Environmental Science & Policy Majors

Course code: GA13U010

The objective of this course is to introduce students to geomorphology, the purpose of which is to describe and explain terrestrial reliefs at all scales. The course is divided into two parts: the first aims to provide notions of structural geomorphology, emphasizing the relationships between landforms and geological structure, including through the framework imposed by Plate Tectonics on a planetary scale; the second part is an introduction to dynamic geomorphology, focused on the study of erosion processes and associated landforms. The possible fields of application of geomorphology are presented at the end of each chapter of the lecture, in particular through examples taken from the field of risk, environmental and heritage management. The tutorials will mainly be based on the analysis and commentary of topographic and geological maps at different scales, in order to illustrate the chapters of the lecture with concrete case studies.

Schedule: 1.5 hour CM + 2 hour TD (38 hours per semester) 

GA13U010 - CM Lundi 11h00-12h30, Halle aux Farines, Amphi 580F (enseignants Lucille de Milleville, Théophile Piau)

GA13U010- TD 1 Lundi 13h30-15h30, Halle aux Farines, salle 248E (enseignant M. Dumont)

L3SOEC04 - TD 2 Lundi 15h30-17h30, Halle aux Farines, salle 248E (enseignant M. Dumont)

L3SOEC04 -  TD 3 Vendredi 11h00-13h00, Halle aux Farines, salle 165 ODG (enseignant T. Piau)

Assessment Style: 

First session: continuous assessment marks in TD (2/3) and final written exam (1/3) for students registered in continuous assessment

Second session: a written exam

Course code: GA15Y010

The objective of the course is to work on a systemic understanding of energy issues by mobilizing a small-scale (macro) approach. Securing the energy supply of societies in the medium term requires an energy transition towards renewable sources, which is also largely decisive for the climate future. We will address fundamental notions of energy, ecosystems, constraints and energy transitions in the context of Societies/Nature interactions. We will emphasize the temporal, spatial and organizational dynamics of transitions and the associated choices and constraints of regional planning.

Schedule: 1.5 hour CM + 2 hour TD (42 hours per semester) 

Assessment Style: 

First session: This UE is assessed at 100% as part of continuous assessment. There is therefore no final exam for the first session.

Second session: a written exam.

Course code: GA15Y030

This course is an introduction to social geography, understood here in a broad sense: the study of the spatial and territorial dimension of facts, belongings and social relations. It will address the central concepts and notions in sociology and geography, such as inequalities, social structures, social capital, social class, social mobility, social reproduction, but also territories, identities, appropriation, through which geography is part of the field of social sciences. Key authors will also be studied, through their contribution to the debates on the relations between space and social processes (notably Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Armand Frémont, Guy Di Méo, Renée Rochefort, etc.). The course will start from concrete objects (school, confinement, housing, public space, etc.) approached at different scales and from specific case studies. The first part of the course will mainly be devoted to the analysis of the socio-spatial structures of inequalities, segregation and gentrification. A second part will focus on the relationships and processes of domination across space. The last part will be devoted to representations and emotions as objects of geographical study.

Schedule: 2 hour CM + 2 hour TD (44 hours per semester) 

GA15YO30-61629 - CM Mardi 12h30-14h30, Halle 3B 132 (enseignant PISTRE PIERRE)

GA15YO30-61630 - TD 1 Mardi 10h00-12h00, Halle 164E 30 (enseignant DORON ADRIEN)

GA15YO30-61631 - TD 2 Mardi 13h00-15h00, Halle 164E 30 (enseignant DORON ADRIEN)

GA15YO30-61632 - TD 3 Mardi 16h00-18h00, Halle 164E 30

Course code: GA14Y080

This course aims to present several facets of water geography, with the permanent interaction between the natural sciences and the human and social sciences. The first step will be to present the general functioning of the water cycle and the continental mechanisms that are at its origin. The first sessions will thus echo the lessons of climatology, biogeography and geomorphology given in L1 and L2. In a second step, this unit will aim to make students aware that the cycle presented as "natural" by managers is also very transformed by human activities. Water, its resources, their uses, their impacts, management and associated risks, will constitute the common thread of the second part of this UE, which will be particularly linked to the courses in geography of societies. Strongly based on a systemic approach, the courses on the fundamentals will be followed by application exercises.

