Undergraduate - Area of Study Geography and environmental science

The school's research and teaching program adopts an integrative approach for understanding and doing global, regional, and urban sustainability. It can be divided into four main thematic groups that span the traditional disciplinary divides of physical geography, human geography, and environmental management and incorporate analytical techniques such as geographic information systems:

• Urban, regional and international development investigates the changing relationships between the city and countryside, urban growth and change, industrialisation and rural development with particular attention to questions of uneven development, regional inequality, and social justice.
• Conservation of biological diversity and cultural heritage focuses on the distribution and character of the earth's vegetation, and distinctive ecological, cultural, and indigenous landscapes shaped by human action.
• Climate change and society investigates the functioning of the climate and atmosphere in the past, present, and future through a range of disciplinary approaches from earth systems science through to environmental policy.
• Land and water management draws from scientific investigations in geomorphology, hydrology, and biogeography, as well as social science approaches to environmental and resource management.

Many geography units offer opportunities for field studies in different landscapes. These include day or weekend trips to study cities, coasts, alpine areas, soils, hydrology, climatology and meteorology, Australian Indigenous archaeology, tourism and environmental management. More extensive and lengthy excursions are also available, in particular on the themes of indigenous archaeology and regional sustainability (to regional Australia, South Africa and Italy). Basic laboratory techniques are also taught in selected physical geography and archaeology units.

Clayton

First-year level

Students studying a first year sequence in geography and environmental science must complete two units (12 points), including the compulsory unit, from the following:

Compulsory unit

• ATS1310 Natural hazards and human vulnerability

Elective units

• ATS1301 Australian physical environments: Evolution, status and management
• ATS1309 The global challenge

Second/Third-year level

Students studying a minor or major in geography and environmental science must have completed the first-year sequence. In addition:

• a minor requires completion of a further two units (12 points) from the units listed below including the compulsory unit
• a major requires completion of a further six units (36 points) from the units listed below including the compulsory unit. A minimum of three units must be taken at third year level.

Compulsory unit

• ATS2780 Geographical analysis

Elective units

• ATS2545/ATS3545 Environmental hydrology
• ATS2547 Cities and sustainability
• ATS2548 Environmental policy and management
• ATS2628 Power and poverty: International development in a globalising world
• ATS2731/ATS3731 Globalisation and change in regional Australia
• ATS2774 Understanding Australian landscapes: soil-vegetation dynamics
• ATS2776 Climatology: Land, ecosystems and the atmosphere
• ATS2778 People and places: Social geographies of exclusion
• ATS2779 Climate change and variability
• ATS2886 Tourism and the environment
• ATS2889/ATS3889 Indigenous knowledges in cross-cultural praxis: Aboriginal community field unit
• ATS3259 Geographical information systems (GIS) for environmental management
• ATS3281 Cultural landscape, environment and sustainability (field study unit in Italy)
• ATS3282 Social space: Urban justice
• ATS3283 Sharing prosperity: Geographies of work, regional development and economy
• ATS3543 Archaeology of Indigenous Australia
• ATS3544 Archaeological field and laboratory method
• ATS3545 Environmental hydrology
• ATS3546 Environmental assessment and decision making
• ATS3552 Remote sensing of the environment
• ATS3553 Field studies in regional sustainability (field study unit in South Africa)
• ATS3554 Resource evaluation and management
• ATS3556 Urbanisation and regional development in the Indo-Pacific rims
• ATS3557 Out of Africa: Human evolution, world heritage and museums
• ATS3558 Global change and the earth system
• ATS3787 Research methods in geography environment and sustainability
• ATS3788 Soils, landscape and their management
• ATS3790 Landscape processes (field-based unit in outback Australia)
• ATS3791 Environmental change: Past to future
• ATS3886 Tourism and the environment
• ATS3887 Designing urban futures: Urban climate, water and adaptation
• ATS3898/APG4893 Special topics in sustainability
• ATS3902 Geopolitics of climate change

South Africa

First-year level

Students studying a first year sequence in geography and environmental science must complete two units (12 points) from the following:

• ATS1306 Introduction to human geography
• ATS1307 Techniques in geography and environmental science
• ATS1308 Introduction to physical geography
• ATS1309 The global challenge

Second/Third-year level

Students studying a minor or major in geography and environmental science must have completed the first-year sequence. In addition:

• a minor requires completion of a further two units (12 points) from the units listed below
• a major requires completion of a further six units (36 points) from the units listed below. A minimum of three units must be taken at third year level.

Units include:

• ATS2259/ATS3259 Geographical information systems (GIS) for environmental management
• ATS2541/ATS3541 Research methods in geography and environmental science
• ATS2542/ATS3542 Geographical information systems: FOSS Geo-informatics
• ATS2546/ATS3546 Environmental assessment and decision making
• ATS2547/ATS3547 Cities and sustainability
• ATS2548/ATS3548 Environmental policy and management
• ATS2549/ATS3549 Power and poverty: Geographies of uneven development
• ATS2550/ATS3550 The Southern African atmospheric environment: A synoptic approach
• ATS3553 Field studies in regional sustainability
• ATS2776 Climatology: Land, ecosystems and the atmosphere
• ATS3551 Field studies in urban sustainability

Diplomas

• 2327 Diploma in Liberal Arts
• 2552 Diploma of Tertiary Studies

Bachelors

Single degrees

• 0002 Bachelor of Arts
• 3920 Bachelor of Arts - at Sunway
• 4073 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences
• 1638 Bachelor of Arts as a Participant in the Dean's Scholars Program
• 3914 Bachelor of Arts (Criminal Justice)
• 3907 Bachelor of Arts (English Language)
• 3910 Bachelor of Arts (Global)
• 4077 Bachelor of Arts (International)
• 2396 Bachelor of Arts (Journalism)
• 1366 Bachelor of Arts (Languages)
• 1708 Bachelor of Arts (Professional Communication)
• 1712 Bachelor of Arts (Psychology)
• 1719 Bachelor of Behavioural Science
• 2476 Bachelor of Communication - at Sunway
• 1731 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
• 4042 Bachelor of Journalism
• 0202 Bachelor of Letters
• 1144 Bachelor of Performing Arts
• 1275 Bachelor of Professional Communication
• 4086 Bachelor of Social Science

Double degrees

• 3277 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
• 0550 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
• 0553 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance)
• 0555 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Management)
• 0556 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Marketing)
• 0542 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce
• 0170 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics
• 1541 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education-primary
• 1641 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education-secondary
• 0080 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws
• 3054 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music
• 0530 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science
• 3426 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Work
• 0002 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology
• 3779 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Visual Arts
• 1807 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Business and Commerce
• 1806 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
• 4208 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Education
• 4089 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Visual and Media Arts
• 4403 Bachelor of Arts (Global) and Bachelor of Commerce
• 3537 Bachelor of Arts (Global) and Bachelor of Science
• 2131 Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) and Bachelor of Science
• 1798 Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
• 1941 Bachelor of Business and Commerce and Bachelor of Communication
• 4423 Bachelor of Business and Commerce and Bachelor of Professional Communication
• 4075 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling and Diploma of Community Services (Alcohol, Other Drugs and Mental Health)
• 4076 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling and Diploma of Disability
• 0116 Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
• 3281 Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
• 1945 Bachelor of Professional Communication and Diploma of Professional Writing