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2025-2026 / GEOG0222-3

Rural geography

Duration

30h Th, 30h Pr, 2d FW

Number of credits

 Bachelor in geography : general6 crédits 

Lecturer

Serge Schmitz

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

1) Rural Geography, agriculture, sustainable rural development, rural utopia
2) Rural landscape analysis. From the landscape features to the rural system
Rural housing and settlement, Land morphology, cultivation system, Diversity of rural landscape features in Europe and in the World
3) Belgian countryside
a) Retroacts
b) Town and countryside interconnections
c) Rural development
d) Belgian Agriculture (Regional diversity and main challenges, CAP)
4) The forest
a) Production and transformation of wood
b) Multifunctional forest
5) Exotic agriculture
a) French viticulture
b) Agriculture in Africa or in Central America
6) Nature conservation
National and regional parks, protected areas, ecological network, Natura 2000
7) European countryside typology

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • Familiarize students with the rural world and its recent developments.
  • Link the components of biophysical infrastructure, land structure, and land use.
  • Connect local and regional constraints with international issues related to agriculture and integrated rural development.
  • Use sources (maps, photographs, agricultural statistics) and methods of rural geography (trace studies, observations, surveys).
  • Create a poster.
  • Describe, analyze, and explain spatial distributions.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

- Notions of statistics, data bases, biology, pedology, economy and regional geography - Elementary geographical vocabulary - Map and satelite image interpretation - Good physical condition (field works)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures, Readings, Discussion, Role playing games, Interviews, Map analysis, Data analysis, Fieldworks and Poster presentation.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

The course will be given face-to-face during the first semester.

Fieldworks: 19 September and 14 November

Hybrid mode is possible if the situation requires it.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Barcus H., Jone R., Schmitz S., 2022. Rural Transformations, Globalization and Its Implications for Rural People, Land, and Economies, Routledge, 264p.

Schmitz S., 2018. Géographie rurale, Liège : Université de Liège, Facultés des sciences, 80p.

Van Hecke E., Antrop M., Schmitz S., 2010. Agriculture et Monde rural, Atlas de Belgique, tome 2, Gent : Academia Press, 82p.

Woods M., 2011. Rural, Oxford : Routledge, 340p.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam

Written work / report


Further information:

Exercises and Field works (2/5);
Oral exam (3/5).

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Serge Schmitz
Université de Liège - Institut de Géographie - Sart Tilman - Bât. B11 - Bureau 1/41
Phone: 04/366.56.29  E-mail : S.Schmitz@uliege.be

Géant Chuma
Université de Liège - Institut de Géographie - Sart Tilman - Bât. B11 - Bureau 1/44
Phone: 04/3665265

Association of one or more MOOCs