Professional Degree courses in Dentistry, Education, Law, Medicine and Theology (MTS, MDiv)
6000-6999
Courses offered by Continuing Studies
9000-9999
Graduate Studies courses
* These courses are equivalent to pre-university introductory courses and may be counted for credit in the student's record, unless these courses were taken in a preliminary year. They may not be counted toward essay or breadth requirements, or used to meet modular admission requirements unless it is explicitly stated in the Senate-approved outline of the module.
Suffixes
no suffix
1.0 course not designated as an essay course
A
0.5 course offered in first term
B
0.5 course offered in second term
A/B
0.5 course offered in first and/or second term
E
1.0 essay course
F
0.5 essay course offered in first term
G
0.5 essay course offered in second term
F/G
0.5 essay course offered in first and/or second term
H
1.0 accelerated course (8 weeks)
J
1.0 accelerated course (6 weeks)
K
0.75 course
L
0.5 graduate course offered in summer term (May - August)
Q/R/S/T
0.25 course offered within a regular session
U
0.25 course offered in other than a regular session
W/X
1.0 accelerated course (full course offered in one term)
Y
0.5 course offered in other than a regular session
Z
0.5 essay course offered in other than a regular session
Glossary
Prerequisite
A course that must be successfully completed prior to registration for credit in the desired course.
Corequisite
A course that must be taken concurrently with (or prior to registration in) the desired course.
Antirequisite
Courses that overlap sufficiently in course content that both cannot be taken for credit.
Essay Courses
Many courses at Western have a significant writing component. To recognize student achievement, a number of such courses have been designated as essay courses and will be identified on the student's record (E essay full course; F/G/Z essay half-course).
Principal Courses
A first year course that is listed by a department offering a module as a requirement for admission to the module. For admission to an Honours Specialization module or Double Major modules in an Honours Bachelor degree, at least 3.0 courses will be considered principal courses.
An introduction to the study of world regions including an overview of selected thematic regions (e.g., climate, vegetation) and geographic realms. Basic geographic concepts will be highlighted throughout the course. Only for students registered in the Preliminary Year program.
A systematic descriptive introduction to the diverse elements of landscape including geomorphic, climatic, and biotic elements, human settlement and land-use patterns; cartographic approaches to the analysis of selected processes of landscape change; an introduction to the synthesis of elements and processes in spatial systems models.
A systematic descriptive introduction to the diverse elements of landscape including geomorphic, climatic, and biotic elements, human settlement and land-use patterns; cartographic approaches to the analysis of selected processes of landscape change; an introduction to the synthesis of elements and processes in spatial systems models.
An introduction to the science and politics of climate change. The course pivots on the great gap between the urgency and magnitude of changes that climate scientists are imploring, and enduring ‘business-as-usual’ approaches. Struggles for action are considered in light of highly unequal responsibility and vulnerability.
Introduction to the phenomena and processes of the Earth-atmosphere system that underlie human environment interactions and environmental change: the physical geography of Earth. Topics include: the atmosphere and fundamentals of weather and climate, water in the environment, Earth surface processes, biogeography, and human appropriation and modification of earth-atmosphere systems
This course introduces students to the central problems, concepts, methods and applications of human geography. It pays particular attention to the ways humans interact with the world; for example, population growth, use of natural resources, culturally-based activities, urbanization and settlements, agricultural activities, and industrialization.
Examines environmental change over long periods of earth history, considering both physical processes and human impacts. An integrative approach provides a basis for understanding some of the world's most pressing environment and development challenges, such as biodiversity loss, desertification, climate change, energy consumption, and persistent hunger and malnourishment.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
A detailed examination of the province as part of the Great Lakes region, with special reference to its historical development, natural resources and patterns of human and economic activity.
This course provides an introduction to the geography of Africa south of the Sahara. The course will take a systematic approach. Economic, political, social and environmental issues will be examined with a focus on contemporary patterns of change within the context of the global economy.
This course adopts a geographic approach to understanding contemporary China. It examines how transformations of China's land, people, economy, and society are recasting internal regional divisions and repositioning China in a rapidly changing world.
A global perspective on urbanism. In each session a selected city is used to emphasize a particular urban problem, urban spatial structure or world region.
Survey of human activity in outer space, including history of spaceflight, scientific exploration, economic and military uses of space, natural resources and hazards, legal and ethical implications, and plausible future developments.
A field-trip based course exploring the history and patterns of the geology, physical landscapes and resources of southwestern Ontario. Usually offered in the first half of the Fall semester; four mandatory, full day field excursions (transportation fee required) supported by a weekly lecture.
Extra Information: Limited enrollment with preference given to students registered in a Major in Geography or Physical Geography and Environment; recommended to be taken in second year.
