skills, Methods and Techniques

Geographers are well-known for having a versatile set of practical and transferable skills. This module teaches students key research methods from across the discipline. Small tutorials, run by academic staff, are used to develop skills in finding, presenting, analysing, and critically evaluating complex information. Lectures introduce students to Geographical Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, questionnaire design, statistics, and in-depth interviewing. Workshops provide the chance to practice skills and get to grips with industry-standard software. Finally, fieldwork experience provides hand-on training in key methods used in the field.

40 credits

Exploring Human Geographies

The module provides an introduction to key principles, relations and processes that contribute to a diverse array of social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of human geography.  It looks at spatial patterns of power, inequality and interdependence produced by economic and cultural globalisation, how we experience these at the local scale and and how they have changed over time.  It outlines key concepts and current debates shaping how human geographers approach these issues by drawing on examples from around the world and at a variety of geographical scales.  It highlights the value of a geographical perspective on the world we live in.

20 credits

Optional modules:

Housing and Home

Issues relating to housing, homes, streets and neighbourhoods that we live in are in the news every day. Whether this is over concerns about housing shortages, affordability, 'generation rent', social housing, evictions, Covid lockdowns, housing condition, domestic violence, flooding, or informal housing, housing is often at the centre of social science research.  In this module, we will develop a critical appreciation for housing and home, questioning some of the taken for granted assumptions that are often prominent in public debates. The module aims to introduce students to this broad and diverse subject by drawing on the expertise of staff who research across these multiple themes. The module focuses on contemporary concerns, while maintaining an appreciation of the impact of historical trends. The module will make use of cases from the UK and internationally to illustrate trends and challenges, making connections which span diverse global contexts. The module introduces students to a range of concepts and debates relating to housing, as well as indicating the linkages to housing and urban policy, developing a more nuanced understanding of this diverse topic.

10 credits

Cities and Inequality

Cities are the primary living spaces of more than half of humanity and are therefore at the centre of debates about growing forms of material and social inequality. Urban studies today is at the forefront of research efforts addressing multiple forms of inequality that include ecological, housing, wealth, gender, and other forms.

Cities and Inequality  will introduce you to many of the problems and divisions that are present across much of our global urban condition. The course pays particular attention to the multiple forms of inequality that pervade urban life and brings students into discussions about the kind of responses that might be developed to challenge conditions that hold back large sections of urban populations.

The course focuses on a broad set of forms of inequality and uses diverse case examples from around the globe to bring these issues to life politically, socially, economically and in terms of debates around geography, planning and urban studies more broadly. 

The course will develop your critical thinking around the reasons for inequality, its multiple forms and interconnections and bring-in cutting-edge assessments of the scale of these issues in diverse urban contexts around the world. Today inequality is linked to the economic, social and political conditions of urban life itself, this course will help you make sense of these issues and questions of social injustice. The aims of the module are to:

1. Introduce students to the diverse forms of inequality that exist in cities around the world today;

2. Describe and analyse the range of political and economic factors that give rise to forms of inequality that are, in many cases, worsening in many cities around the world;

3. To make sense of the roots of these challenges and to identify methods for alleviating and reducing forms of inequality, and;

4. To develop awareness of inequality as a significant source of social injustice that is animating many political and social debates in nations and cities around the world today.

10 credits

Earth, Wind, Ice and Fire

This module introduces the general principles of physical geography for students with diverse backgrounds.  The module seeks to develop a holistic understanding of how the Earth functions as a system, focusing in particular on the functioning of key elements of this system - notably the operation of the geosphere, atmosphere, and cryosphere - and how these elements interact to influence the evolution of the system as a whole. Consideration of the latter aspect will include discussion of the impacts and consequences of alterations to the operation of different parts of the system, such as those caused by past and present climatic change. Finally, we consider how the form of Earth's surface reflects current and past geosphere, atmosphere and cryosphere processes at a range of spatial scales, from small-scale fluvial, aeolian and glacial landforms, to the evolution of continents and large mountain ranges.

20 credits

Climate Action

Humans are altering the climate, with significant impacts on livelihoods, wellbeing, equality, and the environment across the globe.  While international organisations and governments are crucial in mitigating and adapting to these threats, individual and small group collective action are also essential in creatively exploring how the necessary changes can be realistically and equitably implemented.  



This module uses the Sheffield community as a Living Lab.  Focusing on one aspect of daily life in which there is potential for more mitigation or better adaptation, you will identify and plan an investigation or intervention (a 'project') to take a step towards more or better climate action.  You will need to justify your choices by elaborating what you would consider success, how you would deliver it, as well as assessing the impact of its wider implementation.

