This course looks at how the environment and development are closely connected. It explores the ways environmental conditions shape development choices and how development efforts, in turn, affect the environment. While physical geographers tend to focus on natural systems and processes, and human geographers study how people use space, this course brings those approaches together. It emphasizes how communities respond to environmental limits and how their development decisions can change landscapes and ecosystems. To make sense of these relationships, students will study natural processes like land formation and climate, as well as the social, economic, and political forces that drive development.