This course uses online digital imagery and topography to access, analyze and interpret Earth surface landscapes and landscape change. Students are introduced to the use of digital landscapes, images and visualization software to explore and analyze the origin and development of selected landscapes in response to natural and human forces.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
Weaving together Eurowestern and Indigenous science and knowledge we explore the processes underlying human-induced climate change and the threats posed to both physical and social systems. Discuss and reflect on how you will be affected by climate change and practise ways to take action and influence our shared future.
Geographical theories of local and international trade; relationships between the location of production and flows of goods, services and factors of production among countries and regions; the geographical patterns of world commerce.
An examination of tourism as a global, national and local phenomenon, with economic, social, and environmental impacts. The emphasis of this course is on tourism as placemaking. Topics include tourism theory, major tourist destinations, climate change impacts, media influences, hosts, guests, local tourism and tourism to imaginary places.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
A survey of the methods and models used to understand human responses to hazards. The course reviews the rich tradition of hazards research in geography, particularly through the lens of social science. The course will include discussions of both so-called "natural hazards" (e.g., floods, fires, earthquakes) and "technological hazards" (e.g., nuclear technology, genetically modified organisms, terrorism, war) as examples.
Investigates the fast-changing geographies of animals in relation to global environmental change. The initial focus is on extinctions, endangerment, and broad population declines occurring among many wild animal species. The subsequent focus is on the soaring populations and conditions of life for a few species of domesticated animals.
A survey course exploring the connections between urban environments, health, and wellbeing, including key historical developments, theories, problems, and solutions. Hands-on activities throughout will teach skills and knowledge suitable for careers in planning, urban development, public health, medicine, business, civil engineering, and municipal government.
Extra Information: 2 instructional hours, 1 lab hour.
This course introduces students to the key principles of community planning. It considers the social, environmental, and economic facets of urban sustainability, and uses case studies from Canada and internationally to demonstrate how planning processes can transform cities.
An introduction to the nature of geographical analysis of data and the application of statistical techniques and computing systems to in Geography: data collection, research design, sampling; models of spatial data, probability, distributions, hypothesis testing, correlations and regression.
An introduction to fundamentals and principles of Geographic Information Science, emphasizing both applied and theoretical aspects of digital mapping, spatial data handling, and spatial analysis using both vector and raster data. Practical skills are developed through the use of Geographic Information Systems.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 laboratory hours.
Introduction to the principles, techniques, and geographic applications of remote sensing systems. Computer processing of remote sensing digital data. Interface of remote sensing data with geographic information systems.
Fundamentals of the physical processes underlying weather and climate; radiant energy, energy balances, clouds, atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics; principles of the "Greenhouse Effect", mid-latitude cyclones and aspects of weather forecasting, severe weather phenomenon and atmospheric optics.
Water and sediment cycles at the earth's surface and explanation of the resultant landforms; examples of response to environmental change; selected applications to environmental management.
A geographical investigation of the links between spatial change and social processes. Selected topics will focus on the ways social relations, identities and inequalities are created and practiced over space, with examples from Canadian and international contexts.
The consequences of physical environmental change for Indigenous communities around the globe will be examined in relation to the processes of colonialism and environmental dispossession. Topics include: identity, culture, local economies, social functioning, food security and health.
This course explores historic and conceptual foundations for understanding contemporary Indigenous health through the lens of colonial disruption and dispossession, situating health and healthcare environments as important places of reconciliation. The focus will centre on examining spaces of Indigenous health practice and policy grounded in decolonizing, critical theory.
The forces reshaping global economic geography; fundamentals of spatial economics; principles of locational decisions; spatial interaction; and growth of spatial economic systems are examined. Examples of these concepts are taken from a variety of countries.
This course introduces students to current issues in public health and the environment. Theory, method and case study discussions focus on the important role of geography in understanding and explaining patterns of diseases, health and health care in communities, regions and nations.
Growth, structure and morphology in industrial and post-industrial cities; theories of, and empirical research on, urban form and structure; land development decision making; development feasibility modelling; urban land-use policy.
Departmental field trips to develop student skills in field-based observation, data collection and recording, and analysis and interpretation of human and physical landscapes.
Prerequisite(s): 3rd year status in any module in the Department of Geography and Environment except the Minor; limited enrolment. Priority given to Specialization and Honours Specialization students.
Extra Information: Sessions and dates by arrangements. Students should be prepared to meet the necessary travel and living expenses.
This is an advanced community-based experiential course that combines in-class discussions with community-based research. Students will train in methodologies and ethics of working with First Nations communities. Areas of research may include but not limited to ecological restoration, land claims, self-government, education, health and wellness and urban issues.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Department and 3rd or 4th year status in any Specialization or Honours Specialization module in the Department of Geography and Environment.