10 credits

Core modules:

Analysing Geographical and Environmental Data

Data is everywhere, it is generated constantly and in such vast amounts. As geographers it is therefore important for us to understand how such data is generated and whether we can harness any to tell us more about the world. Vital aspects of this include our knowledge of data processing, handling, and statistical or mathematical analysis. This module will guide you through a sample of the vast array of data types that we as geographers have available to us. In particular, how we handle its collection and processing, from sources such as census data all the way to volcanic activity and everything in between. You will enhance your knowledge of programs such as Excel alongside gaining essential experience with industry standard programs such as SPSS and Matlab.

10 credits

Human Geography Fieldclass

Fieldwork plays a fundamental role within the geographical tradition and is widely regarded as an essential part of degree-level Human Geography. In this module, sustained fieldwork informed by substantive lecture-based classroom time before the fieldclass for preparation, analysis and reflection, is a vehicle for exploring the widest possibilities of Human Geography research and bringing the subject alive.  The module will also enrich the development of academic, transferable, personal and employability skills by offering substantive knowledge, ranging from curiosity-driven and deep learning, to the enhancement of skills and competences through independent and reflective research. The thematic focus of this field module is on urban, historical, cultural, political and social geographies.

10 credits

Research Design for Geography and Environmental Science

The ability to undertake independent research is a key skill in Geography and Environmental Science and in many areas of future employment. This module focuses on the conceptual, methodological, practical and ethical background to undertaking research and on providing experience in designing research projects. It introduces the principles of research design and places methods of data collection in the overall processes of research, including the identification of a topic of study, undertaking a literature review, and formulating research questions and linking them to appropriate methods of data collection, analysis and testing, as well as research ethics and safety. This forms the basis of your independent research project (dissertation) at Level 3.

10 credits

Optional modules:

Analysing Voice, Image and Text

This module builds on and develops skills and understanding of a range of qualitative research approaches used in contemporary human geography. The module will focus on a number of methodological approaches (e.g., qualitative interview, visual, digital, participatory, ethnography, focus groups, life histories, case study) and consider the relative strengths of these resulting data and the analytical approaches used to make sense of these forms of data. These approaches are considered in the context of research design more broadly, alongside key concerns such as positionality and research ethics.

10 credits

Geographical Information Systems and Earth Observation

This module introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Earth Observation (EO) - both crucial tools to understand the earth system. GIS are computer systems for the storage, display and manipulation of geographical data. Earth Observation is the collection of information about Earth's geo-biophysical properties through the detection and interpretation of electromagnetic radiation (often satellite imagery). The module will provide you with a theoretical framework and hands-on experience of using EO and GIS software and data, thus improving your digital fluency and capability. You will also improve your problem solving skills and develop resilience by tackling a range of practical applications of EO and GIS in research and industry.

10 credits

Sustainable Development and Global Justice

Development in the Global South is a major issue of international concern in the 21st century. This module explores contemporary development issues and examines the contribution that geographers, and geographical thought, can make towards understanding inequality, poverty and socio-economic change. Definitions of 'development', 'poverty' and 'the poor' shift and are invested with political meaning which reflect specific geographies and ways of seeing the world: students develop critical understandings of such terminology and the power dynamics implicit within them. This module addresses diverse theories, paradigms and contemporary critiques of development, and explores some of the central issues affecting processes of development. Case examples are drawn from Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia.

20 credits

Understanding the Climate System

In order to understand global climate change, one first has to understand how the climate system works. This module will give students a strong understanding of the global climate system, focusing on the atmospheres, the oceans, and their interaction. The first part of the module will consider the main characteristics of, and processes behind, climate from the global to the local scale. The second part of the module will examine the physical characteristics of the oceans and their geographical variation, and the role of the oceans in the climate system.

20 credits

Culture, Space and Difference

This research-led module introduces students to the cutting edge of Social and Cultural Geography and dovetails with the Sheffield Geography Department's Culture, Space and Difference research group. The module illustrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary social and cultural geography including some of the philosophical concepts and theoretical debates that have shaped the subject. The module aims to deepen and enrich the ways in which students are able to think about geographical issues, through a critical understanding of concepts and approaches that underpin the substance and methods of contemporary human geography. The module team work with students to develop their own 'photo essays' - which bring the ideas of the module to students' experiences from everyday life.

