Fall 2022 Undergraduate Timetable

Fall 2022 Important Dates

• F section courses run from September 7th to December 7th
• Last day to add or change F meeting section: September 20th
• Last day to cancel F section code courses without academic penalty: November 6th
• Y section courses run from September 7th to April 5th
• Last day to add or change Y meeting section: September 20th
• Last day to cancel Y section code courses without academic penalty: February 19th

Fall 2022 Examination Periods

• December 9th – 20th: Final examinations in courses with an F section code (term tests in Y section code courses)
• April 10th – 30th: Final examinations in courses with a Y section code

This page was last updated August 11th, 2023.

Please click on course code below to see course description

GGR101H1: Histories of Environmental Change

This course will investigate geological, biological and archaeological evidence of environmental change. We will examine the processes that have driven and will drive environmental change and how past societies have shaped and responded to these changes. The emphasis is on the current interglacial period, or Holocene, and how shifts in population and technologies have affected human-environment interactions. As language of the Holocene gives way, for many, to that the Anthropocene, the implications of environmental change for present and future human societies will be our concluding concern.

GGR107H1: Environment, Food and People

Examines the relations between food, nature, and society. Food is fundamental to human existence, and central to most cultures; it also has significant and widespread effects on the physical and social environments. Food is used as a lens to explore human-environment interactions locally and globally. Serves as an introduction to environmental and human geography.

GGR124H1: Cities and Urban Life

Offers an introduction to North American cities and urbanization in a global context. It explores social, cultural, political and economic forces, processes, and events that shape contemporary urbanism. The course adopts the lens of 'fixity' and 'flow' to examine how the movement of people, ideas, goods, and capital, as well as their containment in the infrastructure and space of the city, give rise to particular urban forms.

GGR197H1: Nature, Conservation and Justice

Every day we read about climate change, species extinction, environmental degradation and the need for nature conservation. It is increasingly becoming apparent that the environmental problems that we face today arise from a deeper crisis relating to human ways of viewing and connecting to nature. This course asks how we can rework human ways of relating to nature, while querying the idea of “nature” and questioning the dominant approaches to nature conservation. It asks how can concerns for nature and for other species be balanced with that for human livelihoods and well-being? How can inequalities with regards to the distribution of environmental goods and bads be reduced? How are citizens and communities in the different parts of the world struggling against environmental injustice and to protect their local environments? How do these place-based movement demand justice and what visions do they articulate for a more just and sustainable world? How do indigenous worldviews offer conceptual resources for rethinking nature and our ways of relating to nature? The course will explore these questions using lectures, class discussion, videos and student presentations. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

GGR198H1: Mobility and Borders

This course examines the political geographies of transnational migration. It asks how spaces of migration and mobility are political, and how migration politics are tied to inequalities wrought through intersecting histories of race, class, and gender. It seeks to extend our understandings of migrants, borders, and mobility, and it explores the processes through which mobility is produced, delimited and structured. We will consider the transnational politics of migration, the militarization of border zones, and the political spaces of migrant displacement, dispossession, and dislocation. The seminar readings focus on classical paradigms as well as emerging approaches in immigration studies. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

GGR205H1: Introduction to Soil Science

This course introduces soil science, including the chemical, physical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation and development; the classification of soils; and the application of soil science to environmental and agricultural issues. A field trip may be offered (transportation cost: approximately $21).

GGR206H1: Introduction to Hydrology

Introduction to the hydrologic cycle with emphasis on the physical processes, including precipitation, interception, evaporation, runoff, ground water and soil water. Basic hydrological models will be practiced. Potential field trip, cost: approximately $21.

GGR217H1: Urban Landscapes and Planning

Considers the role of planning in shaping the urban landscape through historical and contemporary examples that illustrate the interplay of modernist and post-modernist approaches to city building. Traces the origins, competing rationalities and lingering effects of planning in the production of urban space. Broaches possibilities for engaging planning critically to address challenges of social and environmental justice in cities today.

