Geographical dynamics of contemporary global issues

Duration

50h Th, 45h Pr

Number of credits

Lecturer

Guénaël Devillet, Jean-Marie Halleux, Serge Schmitz

Coordinator

Serge Schmitz

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course is made of: - 50 hours of theoretical courses
- 18 hours of practicals
 - 3 tutorials to guide the development of the integrated work
Theoretical lectures incorporate the following chapters (50h Th):
- History of geography (Serge Schmitz)
- The geography fundamentals (including the main concepts of the discipline) (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- Geography of energy (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- The geography of development and globalisation (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- Population geography (Serge Schmitz)
- Political geography (including the political geography of water) (Serge Schmitz)
- Location of agricultural productions (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- Location of industries and services (Guénaël Devillet)
The course contents are focused on major issues related to the global scale. They are complementary to the contents of the course "Urban territories: diagnoses and planning" taught in B2 which are focused on the urban and local scales. 
Faced with simplistic statements and models, the developments of the theoretical courses aim to understand and make sense of realities, actors's interactions and spatial interactions linked to the issue of globalization. Theoretical courses also aim to highlight the main global issues in relation to six main themes: energy, food, economic development, environment, demography and governance.
- The energy issues are analysed in relation to the productions, the organisation of the markets and the environment.
- The food issues are articulated with the theme of agricultural production, by dealing with both, their spatial distributions and the organisation of their markets.
- The issues of economic development are developed in different parts of the courses: the chapter dedicated to the geography of development but also the chapters dedicated to the location of economic activities (agriculture, industry and services)
- The environmental issues are also developed in different chapters, notably in the chapter on political geography (in relation to the geopolitics of water) as well as in the chapter on population geography (which questions the relationships between resources and human settlement).
- Concerning the demographic issues, topics such as the ageing of the population and international migrations will be developed beside the resource issue.
- Concerning the governance issues, we will develop topics such as conflicts and cultural diversities.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The learning outcomes related to the theoretical courses are the following:
- give future geographers the key concepts and approaches of social and economic geography;
- provide theoretical and practical knowledges on political geography, economic geography, population geography, transport geography;
- raise awareness of the students about the specificity of the geographical approach;
- provide the ability to reframe issues and political debates related to contemporary global issues.
The learning outcomes related to the practicals and to the integrated work are the following:
- to collect, to analyse and to criticize data;
- to promote awareness on the scientific approach (hypothesis formulation, modeling, construction of indices, citation of sources and references);
- to develop the capacity for synthesis and the ability to develop a multi-scale approach;
- to develop independence and time-management skills;
- to develop a reflection on the appropriate scales to consider. 

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

The course requires what can be expected from a student graduated from the secondary school who has chosen a university education. An open attitude towards social and economic problems is also expected.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course is made of:    - 50 hours of theoretical courses    - 18 hours of practicals
- 3 tutorials to guide the development of the integrated work (plus one formative evaluation during the exam session)

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

The practicals include six main themes and activities:
- data acquisition
- graph creation using a spreadsheet
- exercises on population geography (population projections)
- how to use search engines and the library?
- the systemic approach and the flowcharts
- exercises on development geography
The participation to the practicals is obligatory.   The realization of the practicals helps the students to develop tools and skills in order to prepare an integrated work. For this integrated work, each student works on a particular region of the world on the basis of the UN typology (22 regions). He prepares a report aiming to analyse the relations between the considered region and the main issues developed by the theoretical lectures. The report develops a multi-scale approach aiming to articulate the situation in the investigated region with the issue of globalization.
Each student receives a region chosen by the academic staff. He starts working on this basis and considers how to focus his work on one of the six main issues developed by the theoretical lectures. The student has then to identify the specific issue he will work on.
The written work will represent between 25,000 and 35,000 characters (including spaces). This work will, at least, integrate two original documents: one graph and one flowchart. It will also integrate cartographic materials (not personnal ones). Those documents will be systematically discussed in the text.
 

Recommended or required readings

Documents available on MyULg: slide presentations and scientific publications related to the contents of the theoretical courses.

Assessment methods and criteria

Formative evaluation for the practicals.
The integrated work represents 50% of the mark.
Exams = 50% (22.5% written exam and 22,5% oral exam; no oral exam asked if the result is higher or equal to 10/20 in the written exam).

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

The detailed agenda will be announced at the first theoretical course.

Contacts

Lecturers: G. Devillet, J.-M. Halleux (coordinator) et S. Schmitz
In charge of the practicals: Symi Nyns
In charge of the integrated work: 
Contact adresses:    
g.devillet@uliege.be
Jean-Marie.Halleux@uliege.be
S.Schmitz@uliege.be
Symi.Nyns@uliege.be

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session

Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning

Commented diaporamas and visioconferences

Assessment subjects

See the French version

Assessment methods

See the French version.

Contacts

Prof. Guenael Devillet : g.devillet@uliege.be
Prof. Jean-Marie Halleux : jean-marie.halleux@uliege.be
Prof. Serge Schmitz : s.schmitz@uliege.be

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session

Assessment subjects

La matière de l'évaluation est identique à celle de juin 2020.

Assessment methods

Vis-à-vis des résultats de la première session, deux situations peuvent être rencontrées  :

• Les deux évaluations (travail intégré et examen écrit) sont inférieures à 10/20 : vous devez alors représenter les deux évaluations.
• Une évaluation (travail intégré ou examen écrit) est égale ou supérieure à 10/20 : vous pouvez demander le report de la cote partielle relative à la partie réussie et vous ne devrez pas présenter cette partie lors de la seconde session. Par contre, si vous souhaitez améliorer votre cote, vous pouvez choisir de représenter l'épreuve.

• Examen sur le cours théorique : 50 %
• Travail intégré : 50 %

Contacts

Prof. Guenael Devillet : g.devillet@uliege.be
Prof. Jean-Marie Halleux : jean-marie.halleux@uliege.be
Prof. Serge Schmitz : s.schmitz@uliege.be