This course introduces students to human geography - the study of how humans shape their world, considered from spatial and environmental perspectives. The course addresses the concepts, methods, techniques and applications of geographic analysis and how human geographers employ these approaches to investigate and understand the cultural, ecological, political, and economic dimensions of human societies. More specifically, the course focuses on the processes that produce spatial patterns of human activities by examining the links between the global and local, the unevenness of political and economic development, interactions between society and nature, processes of urbanization, and the geographies of culture. The overall purpose of this course is to provide students with the foundation for more advanced course work in geography as well as other social science disciplines. In doing so, it explores both quantitative and qualitative methods as well as theoretical perspectives.

This course examines the important elements of the global environment, emphasizing interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Major topics include the global energy system, atmospheric and oceanic processes, hydrologic, tectonic and biogeochemical cycles, geomorphic processes and landforms, essential ecological concepts, as well as world soil and vegetation patterns. The tools and methods of study applied in the discipline of physical geography and the relationships of human-environment interactions are also considered.

This course examines the spatial and environmental bases of societies, from historical and cultural perspectives, and explores the major theoretical concepts and empirical contexts of social geography: space and society, the body, the home, community, institutions, the street, the city, the rural, the nation, and the resort.