Society, Space, and Environments

Program | Statement | Program Emphases | M.A. Program | Ph.D. Program |
Advanced Courses Offered | Participating Faculty | Affiliated Faculty | For More Information

Program

The Department of Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a graduate program leading to both the M.A. and Ph.D degrees with specialization in Society, Space and Environments. The program has four emphases: 1) Development Geography; 2) Urban Geography; 3) Politics of the Environment; and 4) Geographies of Conflict.

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 the Earth’s natural and built environments.

Scholarly work in this track rests on the belief that theory is important to informed human geographical investigation.

Research methods embrace both qualitative techniques (including field observation, interviewing, survey research, archival search, and discourse analysis) and quantitative techniques (including descriptive and inferential statistics, GIS, remote sensing, spatial analysis, social network analysis, and content analysis). Topical emphases include demographic processes, health care inequality, land use change, political ecology, gender, democracy and environmental justice, geography of conflicts, and urban social and political processes.

Program Emphases

  1. Development GeographyMousa Kone measuring green house gases of savanna fire in Cote d'Ivoire
    • -political ecology
    • - African agrarian systems
    • -environment and development
    • -rural-urban interactions
    • - environment and health
  2. Urban Geography
    • -spatial mismatch
    • - discourses of growth and redevelopment
    • -urban health inequalities
    • -urban political processes
    • -transportation and infrastructure
    • -urban political ecology
  3. Politics and the Environment
    • - environmental policySenegal charcola makers
    • - resource conflicts
    • -environmental security
    • -social justice, democracy, and
    • natural resource control
  4. Geographies of Conflict
    • -spatial analysis of war
    • -geopolitics
    • -militarization
    • -just war theory
    All four emphases are concerned with geographical change, conflict, and development either in historical or contemporary contexts.

M.A. Program

Students must meet all Department of Geography requirements for the Masters program, including Geography 471 (Introduction to Contemporary Geographic Thought), A GIS class, and Geography 491 (Research in Geography), or their equivalent. Students can pursue the Thesis option or the Exam Option for the M.A. Degree. The thesis option may be required for entry into susequent Ph.D programs. For a complete description of M.A. requirements, see the Department of Geography’s Masters Program information at http://www.geog.uiuc.edu/students/grad/mastersprogram/index.html

Ph.D. Program

Students must meet all Department of Geography requirements for the Ph.D in Geography including Geography 471 (Introduction to Contemporary Geographic Thought) and Geography 491 (Research in Geography), or their equivalent. Students must also complete a formal minor (16 credit hours) through course work in one or two related fields. Advanced course work in research methods including qualitative or quantitative methodologies, is also required. The dissertation must 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 the Ph.D requirements, see the Department of Geography's Ph.D Program information at http://www.geog.uiuc.edu/students/grad/phdprogram/

Advanced Courses Offered

  • GEOG 410: The Geography of Development and Underdevelopment
  • GEOG 438: Geography of Health Care
  • GEOG 465: Transportation and Spatial Development
  • GEOG 466: Environmental Policy
  • GEOG 483: Urban Geography
  • GEOG 4xx: GIS and Society
  • GEOG 520: Political Ecology
  • GEOG 595: The Urban Environment

Participating Faculty

Thomas Bassett

Ashwini Chhatre

Julie Cidell

Colin Flint

Ezekiel Kalipeni

Sara McLafferty

Jesse Ribot

David Wilson

Affiliated Faculty

Zsuzsa Gille, Sociology

Faranak Miraftab, Urban and Regional Planning

James Westcoat, Landscape Architecture

For More Information

For information on admission to the department, including financial aid opportunities, contact the Department of Geography, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 607 S. Mathews Avenue, 220 Davenport Hall, Urbana, Illinois 61801, or the Director of Graduate Studies at 217-333-1880. For further information on the Society, Space and Environments Program, contact a participating faculty member. Information about the department in general may be obtained on the web at: www.geog.uiuc.edu.