20 credits

Understanding Dynamic Landscapes

This module looks at the relationship between geomorphological processes and Earth surface landforms and landscapes at a variety of scales in space and time. It examines the influence of endogenic (mainly tectonic) processes originating within the earth; and exogenic processes (notably wind and water) at the Earth's surface. The module starts by introducing geomorphological concepts; and frameworks, and later introduces field and analytical approaches (such as landscape dating and numerical modelling) that are used to elucidate process rates and their drivers. A field visit and two practical exercises provide hands-on appreciation of approaches to understanding hillslope, fluival and aeolian processes.

20 credits

Territory, Power and Policy

The module introduces you to contemporary debates within political geography. You will develop a detailed understanding of political processes at a variety of spatial scales, from the international, national to the local, from collective politics to individual political behaviour. You will explore questions of power, efficacy and conflict with an emphasis on the spatial and place-specific aspects of politics in relation to issues including: geopolitics and international relations; the state and territoriality; the politics of nationalism and citizenship; civic activism; and individual political participation.

20 credits

Who Gets What? Social Justice and the Environment

Environmental issues continue to be a key area of contemporary public concern and current political debate. They raise fundamental questions about the relationship between society and environment, and the politics and equity of that relationship. This module provides a geographical introduction to these issues and debates with examples from a range of scales from the global to the local. It also considers the role of stakeholders and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by policy that seeks to address issues to do with the environment-society relationship. The module then develops these core ideas through inter-related sections covering debates focused on different empirical themes.

Particular skills will be achieved including: policy analysis, ethical awareness, positive mindset, global awareness and self-awareness.

20 credits

Unlocking Past Environmental Changes

The landscape we live in is a dynamic place and has been in the past as well. Huge changes at a global, regional and local scale have occurred in the last 2.6 million years of the earth's history (Quaternary period). These changes are ongoing with implications for both present and future environments. Methods and techniques to investigate past environmental changes are outlined and illustrated. The module also looks at how environments have responded to past climate changes thereby putting a context for present day climate changes and predicting future changes.

This module will help improve your academic writing, study, numeracy and data handling skills. It will also help you to be able to critically evaluate issues and problems as well as think about sustainability.

20 credits

Urban Culture and Conflict: The Making of Modern Cities

Cities are sites of social conflict and cultural production.  The links between these two facets of modern urban experience have long fascinated scholars seeking to understand the cultural history of the urban imagination.  In this module you will explore different ways artists, intellectuals, political activists, ordinary people and other thinkers have sought to understand and explain various experiences of and conflicts over urban life.  You will learn to situate the relationships between sensory perceptions, aesthetic judgments and power relations in their own place and time.  This module will draw from historical, cultural, social, and political geographies as well as other disciplines to engage with the shifting nature and spatiality of these relationships through case studies of selected cities, the particular changes in urban culture they occasioned, contemporary responses to those changes, and the theoretical debates they inspired.  Key topics will include urban form and architecture, cultural difference and social inequality, representational practices and bodily experiences, and the overall consciousness of change in cities over the past two centuries.

20 credits

Students can also take approved modules from other departments, such as:

Urban Analytics

This module will serve as an introduction to quantitative and spatial analytical methods, with a specific focus on understanding, interpreting and presenting secondary data in urban contexts. It will expose students to a variety of substantive issues surrounding the use of data in practice and enhance their understanding of methods used in real world policy settings. Students will access and use a range of different datasets, covering demographics, property, and land use and will analyse them using both spatial and aspatial methods. They will be required to demonstrate competence in accessing, analysing and presenting such data using both aspatial and spatial methods in order to gain a deeper understanding of key issues facing urban settings.

20 credits

Cities, Violence and Security

Urban violence, insecurity and crime are features of the everyday and crisis moments of city life in many nations around the world. Warfare touches life in many cities today, questions of narco-terror and violence affect many others. Meanwhile, the role of the climate emergency in driving migration and instability, forms of economic crisis and precarity, alongside other forms of disturbance lead to forms of injustice, violence and victimisation. The course seeks to develop student understanding of the political, economic and social drivers of human insecurity in urban settings.

This course has been designed to develop student's engagement with and responses to multiple forms of urban insecurity. It discusses the diverse kinds of responses to insecurity by states, armies, police and citizens, many of which bring further rounds of insecurity and violence to marginalised and excluded populations. 

The primary aim of the course is to find answers to the question: how can peace and security be enjoyed by all citizens in cities around the world today?

