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Unit of study_
GEOS3520: Urban Citizenship and Sustainability
2025 unit information
More than half the world's population now live in cities. The contemporary growth of cities, however, is attached to profound political and environmental questions about what it means to be urban, what 'being urban' means for the planet, and how we might produce more just and sustainable urban spaces and experiences. This Unit provides grounding to these crucial questions by examining urban environments from the dual perspectives of citizenship and sustainability. The Unit has three modules. Module 1 examines the intersection of urban environmental change with questions of citizenship and justice. Module 2 considers key urban environmental issues such as energy, transport and food, and how cities and citizens might address stresses and shocks in these systems. Module 3 studies new models for governing emergent urban environmental challenges. Throughout the semester, a Practical Project will involve a research project with real-world partners to introduce key skills related to working in collaboration with external organisations.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Science
| Study level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Geosciences Academic Operations |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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GEOS2X21 or GEOS2X23 or GOES2X15 or GEOS2X11 or ENVI2X22 or DAAE2012 |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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GEOS3920 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. describe the relationships between cities, citizens, environments and in/sustainability
- LO2. define citizenship, environmental justice and urban metabolism, and describe their relationship to urbanisation
- LO3. apply your understanding of the relationship between cities, justice and citizenship to critically reflect on different approaches to urban sustainability
- LO4. describe contemporary socio-environmental challenges facing cities and assess different governance frameworks for addressing them
- LO5. articulate your own preferred concept of sustainability and be able to justify your position
- LO6. converse with government officials, activists and business interests about the topic of sustainability, its potentials and its limits
- LO7. work effectively in groups, and understand why a group is working well or is not working well
- LO8. write a report targeted to civil society organisations (as distinct from an academic essay)
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2025
|
Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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