Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
(Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Geography (GEOG) Courses
4000-level courses are normally restricted to students with fourth-year Honours standing. However, students with third-year standing may take 4000-level courses provided they have the necessary prerequisites, a Geography CGPA of 6.50 or better, and permission of the Department.
Global Environmental Systems
Principles, processes and interactions in the Earth's environment emphasizing the flow of energy and matter within global systems. Atmospheric and oceanic processes, earth surface processes and biogeochemical cycling. Case studies on the interaction between human activity and the natural environment.
Lectures three hours a week, laboratory two hours a week.
People, Places and Environments
Introduction to human geography. Examination of relationships between people, communities, society and the natural environment at local to global scales. Population change, cultural patterns, and historical, economic, political and environmental forces that shape human activity and experiences from place to place.
Also listed as ENST 1020.
Lectures two hours a week and tutorial one hour a week.
Introduction to Cities and Urbanization
Introduction to the study of cities, urbanization and suburbanization. Geography of urban experience, development and change across an urbanizing planet. Urbanization processes, patterns and issues in different cities and regions; the relationships among urban areas.
Precludes additional credit for GEOG 2400 (no longer offered).
Lectures two hours per week and tutorials one hour per week.
Introduction to Qualitative Research
Introduction to the research process, from generating questions to reporting results. Topics include intensive and extensive research approaches; the use of surveys, interviews and other data collection methods; the analysis of qualitative information; and the ethical dimensions of doing research with people and communities.
Also listed as ENST 2005.
Prerequisite(s): 1.0 credit in GEOG or ENST at the 1000-level and second-year standing, or permission of the Department.
Lectures two hours a week, workshop two hours a week.
Introduction to Quantitative Research
Introduction to solving problems using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Graphical and numerical tools to describe distributions. Probability, sampling and estimates, and hypothesis testing. Fundamentals of spatial statistics and analysis.
Also listed as ENST 2006.
Precludes additional credit for BIT 2000, BIT 2100 (no longer offered), BIT 2300 (no longer offered), NEUR 2002, PSCI 2702, STAT 2507, STAT 2606.
Lectures two hours a week, laboratory two hours a week.
Weather and Water
Introduction to climate, weather and the hydrological cycle. Physical properties of the atmosphere, radiation and energy balances, global circulation, atmospheric moisture and precipitation, weather systems and forecasting, mechanisms of climate change.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 1010 or ERTH 1006 or ISCI 1001.
Lectures three hours a week, laboratory three hours a week.
The Earth's Surface
Introduction to geomorphology. Weathering, slope and fluvial processes within drainage basins, and glacial and periglacial processes.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 1010 or ERTH 1006 or ISCI 1001.
Lectures three hours a week, laboratory three hours a week.
Physical Environments of Canada
Canada's physiography, climates, biogeography, soils, and landforms.
Cities, Inequality and Urban Change
Geographical perspectives on the uneven power relationships and politics that shape urban lives and urban space. Key topics may include housing and segregation, planning for sustainable cities, urban social movements, urban inequality and changing livelihoods.
Precludes additional credit for GEOG 2400 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 1023, or second-year standing, or permission of the department.
Lectures two hours per week and tutorials one hour per week.
Global Connections
Globalization and global environmental change as linked processes. Geographical analysis of economic, cultural and political transformations acting at global, national and local scales. Choices and constraints underlying economic, social and environmental sustainability.
Lectures three hours a week.
Space, Place and Culture
Introduction to social and cultural geography, including how theories of space, place, landscape, power, and knowledge can be used to understand the geographic dimensions of social and cultural life. Topics include culture and identity, migration and transnationalism, nature, gender, sexuality, race, colonialism, consumption, and work.
Lectures two hours a week, discussion one hour a week.
Climate Change: Social Science Perspectives
An introduction to climate change, with an emphasis on human dimensions. Topics include anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, regional variations in climate change and their consequences, human vulnerability and adaptation to environmental change, and climate change politics and policies at a variety of geographic scales.
Also listed as ENST 2500.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the Department.
Lectures three hours a week.