An introduction to multivariate statistics and data analysis using computational methods; reproducibility in data analysis, data presentation, exploratory data analysis, and data mining for Geography.
Antirequisite(s): All other senior level statistics courses numbered 2000 or above and not listed in the prerequisites.
Topics include exploratory spatial data analysis, global and local spatial statistics, spatial autocorrelation and interpolation, spatial regression models, and geographically weighted regression. The emphasis will be on developing analytical skills with practical applications using statistical software and Geographic Information Systems.
Methods and techniques in Geographic Information Science. Spatial data encoding from maps and geographic database implementation. Spatial interpolation and other modeling techniques. Integration of remote sensing, GIS and Visualization. Hands-on experience using ESRI, ArcGIS software.
GIS methods for analyzing environmental and ecological data. Emphasis is placed on quantifying and interpreting spatial patterns in data collected on plants and wildlife. The course will exploreissues associated with scale, networks, disturbance, and feedback. Topics covered include habitat fragmentation, protected areas, wildlife tracking, home ranges, and species distributions.
Provides a comprehensive introduction to concepts, theories, and models in the field of transportation geography. GIS and spatial analysis methods for solving transport issues and problems will be presented. Topics covered include accessibility, planning, public transit, active transport, smart mobility, impacts on land use, health, energy, environment, and social equity.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year-status and Geography 2220A/B, or permission of the instructor.
Introduces a computational social science approach to process, analyze, and visualize urban data in a reproducible way. Modern data science toolkits to support better decision making in urban development and planning contexts will be presented. Topics covered include exploratory/statistical/agent-based urban models, network analysis, applied machine learning, and advanced data visualizations.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year-status and Geography 2220A/B, or permission of the instructor.
Themes to be considered may include: advanced computer analysis of digital satellite and airborne data (optical, infrared and radar), advanced image classification methods, texture analysis, change detection, automatic linear feature extraction, structural pattern recognition and remote sensing applications. Remote sensing software will be used in lab.
A survey of a range of social scientific methods for studying humans (e.g., interviews, questionnaires); with an emphasis on research designs involving human interaction. Topics include identifying research problems, questions and designs, sources of error, ethics and values in research, methods of data collection, data analysis and presentation of findings.
Prerequisite(s): At least a 0.5 essay course and 2.0 courses in Geography, 1.0 of which must be taken at the 2400-2499 or 3400-3499 level, and third or fourth year standing in the Faculty of Social Science.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 laboratory hours.
Principles of weather and climate at micro-, local, and meso-scales; processes associated with transfer of heat, mass, and momentum and resulting climates near the surface; local winds, fog, urban climates and air pollution.
Prerequisite(s): One of Geography 2310A/B,Geography 2320A/B or Geography 2330A/B, or at least 3rd year standing in an Environmental Science or Earth Sciences program. (A 1000-1099 level course in Applied Mathematics, Mathematics, or Physics is also recommended).
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 laboratory hours.
The geomorphology of rivers, including fluvial hydraulics, fluvial erosion and sediment transport, river channel morphology and dynamics, channel and floodplain sedimentation, the response of rivers to human activities and environmental change, and applications to river channel management.
The relationship between rainfall and runoff, including the influence of vegetation and soil-water systems; runoff from snow and ice; the hydrological role of lakes and rivers.
This course introduces students to riverine ecosystems. General principles of the physical, chemical and biological patterns and processes of river systems are presented in a landscape context. The course emphasizes human driven landscape changes in the health and sustainability of river systems and teaches techniques for river monitoring and assessment.
Learn about the lessons Earth’s past climate holds for future climate change. Students are introduced to methods of paleoclimatology, past environmental changes and their impacts on early societies, and future climate change including models, international agreements, climate and graphical literacy in the media, and strategies for reaching climate goals.
This course provides students with an introduction to paleolimnology, which uses the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of lake sediments to determine past environments.
This course introduces students to broad concepts of environmental modelling. We will learn about the main components of land surface/terrestrial ecosystem models and their role in climate change projections. These components include vegetation, carbon, hydrology and energy cycles, and how agriculture, land use change and land management impact ecosystem processes.
Prerequisite(s): At least 3rd year standing in a Geography and Environment, Biology, Environmental Science, or Earth Sciences program, or permission of the instructor.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 laboratory hours
Explores how issues of water quantity and quality upstream, within, and downstream of urban centers are inextricably tied to the sustainability of cities. Students will learn basic water monitoring techniques and draw on systems thinking to better understand quantitative outcomes and identify interventions to support sustainable water management in cities.