Cities, Violence and Security introduces students to a range of examples of violence, conflict and insecurity in urban contexts around the world. The course develops awareness of the programs and policies being pursued to make better and safer places. Examples of urban violence and crime, policing, forced evictions, domestic violence, terrorism, gangs and the rise of gated communities and other modes of design and control to produce securitised urban spaces are discussed and analysed in their effectiveness.

The aims of the course are:

1. To develop students' awareness of the political, social and economic context in which urban violence and insecurity are embedded in different global contexts

2. To develop students' understanding of core debates relating to urban insecurity in both the global North and South

3. To develop students' critical understanding of the role of these debates in informing policies and initiatives to try and reduce violence and insecurity in cities

20 credits

Urban Theory

At the heart of every discipline lie the ideas, concepts and frameworks that help its students and researchers to make sense of its object of study. In planning, geography and urban studies there are numerous perspectives, concepts and key thinkers who have shaped the development of these disciplines. This course introduces you to a series of key concepts and thinkers and helps them to make sense of urban life as a result.

Urban Theory aims to develop your imaginative engagement with the nature of urban life and human settlement. Urban theory refers to writing and thinking devoted to 'seeing' and understanding urban life. Concepts and ideas are critical to how we engage with the key features and problems of the urban world, shape the process of conducting research and help us to make sense of and understand many of the key challenges in cities today. Theory is therefore critical to our understanding of how cities work in practice and how we understand and view urban life subsequently informs the development of cities and efforts to make them more socially just, sustainable and better places to live. Urban Theory introduces a range of ideas and key concepts in urban studies with a view to understanding how cities have developed and how they 'work' in broad terms. The module considers a range of thinkers, concepts and perspectives. The aims of the module are:

1. To introduce and extend your knowledge of different ways of seeing city life. This includes a wide range of perspectives, thinkers and concepts relating to urban social and political life, the economies of cities, the range of communities and groups living in cities and, their built and natural environments

2. To provide you with an armoury of critical ideas and concepts that will deepen their understanding of the fundamental power relations, inequalities and divisions that characterise cities and which structure localities, particularly in relation to questions of class, race and gender.

20 credits

Core modules:

Dissertation for Geography and Environmental Science

This module requires the student to prepare, organise, research and report a piece of original work on a geographical topic under guidance by a staff mentor. The student will decide on the topic and will either be expected to collect original material in order to investigate it, or to perform secondary analysis on information drawn from existing sources. The finished product is presented in the style, and at the length, associated with academic journal articles.

40 credits

Optional modules:

Advanced Geospatial Analysis

This module will give students the opportunity to extend their knowledge of geospatial systems and software through detailed instruction and targeted case studies. The course will be taught in three parts, and will involve a mixture of lab-work and lectures. The three key themes are: (a) Digital Terrain Models (DTM) from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry, (b) Mapping of glacial bedforms from DTM data. Lab sessions will enhance software, coding and quantitative skills. Where possible, sessions will include student-led components and formative peer-peer assessment elements which will provide the opportunity to develop a range of generic analytical skills.
In taking this module you will further develop your problem solving skills and develop further resilience through tackling a specific practical application of geospatial analysis that is relevant to research and industry.

20 credits

Employing Geography Skills in Sustainability and Social Justice

This module enables students to consolidate and apply the skills gained through their Geography or Environmental Science degree to real-world challenges.  These challenges, based around themes of sustainability and social justice, will be identified by stakeholders within the University.   Students will work as a team to: scope the issues; identify solutions, and; communicate them to the stakeholders.  As well as consolidating their subject skills, they will further their collaboration, project planning, problem solving and communication skills.  Through reflection and employability-related exercises embedded throughout the module they will be able to improve their self-awareness, identify their skills and attributes, and be able to confidently articulate these to employers and further study providers.

20 credits

Democracy and Citizenship: Dilemmas and Tensions

This module explores how a geographical approach helps us to analyse issues such as controversial election results, divisive immigration policies, and contentious social activism. The two key concepts of democracy and citizenship are used to engage with contemporary debates and theories to draw out the links between geography, policy and society, and the ways in which these are shaped and responded to by citizens, communities, civil society, and political parties. The module emphasises the critical appraisal and interpretation of a variety of perspectives - including our own. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which these interactions are played out across and through multiple scales, from the global to our everyday lives.