Geography Behind the Headlines
Exploration of the geographical backgrounds to selected issues of current public interest, through geography's perspective of integrating human and physical environments. Issues selected will be structured from the global through the national/regional to the local, identifying the interdependencies among the scales.
Honours Field Course
Field research, with a focus on data collection methods, analysis and presentation of findings. Design and conduct research that links the human and biophysical environment. Topics may change from year to year.
Also listed as ENST 3900.
Precludes additional credit for ENST 2900 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2005/ENST 2005 and GEOG 2006/ENST 2006, third-year Honours standing in Geography, Geomatics or Environmental Studies, or permission of the Department.
Normally consists of a multi-day field excursion in the Ottawa region. A supplementary charge may apply. Consult the department regarding course details.
Doing Qualitative Research
Theory and methods used in qualitative approaches to research in human geography; hands-on experience and discussion of beliefs and claims underlying scholarly work. Ethical and practical dilemmas confronting researchers. Gathering and interpreting qualitative information; representing knowledge.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2005 or ENST 2005.
Lecture and discussion three hours per week.
Quantitative Geography
Quantitative methods used in geographical research: multiple correlation and regression, principal component/factor analysis, spatial statistics, cluster analysis, and a review of other selected techniques. Computer-based analysis.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2006 or ENST 2006 or STAT 2507 or permission of the Department.
Lecture two hours a week, laboratory two hours a week.
Field Methods in Physical Geography
Field and laboratory approaches, methodologies and techniques in physical geography. Field projects will be undertaken to collect data for analysis, evaluation and presentation.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2006 or ENST 2006 or STAT 2507 and GEOG 2013 or GEOG 2014 or permission of the Department.
Normally consists of a multi-day field camp, including lodging, during Fall or Winter Break, and regular classroom meetings. A supplementary charge will apply.
Geographies of Culture and Identity
Examination of culture, identity and place over time. Colonial and other historical processes that have shaped societies from place to place; relationships between cultural groups and their natural surroundings; gender, ethnicity, nationality and other dimensions of identity; impacts of globalization.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2300 and third-year standing, or permission of the Department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Environmental and Natural Resources
Exploration of complexity, dynamics, uncertainty and equity issues underpinning environmental and resource issues; review and appraisal of selected contemporary methods to assess and manage environmental and natural resources.
Also listed as ENST 3022.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing in Geography or Environmental Studies or BGInS Specialization/Stream in Globalization and Environment or permission of the Department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Cities in a Global World
Introduces the study of cities as "systems of cities", the political economy of linkages between urban places located unevenly in space, and "cities as systems". Case studies of socio-cultural, political and economic relations within biophysical and built environments.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2023 and third-year standing, or permission of the department.
Lecture and discussion three hours a week.
Understanding Globalization
Geographical analysis of processes of globalization: theoretical frameworks, historical context and contemporary challenges.
Lecture three hours a week.
Geographies of Selected Regions
Geographical analysis of key questions facing a selected region of the world. Attention will focus on selected topics within one or more regions and their related global context.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in the Geography of Canada
Selected topic concerning the geography of Canada. Topic varies from year to year.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 1020 or ENST 1020 and second-year standing, or permission of the Department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Regional Field Excursion
Guided and independent geographic field research, with a focus on data collection methods, and analysis and presentation of findings. Consists of an excursion outside of the Ottawa region. A supplementary charge may apply.
Prerequisite(s): third-year Honours standing in Geography or BGInS Specialization in Globalization and Environment or permission of the Department.
A seven- to ten-day field excursion.
Geomorphology
Geomorphological agents of landscape change at the Earth's surface, emphasizing the role of water, ice and wind in erosion and deposition; use of geomorphic indicators in studies of environmental change. A supplementary charge may apply.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2014 and third-year standing, or permission of the Department.
Lectures two hours a week, laboratory two hours a week, one field excursion.
Watershed Hydrology
Principles of hydrology at local and watershed scales, emphasizing: soil moisture regimes; field data collection and analysis of surface water or snow and ice conditions; hydrologic processes in cold environments; and regional runoff regimes in Canada.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2013 or permission of the Department.
Lectures three hours a week, laboratory two hours a week.