GGR221H1: New Economic Spaces

Provides an introduction to economic geography and economic geography theory from the 1970s on, illustrating the different ways that geographers have conceptualized the restructuring of resource industries, manufacturing and services. The crisis of Fordism and the rise of new production models will be given particular attention, along with the reorganization of finance, the rise of cultural industries and the globalization of commodity chains. New regimes of governance of the economy will also be considered.

GGR251H1: Geography of Innovation

Explores how new technologies and industries are generated and sustained, or failed to be. Focuses on the dynamics of leading technological sectors such as electronics, automobiles and biotechnology in their geographical and historical contexts. We critically scrutinise the iconic Silicon Valley along with other major innovative regions/nations, and investigate the key role of universities and finance in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

GGR251H1: Geography of Innovation

Explores how new technologies and industries are generated and sustained, or failed to be. Focuses on the dynamics of leading technological sectors such as electronics, automobiles and biotechnology in their geographical and historical contexts. We critically scrutinise the iconic Silicon Valley along with other major innovative regions/nations, and investigate the key role of universities and finance in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

GGR252H1: Marketing Geography

Geography matters in the success of both public and private sector organizations. Using mostly retail examples contemporary location problems are addressed. The geographies of demand and supply are analyzed and trade area and site selection techniques are applied. The relevance of the planning context and utility of geovisualization techniques such as GIS are also briefly considered.

GGR254H1: Geography USA

After a short historical overview of the making of America, this course focuses on contemporary issues in American society, economy, politics, race, regional distinctions and disparities, urban development.

GGR259H1: Urban Growth and Decline

The growth and decline of cities have been and continue to be preoccupations of scholars and practitioners alike. This course is an introduction to the causes and consequences of urban growth and decline at the neighbourhood, municipal, and regional levels. Special attention will be paid to North American cities, but others outside of that sphere will be discussed as well. Concepts and topics will include a consideration of the following: rural to urban migration; industrialization and deindustrialization; urban renewal; suburbanization; austerity and neoliberalism; racial avoidance and discrimination; gentrification; and capital switching and uneven development.

GGR270H1: Introductory Analytical Methods

Theory and practical application of elementary quantitative techniques in geography emphasizing descriptive, inferential and spatial statistical analysis, probability, and sampling.

GGR272H1: Geographic Information and Mapping I

Introduction to digital mapping and spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS). Students learn how to use GIS software to find, edit, analyze and map geographic data to create their own maps, analyze geographic problems and use techniques that can be applied to a variety of subject areas.

GGR301H1: Fluvial Geomorphology

Elements of drainage basin morphology and hydrology, classification of rivers, stream patterns and hydraulic geometry. Elements of open channel flow, sediment transport and the paleohydrology of river systems. River channel adjustments to environmental change, human impact and the management/design of river habitats. Exercises include experimentation in a laboratory flume. A field trip may be offered (at no cost). Course usually offered every other year.

GGR308H1: Canadian Arctic and Subarctic Environments

This course explores Arctic and Subarctic regions through topics including climate, the cryosphere, hydrology, geomorphology, and ecosystems. The current stresses of climate change are considered throughout the course, including the impacts on communities in Arctic Canada.

GGR315H1: Environmental Remote Sensing

Principles of optical, active and passive microwave remote sensing; satellite orbit and sensor characteristics; image processing and analysis techniques and software; and environmental remote sensing applications.

GGR320H1: Geographies of Transnationalism, Migration, and Gender

This course examines recent changes in global migration processes. Specifically, the course addresses the transnationalization and feminization of migrant populations and various segments of the global labor force. The coursework focuses on analyzing classical paradigms in migration studies, as well as emerging theoretical approaches to gender and migration. In addition, it traces the shifting empirical trends in gendered employment and mobility patterns. It uses in-depth case study material to query the frameworks employed in migration studies and to understand the grounded implications of gendered migration. It pays particular attention to the interventions made by feminist geographers in debates about work, migration, place, and space.

GGR332H1: Social Geographies of Climate Change

Analyses the social and behavioural geographies of climate change, including: climate change communication (how we interpret and communicate climate science); climate change prevention strategies, from the macro to micro scale; and possibilities for climate change adaptation.

GGR334H1: Water Resource Management

Managing demand and supply; linkages between water quality and human health. Case studies from the industrial world and from developing countries, rural and urban. Implications of population growth and climate change for water resource management.

