Dr Julia Corwin CKK 311

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Environment and Development, BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development with Economics and BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics. This course is available on the BA in Geography, BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Geography with Economics and BSc in Social Anthropology. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Studying sustainable development today means recognizing the urgency of social and environmental problems facing current and future generations across the world. Throughout the year, we explore the relationship between human lives and the environment, debate what human ‘development’ and ‘sustainability’ mean, and discuss how to understand these complex and flexible concepts together. The first term focuses on understanding current and historical challenges for sustainable development, and the second term looks more closely at sustainable development programmes and proposed solutions. In the Autumn Term, we study the origins of sustainable development discourse and programmes and explore the challenges of sustainable development by looking at major global environmental and social changes, including debates on resource and energy use, urban growth, technology, industrial agriculture, commodity use and disposal, and changes in the global economy. Winter term then focuses on a variety of sustainable development programmes and proposed solutions, in order to critically examine how sustainable development is implemented throughout the world. Together, these two terms expose students to the diversity of ways that sustainable development is thought about and studied, in order to foster critical understanding about the connections between environmental and social problems.

In the Department of Geography and Environment, teaching will be delivered through a combination of classes/seminars, pre-recorded videos, in-person lectures, live online lectures, and other supplementary interactive live activities.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures across Autumn and Winter Term.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term and in Week 6 of Winter Term

Students will be expected to work on a number of small assignments throughout both terms.

There are a variety of texts available for this course. A detailed reading list will be given at the beginning of each term but an indicative list includes:

J Hickel (2017) The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions. Windmill Books; R Patel and J Moore (2018) A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. Verso Books; G Atkinson, S Dietz, E Neumayer and M Agarwala, eds. (2014) Handbook of Sustainable Development, 2nd edition, Edward Elgar Publishing; P McMichael and H Weber (2022). Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, SAGE Publications.

Exam (40%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the January exam period.
Coursework (40%, 3000 words) and continuous assessment (20%).

The participation grade is based on student engagement with course material, and is assessed through a number of small assignments throughout both terms as well as participation in class.