GEOG2030 Sustainable Development in a Global World: Challenges and Prospects

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Overview

This topic is part of the suite of multidisciplinary Grand Challenges topics which focus on a range of complex issues facing the world. Throughout this topic, you will critically examine challenging societal contexts and make recommendations as to how to best tackle them.This topic will comprise a critical study of … For more content click the Read More button below.

This topic will comprise a critical study of the concept of sustainable development in all its forms both in terms of its history and the contemporary debates surrounding it. Sustainable development will be explored from development, environmentalist, local and indigenous perspectives. Students will analyse the tensions between the 'global' and the 'local' debates about governance, perceptions of science and nature, and theories of development. The topic will examine how sustainable development is played out in various terrains, such as mega-cities, agricultural regions, and mining areas, and how it is applied to issues such as biodiversity, climate change, energy use, population, environment and health, and food production.

The topic will unpack the shared global framework of development priorities to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030 which were agreed to by all member countries of the United Nations and international development agencies in 2015. Students will work on real case studies to evaluate the challenges and prospects related to Sustainable Development Goals in a local, national, or global context.

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Tuition pattern

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Aims

This topic aims to:

Gain a broader understanding of global challenges
Critically examine challenging societal contexts and make recommendations as to how to tackle them
Explain and contextualise the emergence of sustainable development as an alternative to conventional economic growth models
Understand the multi-disciplinary nature of sustainable development and the key debates linked to it at global and local levels
Explore several areas where development practices have led to environmental problems including the consequences of these and how they have been dealt with and addressed
Evaluate the progress of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Learning outcomes

On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

Critically analyse challenging contexts

Develop and recommend solutions to tackle specific challenges

Discuss the concept of Sustainable development and the challenges related to achieving it

Debate and critically analyse the theoretical perspectives informing different approaches to sustainable development, and the conflicts over sustainable development policies

Design roadmaps to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals using analytical skills (both quantitative and qualitative)

Assessments

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Requisites information

Anti-requisites:

Handbook

Sustainable Development in a Global World: Challenges and Prospects

GEOG2030