Global Geography explores how human societies and physical environments are deeply connected and constantly changing. Learn how to analyze global processes including urbanization, uneven development and inequality, migration and identity formation, and environmental change. Combine approaches from the social sciences, humanities, and physical sciences to identify solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
As a Global Geography student, you will gain knowledge and skills through hands-on classroom activities, field- and lab-based exercises, and community engagement. You will acquire technical know-how and experience in geographical information systems, data analysis, research methods, and field techniques, while also enhancing your communication, reasoning and leadership skills to address societal and environmental issues.
Ultimately, you will be equipped with skills that will prepare you for a career in Canada and abroad in areas such as government, journalism and media, development agencies, private-sector corporations and the non-profit sector.
Students will explore these critical global issues:
- Human migration and identity
- Economic development and inequalities
- Geopolitical power
- Global urbanization
- Flows of knowledge, culture and data
- Changing global environments
At a Glance
4 years of study
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Offered full time and some part time
Accepts applications for Fall (September), Winter (January), & Summer (May) Entry
Application Process
Hands-on Learning and Field Studies
Learning in the field is a key component in our program. Your courses will take you on location with field trips to various places in Toronto, across Ontario and in the workplace.
Field Studies in Physical Geography
This course applies geographic principles and field techniques to problems in physical geography during a residential field trip of around one week. In 2021 students explored the physical geography of the Bruce Peninsula near Tobermory.
Research Design & Field Studies in Human Geography
This course puts into practice what students have learned about geographical field techniques and combines on-campus preparation, data analysis and report writing with off-campus fieldwork during which data collection and preliminary analysis are carried out. In 2021 students explored the human geography of the Bruce Peninsula near Tobermory.
On Location: The Spatial Politics of Urban Placemaking
In this course, students learn through immersive on-site fieldtrips and activities, walking tours, guest talks, and discussions in public spaces and community venues across the city, providing students with a first-hand experience of the struggles, controversies, and possibilities of place-making practices.
Work Placement
Through Work Placement, students (who meet the requirements) have an opportunity to apply their classroom learning in a work placement with government, NGOs, community groups and/or businesses for credit. You will gain confidence and valuable work experience that will serve you well when launching your career post-graduation.
Career Possibilities
With issues of globalization, urbanization, migration, sustainability and equity at the forefront of the public consciousness, more organizations and businesses are looking to hire professionals with the technical and transferrable skills developed by studying geography. Along with developing hands-on geographic knowledge and experiences, students utilize in-demand transferrable skills including critical thinking, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data, and communication, which open up career possibilities. Our graduates are working in both the public and private sectors in a variety of fields including education, business, finance and banking, science and technology, and government.
To help you succeed, our Experiential Education Coordinator provides a variety of career support services to our students including resume help, interview prep, and career planning workshops, and maintains an exclusive job board just for our students.
Sample Careers
- Data Analyst
- Geography Teacher
- Conservation Interpreter
- Urban Planner
- GIS Technologist
- Logistics Coordinator
- Policy Advisor
- Process Analyst
- Transportation Planner
Overseas Placements
Going global is optional in this program. You can choose to Study Abroad on an international Exchange program or take courses on our Semester Abroad at the Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica.
We also offer you the opportunity to complete a Global internship with York International.
The Official Global Geography Playlist
Have you ever wondered... which songs represent #YorkUEUC programs the best? Listen to The Official Global Geography Playlist 🎶
EUC Course Search Tool
The course listing provided here does not necessarily reflect courses that are being offered in any given year. Please check the York Courses Website for updated information on current offerings.
An examination of the structure and function of vegetation and soil systems. The course focuses on such topics as the adjustment of ecosystems to human modification and the role of biogeography in conservation and resource management. Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed, including one of AP/GEOG 1400 6.00 or SC/GEOG 1400 6.00 or ES/ENVS 2420 3.00 or SC/BIOL 2050 4.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course will survey contemporary social movements addressing environmental questions in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Examining how movements frame particular environments as requiring defending, responsibilities for their defense, and strategies for defending them, we will develop a critical perspective on the region's role in shaping what questions count as environmental globally
[/show_field_with_limit]The course focuses on the development of geographic thought and its applications to contemporary social and environmental issues. After an introduction to the historical development of geographic enquiry, the course traces the intellectual history of Western geographic thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradigm shift to 'critical geographies' and its current relevance.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course deals with conceptual debates on 'Third World' development. It also explores issues of development including economic growth and poverty, resource use, agrarian change, industrial transformation, service-sector development, rural urban inequality, gender relations, neoliberalism and imperialism, and prospects for democracy and macro-level structural social change in the less developed world.Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed or written permission of the Instructor.Course credit exclusions: AP/GEOG 4370 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]A critical examination of the links between urban social problems and state policies. The course studies how policy makers, planners and geographers understand and deal with social problems in the contemporary city and evaluates selected planning policies.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course considers the construction, reproduction, and representation of gender and sexual identities as they intersect with other social differences in space. It introduces students to feminist and queer theorists and geographical scholarship on cis-gender, transgender, and sexualities in order to understand how power dynamics and norms cross-cut and shape social relations through space and across spatial scales.
[/show_field_with_limit]Introduction to the methods in which remote sensing data are collected, processed and analyzed. An emphasis is placed on environmental applications. The synergy between the technologies of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) is also stressed.
Prerequisites: AP/GEOG 2420 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2420 3.00 or ES/ENVS 2010 6.00 and one 2000-level environmental studies theme foundation course; or written permission of the Instructor. Course credit exclusions: ES/ENVS 3521 3.00 (prior to Fall 2013). Previously offered as: AP/GEOG 3440 3.00, SC/GEOG 3440 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]An analysis of the geography of plants and animals emphasizing processes that operate at the population level, the origin and diversity of plants and animals, geographic patterns of diversity, and dynamics of species populations from local to continental scales. Prerequisite: AP/GEOG 2500 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2500 3.00 or SC/BIOL 2050 4.00 or SC/BIOL 2050 3.00
[/show_field_with_limit]Learn more about the degree requirements in Global Geography
Key Contact Information
| Name | Title | Extension | Office No. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Mensah | Professor | 66344 | HNES 229 | eucgg@yorku.ca |
| Brittany Giglio | Recruitment & Admission Officer | 22671 | HNES 125 | eucapply@yorku.ca |
| Sharrieffa Sattaur | Administrative and Records Assistant - Undergraduate Program | 30397 | HNES 130 | EUAdvise@yorku.ca |
