GEOG 2250

In the late-2000s the global population passed a significant milestone: the point where most people live in cities rather than rural settlements. In this course, students will learn how this happened, investigating the process of urbanization as it has unfolded around the world over the course of human history. They will examine changing relationships between cities and their natural environmental settings, and how the characteristics of cities have been influenced by technological innovations, economic transformations, demographic trends, and political institutions. They will consider emerging global developments and their implications for the cities of the future. Students will apply the concepts of urban geography to understand the features of city-regions around the world and of metropolitan Vancouver in particular.