Principles of Biogeography
Contemporary and past controls on distribution of plants and animals at global, regional and local scales; significance of these distributions.
Also listed as BIOL 3608.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 1010 or BIOL 2600, or permission of the Department.
Lectures, laboratory, and fieldwork five hours a week.
Climate and Atmospheric Change
The global climate system, with emphasis on global change variability over the historical and modern periods; the changing composition of the atmosphere and its impact on climate; analysis and interpretation of climatic and atmospheric data; modeling of climate systems.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2013 or permission of the Department.
Lecture two hours a week, laboratory two hours a week.
Aquatic Science and Management
Fundamentals of aquatic science. The physical, chemical, and biotic aspects of lake, river, and estuary systems including human impacts, management and conservation.
Also listed as ENSC 3106.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing and a second-year science or engineering course.
Workshop four hours per week.
Soil Properties
The physical and chemical properties of soils; soil-water relationships, weathering processes, soil mineralogy, cation exchange, soil pH. A plant-oriented perspective predominates.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 2013 or GEOG 2014 or permission of the Department.
Lectures and laboratory five hours a week.
Health, Environment, and Society
Factors influencing human health in an ecological framework involving population structure, habitat, and behaviour. Changes in the distribution of communicable and degenerative diseases are portrayed as being related to historical and contemporary development and globalization processes. Sources, types and characteristics of geographically referenced health information.
Lectures three hours a week.
Sustainability and Environment in the South
Analysis of the relationships between people and environment in selected regions in the South (Africa, Asia, Latin America). Emphasis on sustainable livelihoods and local action in relation to broader socio-economic and political processes. Regions selected vary from year to year.
Lecture and discussion three hours a week.
Geographies of Economic Development
Geographical approaches to economic development and difference at local, regional and global scales. Critical historical, cultural, social and political economic perspectives on 'development', including theories of the state, colonial power, and development institutions. Spatial dynamics and environmental impacts of economic activity.
Geographies of the Canadian North
The physical characteristics, historical geography, economic resources, settlement patterns and problems and the future development of Arctic and Subarctic lands, focusing primarily on Canada.
Lectures three hours a week.
Population Geography
The distributional aspects of population attributes; areal patterns of population characteristics and their spatial variations associated with differences in the nature of places; migratory movements within the framework of spatial models of interactions between locations.
Lectures three hours a week.
Co-operative Work Term
Field Studies
Field observation and methodology in a selected region; individual or group basis.
Also listed as ENST 4400.
Prerequisite(s): third-year Honours standing and permission of the Department.
Hours to be arranged.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Principles, scope and purpose of environmental impact assessment, from conceptual and methodological points of view; range of environmental issues, with emphasis on Canadian case studies.
Also listed as ENST 4004.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 3022 or ENST 3022, and fourth-year Honours standing in Geography or Environmental Studies or Environmental Science, or permission of the Department.
Lectures and seminars three hours a week.
Directed Studies in Geography
Students pursue their interest in a selected theme in geography on a tutorial basis with a member of the Department.
Special Topics in Geography and Environmental Studies
Selected topics in geography and/or environmental studies.
Precludes additional credit for GEOG 4006.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing in the Department of permission of the Department.
Seminar three hours per week.
Cold Region Hydrology
An examination of cold region hydrologic processes via experimental and observational studies; analysis of hydrologic data and application of hydrologic models.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Processes that control the fluxes and reservoirs of biologically active chemical constituents on land, in the atmosphere, and in the oceans. Interactions between biogeochemical cycles and the Earth's climate; impact of land use and fossil fuel emissions on biogeochemical cycles and global change.
Seminar in Culture, Identity and Place
Selected topic or field of inquiry concerning the geographic dimensions of culture, identity and place.
Seminar three hours a week.
Seminar in People, Resources and Environmental Change
A selected topic or field of inquiry concerning natural resource use and environmental change.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 3022 or ENST 3022 and fourth-year Honours standing in Geography or Environmental Studies or BGInS Specialization in Globalization and Environment or permission of the Department.
Seminar three hours a week.
Seminar in Special Topics on the City
A selected topic or field of inquiry concerning urban geography.
