Society, Space, and Environments
Program
The Department of Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a graduate program leading to both the MA and Ph.D. degrees with specialization in Society, Space and Environments. The program has three emphases: 1) Development Geography with an emphasis on Africa. 2) Urban Analysis in both North American and international contexts, and 3) Politics of the Environment.
Statement
The Society, Space and Environments program builds upon the foundations of human geography as an integrating social science to examine the interplay of socio-spatial processes involved in the shaping of Earth’s natural and built environments.
Scholarly work in this track rests on the belief that substantive theory-orientation (e.g., classical, behavioral, institutionalist, ecological, political economic analysis) are important facets of informed human geographical investigation.
Research methods embrace both qualitative techniques (including field observation, field interview, questionnaire use, archival search and the critical analysis of discourse) and quantitative techniques (including descriptive and inferential statistics, GIS, remote sensing, and content analysis). Topical emphases include demographic processes, health care provision, land use change, political ecology, political geography, gender issues, and urban social and political processes, with foci on Africa and North America and former Soviet republics.
Program Emphases
- Development Geography
- political ecology of landuse
- African agrarian systems
- conservation: development
- rural-urban interactions
- environment and health
- Urban Analysis
- spatial mismatch
- discourses of growth and redevelopment
- urban health inequalities
- urban political processes
- women in cities
- Politics and the Environment
- environmental policy
- resource conflicts
- environmental security
- the Caucasus and Central Asian region
All three emphases are concerned with geographical change and development either in historical or contemporary
Program Prerequisites
Students must already have completed, or take immediately upon entry into the program: 1) an introductory college calculus course (a one course minimum is required, but course work through calculus of several variables is recommended); 2) college physics and/or chemistry.
M.A. Program
Students must meet all Department of Geography requirements including Geography 371 (Introduction to Contemporary Geographic Thought), Geography 370 (Introductory Quantitative Methods), and Geography 391 (Research in Ge ography) or their equivalent. Students in the program must, in addition, complete at least three of the core courses. Finally, students are expected to become familiar with other aspects of human geography (such as economic and historical geography) and are encouraged to do work in related departments on campus. Students have the option of writing two research papers or writing a master’s thesis. (For a complete description of M.A. requirements, see the Department of Geography’s brochure “The M.A./M.S. Program.”).
Ph.D. Program
Students must meet all Department of Geography requirements for the Ph.D. in Geography including Geography 370 (Introductory Quantitative Methods) and Geography 371 (Introduction to Contemporary Geographic Thought). Students having a “course work only” Masters degree must also take Geography 391 (Research in Geography). They must also complete three of the twelve core courses and Advanced Spatial Analysis (Geography 470) or advanced course work in an alternative research methodology approved by the student’s advisor. Students in this program are strongly encouraged to take a course in qualitative methods. Students must also complete a formal minor (4 units) through course work in one or two related fields. The dissertation mu st be within the advising competence of the faculty in the program and is expected to be an original contribution to the field and to involve the examination of geographic processes, using appropriate research methodology. (For a complete description of Ph.D. requirements, see the Department of Geography’s “The Ph.D. Program.”)
Core Courses
- GEOG 310: The Geography of Development and Underdevelopment
- GEOG 338: Geography of Healthcare
- GEOG 355: Geography of Central and S. Africa
- GEOG 365: Transportation & Spatial Development
- GEOG 366: Environmental Policy
- GEOG 383: Urban Geography
- GEOG 463: Historical Geography
- GEOG 464: Problems in Historical Geography
- GEOG 494: Seminar in Social Geography