Sustainability and Planning in a Globalized World 15 credits

About the course

.The course provides in-depth knowledge of planning and sustainable development with a focus on human geography and provides an opportunity for subject-specific preparation for the thesis project. The course deals with current themes in human geographical research and in research on spatial planning with a focus on sustainable development in international contexts. The course highlights how and why problems, perspectives and planning vary in different parts of the world.

Module 1: Planning for Sustainable Development from a Human Geography Perspective (10 credits)

Initially, the module aims to deepen the understanding of how the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have changed over time. Furthermore, the module focuses on what sustainable development means and implies for spatial planning and development work from different perspectives, with a particular focus on the relationship between the global north and the global south. The course deals with conflicting interests, aspects of (in)equality, climate change/adaptation and vulnerability, as well as the opportunities and challenges these aspects bring to planning and development work in different geographical contexts. 

Module 2: Thematic In-depth Studies (5 credits)

During this part of the course the student is introduced to systematic literature reviews as a part of the research process. These methods are thereafter applied in a term paper assignment on a topic relating to course theme (incl sustainability) agreed upon with the teacher.