Stage 1 Geography (10 Credits)

Topic 1: The City

• Examine the growth and development of towns and cities over time. Including liveability, urban sprawl, environmental degradation, urban planning, and service provision. 

• definitions and characteristics of urban places

• processes of urbanisation and how land use in urban places is organised

• community and well-being within informal settlements

• possible urban futures

 Topic 2: The Megacity

• definitions and characteristics of megacities

• factors causing the rise of megacities, urban migration.

• changing global distribution of megacities

• environmental, social, and economic challenges of megacities

• megacity planning

Topic 3: Human Hazards

• spatial distribution of a human-induced hazards

• causes and characteristics of a human-induced hazards

• impacts of the human-induced hazard on populations and the environment

• economic and social vulnerability to human-induced hazards

• risk management, including possible prevention, control, and containment.

Topic 4: Natural Hazards

• causes of natural hazards

• global distribution of natural hazards

• vulnerability to natural hazard risk, economic and social factors

• Case studies of a natural hazards

• risk management, including possible prevention, mitigation, and preparedness

Topic 5. Fieldwork

Students undertake independent fieldwork on a local topic or issue of personal interest. Fieldwork topics must be independently chosen, have a geographical context, and be posed as a question or hypothesis.

The selected topic or issue should enable students to use a range of fieldwork techniques to collect primary data. Students integrate and communicate the data in a variety of spatial and graphical presentations, and analyse their findings.