GGR336H1: Urban Historical Geography of North America

This course explores the emergence and reproduction of class and racial social spaces, the development of new economic spaces, and the growing importance of the reform and planning movements. Emphasis is on metropolitan development between 1850 and 1950.

GGR338H1: Social Transformation and Environment in the Majority World

This course draws upon a number of geographical theories, debates and case studies to explore the geographical implications of an increasingly interconnected global capitalist economy for interactions among the people and environments in places in the ‘majority world’. Situated within the context of climate change this course examines the evolution of discourses of ‘development’ and their relationship to western (Anglo-American) racialized notions of progress and modernity.

GGR344H1: Institutions and Governance: Germany in Comparative Perspective

The goal of this course is to explore the structure and geography of the German political economy in the context of economic globalization by systematically comparing institutional conditions with those in other countries. This perspective enables us to identify different capitalist systems and characterize Germany as a more socially balanced economic governance model compared with market-liberal systems in the US, UK and Canada. Drawing on the varieties-of-capitalism and other approaches, the main themes in the course address the institutional conditions for development. In a comparative perspective, the course explores topics, such as the role of collective agents and collective bargaining, corporate governance and finance, inter-firm co-operation and regional networks, social security systems, and population structure and immigration. To better understand the current challenges to the German governance model, the institutional opportunities and limitations are investigated under which different regional economies develop in unequal ways.

GGR347H1: Efficient Use of Energy

Examines the options available for dramatically reducing our use of primary energy with no reduction in meaningful energy services, through more efficient use of energy at the scale of energy-using devices and of entire energy systems. Topics covered include energy use in buildings, transportation, industry, and agriculture. Offered alternate years from GGR348H1.

GGR373H1: Advanced Geographic Information Systems

Advanced theory, techniques, and applications in geographic information systems (GIS), including interpolation, geostatistics, modeling, and raster and vector analysis. GIS project design and implementation.

GGR375H1: Introduction to Programming in GIS

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of programming, followed by an applied focus on using these skills in geographic information systems. Students will learn how to programmatically edit spatial data, automate common processes, and conduct complex spatial analyses. The course will emphasize open-source software that enriches geospatial data analysis alongside the data processing and analytical capabilities of existing GIS software. Classroom time will be a mix of short lectures and laboratory exercises.

GGR377H1: Introduction to Urban Data Analytics

This course draws on census and economic data collection, processing, and analysis to teach written and visual storytelling about cities with data and maps, while exploring the uses of real-time data and analytics to solve urban problems. It provides a socio-economic and political context for the use of big data and the smart cities movement, focusing on data ethics and governance.

GGR386H1: Special Topics in Geographic Information Systems: Geovisualization

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards GIS, Human Geography, and Environmental Geography programs.

GGR389H1: Special Topics in Human Geography

Content in any given year varies by instructor. Students must meet the prerequisites set by the department (see the Geography website for details in May). Can be used towards Human Geography programs.

GGR390H1: Field Methods in Physical Geography

Introduction to field methods in geomorphology, vegetation mapping/analysis, soils, hydrology, and climatology. The course includes exercises and a group project during a one-week field camp, a little preparation during the preceding summer, and complementary practical work and/or seminars during the Fall Term. Each student is required to pay the costs of their transportation and accommodation (field trip costs: approximately $485). This course meets the field requirement for Physical & Environmental Geography programs. The field camp normally runs for one week at the end of August. Students must submit an application directly to the Department in the spring (see the Geography website for details in March). Course may be limited by size. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

GGR401H1: Special Topics in Geography II

Content in any given year depends on instructor. The program in which this course can be used depends on its context. Consult Departmental Office in April.

GGR415H1: Advanced Remote Sensing

Building on GGR315H1 (formerly GGR337H1) Environmental Remote Sensing with advanced theories and techniques for land cover mapping, vegetation biophysical and biochemical parameter retrievals, optical and thermal remote sensing of urban environment, and application of satellite remote sensing to terrestrial water and carbon cycle estimation. Basic radiative transfer theories as applied to vegetation will be given in some detail as the basis for various remote sensing applications. Optical instruments for measuring vegetation structural parameters will be demonstrated in the field.

