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 independent piece of research done under the supervision of a faculty adviser. The thesis must be submitted before the end of classes in the winter term; an exact date is established each year. There is an oral examination on the Honours thesis. One lecture hour per week at the beginning of the course. Prerequisite: 84 credits passed.
[/show_field_with_limit]The Environmental Studies placement course is an experiential education program designed to provide EUC students with the opportunity to apply their classroom learning in a workplace environment. Through these placement opportunities, students will gain confidence in field-related knowledge, general employability skills, and valuable work experience. Students must fulfill pre-course requirements in order to enroll in the course. Enrolment will be by permission of the Course Director and students will be graded on a pass/fail. The course is required for completion of the Community Arts Practice Certificate (CAP).
[/show_field_with_limit]This seminar explores complementary scholarship on 'first world' political ecology and the commodification of nature in order to critically explore issues of environmental management and resource conflict. It will draw on case studies about rural and urban North American environments. Prerequisites: 72 credits successfully completed including AP/GEOG 3050 3.00 or permission of the course director.
Course credit exclusions: None. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed including AS/GEOG 3050 3.00 or permission of the course director. Course credit exclusion: AS/GEOG 4050 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]"This course considers the historical construction of Aboriginal space in Canada and the US and its relationship to cities, from early colonization to the present. Prerequisite: 72 credits successfully completed. Course credit exclusions: None. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusion: AS/GEOG 4095 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]The course explores the landscapes and scales of food and agriculture. Questions include: Can we change ourselves and the world through what we eat? Why do we still have world hunger? Who really controls how food is produced and consumed? Emphasis is given to food and agricultural geographies in the global south. Prerequisites: 84 credits completed.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course first discusses a number of conceptual issues concerning the residential segregation of ethnic and racial groups. The course then considers several case examples that exemplify the varied experiences of ethnic and racial groups in modern cities.Prerequisites: 84 credits successfully completed, including AP/GEOG 1000 6.00 or AP/GEOG 1410 6.00 or written permission of the Instructor. Third-year Honours students with 78 credits completed who are also taking summer courses may enrol.
[/show_field_with_limit]The course focuses on selected aspects of river water quality, including hillslope hydrology and the transport of pollutants, the impacts of human activities on water chemistry, nutrient transformations within stream ecosystems, and the effects of water quality on stream biological communities.Prerequisite: AP/GEOG 1400 6.00 or SC/GEOG 1400 6.00, ES/ENVS 2410 3.00, or SC/BIOL 2050 4.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course examines neoliberalism as a geographical process - or 'neoliberalization' - through an examination of key transformations since the 1970s in the Global North and Global South. It focuses on the implications of neoliberalization for international, national, and regional political economies; political institutions, territories, and power dynamics; labour, work, and migration patterns and practices; and visions and discourses of societal progress.
[/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 |