An examination of contemporary theories in cultural geography - ideology, identity, power, and space - and their application to contemporary issues such as class, consumption, gender, media, and racism. Emphasis is placed upon understanding and critiquing the social and political processes giving rise to cultural practices in their spatial contexts.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University. Two full courses in Geography or equivalent, or enrolment in the Minor in Environment and Culture, in any of the Global Development Studies modules, or permission of the instructor.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 tutorial hours.
This course offers an introduction to the interrelated dynamics of climate crisis and colonialism. The influence of geographies of epistemology, culture, place and power on climate change impacts, strategies, and outcomes is explored. Adopting an anti-colonialist framework and emphasizing inclusive Indigenous Kinship approaches the course moves from theory to action.
This course engages with digital technologies as social and spatial phenomena. Through an exploration of themes including the cloud, internet infrastructures, smart cities, digital platforms, and the gig/sharing economy, the course identifies the environmental and social implications of pervasive digitality while critically navigating through utopian versus dystopian discourses of technology.
Prerequisite(s): Registration in year 3 or 4 in any module.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
A geographic investigation of urban culture focusing on the design, use and identities of urban public spaces as evidenced through systematic observations of social life in urban public settings. Relevant concepts, theories, and field methods are applied to guide and critique the investigation.
Prerequisite(s): Two full courses in Geography and third or fourth year status at the University.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 laboratory hours.
A critical examination of the major themes in the geography of health and health care. The focus will be on the importance of understanding place, space and environment as they relate to health. Geographical aspects of health inequalities, access and utilization will be explored.
Prerequisite(s):Geography 2430A/B or a related 2000-level course in Health Sciences, Sociology or Psychology, or third year standing in the Honours Specialization in One Health, or permission of the instructor.
This is a survey course regarding the links between human health and environmental hazard exposure. Issues will include the health impacts of water pollution, air pollution, solid and hazardous waste, toxic substances, pesticides and radiation. The limitations of models and methods are discussed.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
Examines struggles over conservation and development in a global context. A central aim is to consider the transformation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and struggles for alternatives in relation to the vast and growing inequalities in wealth, power, and resource consumption that exist within and between countries.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University.
This course investigates the political ecology of energy. Issues of politics and power, social equity, and environmental impact are examined through Canadian and international case studies. The concept of 'energy justice' is used both to critically assess current patterns of energy production and use and to explore more sustainable possibilities.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University.
Food is a basic human need and agriculture is one of the most fundamental ways that societies interact with their habitats. This course examines the diversity of world agriculture and the rise of a dominant industrial system, focusing on both the social and environmental dimensions of agrarian change and their interrelation.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University.
Challenges students to examine, understand, and question the carbon footprint of their everyday geographies, and consider how modifying personal lifestyles—their own ways of doing and thinking—can mitigate environmental impacts. Everyday geographies are examined through exercises that focus on subjects including diet, clothing, transportation, and waste, and lower-carbon alternatives.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 2 tutorial hours.
This course explores the geography of housing in North American cities from an historical perspective, with a detailed investigation of the effects of land development, construction, financing, planning, public policy, demographics and lifestyle changes on the production and consumption of residential landscapes.
Prerequisite(s): Third or fourth year status at the University.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour.
The objective of the course is to provide students with practical commercial property valuation skills and the ability to conduct acquisition underwriting. This quantitative course will expose students to the three major valuation approaches, cash flow pro-forma modeling and the financial impact of leverage.
This course examines policies used in economic development to ensure growth and competitiveness of urban economies. Topics include theories of urban economic development, analytical techniques for evaluating urban economies, business recruitment and retention policies, creative economy and quality of life policies, technology policies, and place-based economic development policies.
Discussion of geographical paradigms within an historical and social context. A central concern is the relationship between the academic and professional practice of geography.
Prerequisite(s): Fourth year status, and enrolment in a Specialization, Major or Honours Specialization in the Department of Geography and Environment.
This course explores the challenges and opportunities of citizens' production, access, dissemination and use of Internet-based geospatial data (the geoweb) including locational and still/video imagery. Explores issues of ethics, privacy, research design and citizen engagement via the geoweb.
Prerequisite(s): Fourth year status and Geography 2220A/B, or permission of instructor.
Extra Information: 2 lecture hours, 1 laboratory hour.
Explores the role of collective action in addressing the climate crisis. Examines theories of the state, civil society and social change, and historic and ongoing tactics of social and environmental movements. Urges shifting the focus of action from “what can I do?” toward “what can we do?”
The object of the course is to expose students to the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of urban form and structure. A major focus is on understanding the theories, acquiring the techniques to test the theories, and critiquing the approaches employed for the empirical tests.