GGR416H1: Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has emerged as a key component of environmental planning and management. EIAs are planning tools to predict and assess the potential costs and benefits of proposed projects, policies, and plans and avoid or mitigate the adverse impacts of these proposals. This course focuses on the origins, principles, scope, and purpose of EIA from theoretical and practical perspectives, emphasizing the Canadian context. We will also explore the various components of EIAs and critically evaluate techniques to assess, predict, and mitigate impacts. Through course readings, in-class activities, and assignments, we will engage critiques of EIAs, particularly as they relate to considerations of climate change, sustainability, long-term monitoring, meaningful public engagement, indigenous people’s rights, dispossession and resettlement, and environmental justice. Case studies will allow students to learn about current practices in EIA and develop skills to examine and improve EIA processes.

GGR419H1: Environmental Justice

Examines how environmental problems affect people, communities and societies differentially and how marginalized communities and people often bear the brunt of environmental costs, while contributing little to their creation. It uses readings and case studies from across the globe to address the production of environmental injustice and the struggle for environmental justice.

GGR433H1: Built Environment and Health

Linking across fields that include public health, geography and planning, this course examines the growing evidence and ways in which human health is affected by the design and development of the built environment in which we live, work and play. The course considers how various planning and development decisions impact population and individual health, particularly in relation to chronic diseases, injuries, and mental health. Potential of several local field trips (transportation costs: approximately $21).

GGR456H1: Entanglements of Power: Race, Sexuality and the City

This course investigates the city as a space sculpted by particular configurations and relations of power, and productive of those forms. It considers shifting urban geographies of identity, economy and desire with a focus on race and racism, settler colonialism, empire, the laboring body, sexuality, and sexual identity. Course participants will engage a series of case studies of particular urban spaces and struggles, drawing on conceptual support from scholarship in urban geography, anti-colonial thought, political economy, black studies, feminist and queer theory, Indigenous and settler colonial studies, as well as literature and other artistic work.

GGR482H1: Toronto Field Course

Examines the production of urban landscapes, built environments and social spaces in Toronto and surrounding areas through in-depth case studies. Coverage will vary some depending on instructor. The course consists of local field trips and in-class seminars and lectures. Students must submit an application directly to the Department in the spring (see the Geography website for details in March). Course may be limited by size. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. Field trip costs are normally low, but may go up to $153.

GGR493Y1Y: Geography Professional Experience Course 

This course is designed to provide exposure to work experience, career trajectories, and professional networks in the various subfields of Geography, such as urban planning, environmental studies/science, community activism, social service provision, GIS, urban design, etc. It provides an opportunity for students to explore career options and develop networks and skills for the workplace. For further information, please see the department's course listing.

JGU346H1: The Urban Planning Process

Overview of how planning tools and practice shape the built form of cities. This course introduces twentieth century physical planning within its historical, social, legal, and political contexts. Community and urban design issues are addressed at local and regional scales and in both central cities and suburbs. The focus is on Toronto and the Canadian experience, with comparative examples from other countries, primarily the United States. Transportation costs: $20.

JIG322H1: Indigenous Worlds, Worldviews and the Environment

Explores the diverse ways of understanding and responding to the world that emerge from indigenous cultures around the world. Examines how indigenous ways of being and relating to their natural environment can help us understand and address the current environmental crisis. Using examples of indigenous activism from Canada and around the world, examines how colonial histories shape dispossession and marginalization and inform visions for the future. Topics include traditional ecological knowledge, place-based social movements, environmental concerns of indigenous peoples, bio-cultural restoration and decolonization of nature-human relations.

JIG440H1: Indigenous Geographies

This course draws on theoretical texts of Indigeneity, with a primary focus on Indigenous spaces in the Americas. Course participants will examine how core geographic concepts such as place, territory, land, movement and the scale of the body are sites of colonial dispossession and violence, as well as sites for decolonial and liberatory thought and practice. We will primarily engage with Indigenous-led scholarship within Geography and Indigenous Studies, and creative forms of knowledge production generated across Indigenous communities.