Schedule: 1.5 hour CM + 2 hour TD (38 hours per semester) 

Assessment Style: 

First session: This UE is assessed at 100% as part of continuous assessment. There is therefore no final exam for the first session for students registered for continuous assessment. Students who may be concerned by a final assessment should contact the teaching managers.

Second session: a written exam.

Course code: GA14Y020

Spatial mobility has become a major social and political issue in contemporary societies and a central theme in understanding socio-territorial dynamics. The challenge of this course is to develop a critical approach to the different categories of mobility and possible analyses in terms of a mobility continuum to question our usual categories of thinking about territory (urban/rural, center/periphery, etc.). The course will first address the theme of international migration to criticize the notion of "crisis" attached to the European situation. It will involve moving beyond the European case to analyze the migratory issues between the South and the North and between countries of the South. A second part of the course will focus on the link between mobility practices and the processes of social and spatial differentiation. The course will focus on presenting social and spatial inequalities through different types of mobility: residential trajectories, daily travel, tourist practices. Finally, an entry by gender will emphasize the contribution of intersectional approaches in understanding the different meanings of mobility and immobility.

Schedule: 2 CM + 2 hour TD (42 hours per semester) 

Assessment Style: 

First session: continuous assessment grades in TD (2/3) and final written exam (1/3) for students enrolled in continuous assessment

Second session: a written exam (1/2) and an oral exam (1/2).

Course code: GA16U060

This course aims to deepen theoretical and methodological knowledge in the environment, approached from the angle of ecological networks and biodiversity dynamics. Different concepts (fragmentation, connectivity, networks, indicators, etc.) and theories from ecology (disturbance, hierarchy, etc.) will be addressed in connection with current issues of biodiversity and geodiversity conservation. Ecological networks will be studied both in the context of green networks ("ecological corridors" in urban or forest environments) and in that of blue networks (ecological and sedimentary continuities of watercourses). This knowledge will be remobilized in practical exercises in the computer room and through field work in the Bois de Vincennes.

Schedule: 3 hour TD (36 hours per semester) 

Assessment Style: 

First session: continuous assessment marks in TD (2/3) and final written exam (1/3) for students registered for continuous assessment

Second session: a written exam.

Localized data are increasingly present in our societies, in forms that tend to renew and diversify. Beyond the statistical and cartographic exploitation of the themes associated with this data, it is essential to know how to exploit the spatial dimension itself, in order to study the way in which the relative position of places and their interactions influence the characteristics of these places. The objective of the Spatial Analysis course is thus to master the concepts and methods that allow geographers to describe and understand the spatial distribution of social or environmental phenomena from digital geographic information. In other words, it is about learning to see how the characteristics of a place depend on what happens in other places, whether they are neighbors, belong to the same territory or are connected within the same networks.

The teaching is composed of four main parts:

1.  Places and distances: absolute and relative location; theoretical and empirical distances; accessibility.  From networks to graphs: introduction to graph theory, to analyze the structure of networks of different types (transport networks, social networks, ecological networks, etc.) and characterize the more or less central position of individuals or places in these networks.

2.  Flows and spatial interaction models: description of a flow matrix; analysis of the dynamics that connect territories (flows, attractiveness, areas of influence, etc.) and that modify the structures of geographic space; introduction to position models (Reilly, Huff) and the gravity model.

3.  Spatial inequalities and similarities: homogeneous regions, gradients, statistical and spatial heterogeneity (e.g. indicators of spatial segregation or biodiversity), spatial autocorrelation, discontinuities.

Schedule: 1.5 hour CM + 2 hour TD (42 hours per semester) 

Assessment Style: 

First session: continuous assessment grades in TD - one homework assignment, one classroom assignment during the year - (2/3) and final written exam (1/3) for students enrolled in continuous assessment

Second session: a written exam (1/2) and an oral exam (1/2).