20 credits

Urban Exploration

This module offers students a chance to explore urban geographies from new angles, which emphasise creative, experimental and subversive ways of seeing and doing geography.  Through readings and seminars, students will be exposed to experimental fieldwork ideas and methods. This module will include a residential fieldclass in a UK city, during which time students will conduct individual fieldwork projects, whilst also engaging with fieldwork collectively.

To attend this field class you will need to select this module by the end of the first Add/Drop period in Semester 1 (i.e., by the end of Week 2). After this point we will close the module to new students, and if you Drop this module at a later date, you might be subject to any cancellation fee we incur.

20 credits

Decolonising Geographies

This module examines Indigenous geographies through Indigenous storytelling and film as a way to understand the need to decolonise geography. It examines how race, racism, Indigenous rights, settler colonialism, settler responsibility, white supremacy, land rights, dispossession and genocide shape geographies of place, space and landscape, as well as more affirmative visions of Indigenous futures. Topics covered include geographies of identity, emotions, memory, racism, colonialism, gender, landscape, and visual representation. The aim of this module is to centre Indigenous narratives, voices and knowledge to understand geography differently while simultaneously critiquing the current whiteness of academic geographical discourse. Trigger warning - this module engages with potentially distressing and challenging themes of rape, murder, abuse, loss and violence.

20 credits

Applied Volcanology

Volcanoes are an enigmatic force of nature. Understanding the way they behave and how they are monitored is a key aspect in hazard assessment. The module will cover a range of topics related to volcano monitoring, underpinned by an overview of the current state-of-the-art in volcanic science. In particular, the module will combine a theoretical basis of understanding for ground-based and satellite-based volcano monitoring capabilities with practical applications. Via lectures, lab practicals, and field-based activities, students will benefit from hands-on operation of monitoring equipment through to processing and interpretation.

20 credits

Challenging Development

The aim of this module is to critically examine the development process within a global context, drawing on examples from developed and developing nations, to understand the local global nexus. Attention is given to the different ways in which sustainable 'development' is defined, and how we can decolonise development reflecting more critically on our position, and the power relations within this process. Drawing on debates within development geography, and other disciplines, the course is structured around two themes: current global crises and how these affect us all but differently across the globe; and development interventions which aim to tackle global crises globally and locally. Topics covered may include: neoliberalism and its relation to the financial crises, the environmental crises, and its root causes, populism and the rise of inequalities, sustainable development goals, alternatives to development, the pros and cons of the use of technology.

20 credits

Contemporary Geographical Research (L3)

This module requires the student to prepare, research and write up a piece of work based on a geographical topic of their choice. After meeting with a staff member a proposal will be produced that will be marked to give the student feedback before they embark on the essay. An extended essay will then be conducted independently with limited staff support, synthesising and developing a critique on the existing literature available in the Sheffield libraries.

20 credits

Creative Geographies: Media, Imaginaries and Politics

Place, in all its forms, has long inspired creativity, while the works that result are themselves inherently spatial.  This module will explore work from several historical and contemporary creative movements and associated cultural producers in context.  Why did their work arise where it did?  What difference did that place (or places) make to their aesthetic thought and expression?  How was space itself integral to their creative work?  This module will guide students through the intricate relationship between art across various media, geography, and the political.  Emphasis will be put on specific types of space and place as sites and mediums of aesthetic thought and creative practice.  Core themes will include identity, place and displacement, historical imaginations and the built environment, and creativity and socio-spatial transformation.

20 credits

Coastal Systems: Processes and Management

This module will explore the processes occurring within coastal environments both off-shore and on-shore including aspects of societal interaction with these environments and responses to climate change. The topics typically covered  include tides, estuaries, coastal dune systems,cliff erosion and off-shore energy production. It also includes practical elements of data and field based analysis designed to understand coastal processes and monitor changes.  Field work comprises an integral element of this module. The aim of the module is to give you an appreciation of the variety and multidisciplinarity of the physical geography associated with coastal environments. It will give you the chance to translate new knowledge and new research field and digital skills to problem solve, critically think and suggest sustainable solutions to real world problems.

20 credits

Environmental Justice at a Time of Crisis

This module works with critical debates and approaches in Environmental Geographies to help understand a range of environmental crises (climate change, sustainability, waste and pollution, biodiversity loss/conservation, extinction) in front of us. The module will examine histories, causes and solutions for these environmental crises while drawing connections between global South and North. 

We will cover a range of scales and actors from individual behaviours to community actions, and work of local bodies and global organisations and negotiations.

The module will leverage conceptual and political tools provided by environmental geographies to ask how we could tackle these multiple and co-constituted crises in socially just ways.

20 credits