Seminar three hours per week.
Seminar in Globalization
A selected issue or topic related to globalization.
Seminar three hours week.
Geographic Thought
Major intellectual issues and debates in the development of contemporary human geography, including history of geographic thought, geographic responses to social and political movements and debates, and geographic engagement with contemporary critical theory.
Seminar three hours per week.
Environmental and Geographic Education
Selected theoretical and applied issues concerning environmental and geographic education.
Prerequisite(s): third-year Honours standing in Geography or Environmental Studies, or permission of the Department.
Seminar three hours per week.
Two Million Years of Environmental Change
Multidisciplinary scientific study of the changes in the physical environment of the Earth during the last two million years and methods of studying recent Earth history, with focus on current research.
Prerequisite(s): third year standing in a B.Sc. program, or a third year Science Geography Elective or a third year ERTH course, or permission of the Department. Note: GEOGÂ 3105 is recommended.
Lectures three hours a week.
Water Resources Engineering
A quantitative analysis of natural water systems and the development of these systems as a resource. Components of the hydrologic cycle. Quantitative analysis of stream flow. Probability concepts in water resources. Reservoir design and operation. Availability of groundwater. Storm water management.
Prerequisite(s): permission of the Department. Recommended background: MAAE 2300.
Lectures three hours a week, problem analysis one hour a week.
Microclimatology
The formation of microclimates near the Earth's surface; energy and water flows; the interaction of atmospheric processes with the physical properties of surfaces.
Permafrost
Distribution, development, and degradation of permafrost in Canada; thermal and hydrologic regime of permafrost terrain; development of landforms in permafrost regions; geotechnical consideration in northern construction.
Transportation Engineering and Planning
Transportation and the socio-economic environment; modal and intermodal systems and components; vehicle motion; human factors, system and facility design; traffic flow; capacity analysis; planning methodology; environmental impacts; evaluation methods.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing, or permission of the Department.
Lectures three hours a week, problem analysis three hours alternate weeks.
Urban and Regional Planning
History, theories, and practice of urban planning, as well as the policies, plans, and programs developed and implemented in diverse communities. Course topics may include the integration of community development and social planning, urban design, transportation and infrastructure, and environmental management.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 3023 and fourth-year standing in Geography or Environmental Studies, or permission of the department.
Lectures three hours per week.
Practicum I
Experience in an employment environment through field placement. Observation and involvement in issues and research methods used by professional geographers. May be taken for credit in addition to GEOG/GEOM 4408.
Also listed as GEOM 4406.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing in Geography or Geomatics and permission of the Department.
Field placement one day a week.
Practicum II
Experience in an employment environment through field placement. Observation and involvement in issues and research methods used by professional geographers May be taken for credit in addition to GEOG/GEOM 4406.
Also listed as GEOM 4408.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing in Geography or Geomatics and permission of the Department.
Field placement of one day a week.
Honours Research Project
A research project based on a modeling, laboratory or field problem. The project is supervised by a member of the department and a written thesis and poster must be submitted.
Precludes additional credit for GEOG 4904/GEOM 4904 (no longer offered), GEOM 4906, GEOG 4909, GEOM 4909, ENST 4906, and ENST 4907.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing in B.Sc. Geography, and an approved research topic and adviser.
Hours to be arranged with faculty adviser.
Honours Research Thesis
Independent design and implementation of a research project leading to the submission of a research thesis. Students work with an individual faculty adviser. The subject for research is decided upon in consultation with the supervisor.
Precludes additional credit for GEOG 4904/GEOM 4904 (no longer offered), GEOG 4906, GEOM 4906, GEOM 4909, ENST 4906, and ENST 4907.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing in B.A. Geography or B.Globalization and International Studies, a minimum CGPA of 9.00 in the major or permission of the Department, and an approved research topic and adviser.
Hours to be arranged with faculty adviser.
Summer session: some of the courses listed in this Calendar are offered during the summer. Hours and scheduling for summer session courses will differ significantly from those reported in the fall/winter Calendar. To determine the scheduling and hours for summer session classes, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca
Not all courses listed are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for the current session and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca