Themes in Geography I

Course Description

Objectives

The course offers incoming Erasmus students an interdisciplinary geographical perspective on Greece, drawing on selected themes from physical and human geography and linking them to broader Mediterranean, European, and global processes.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Recognize and describe key physical, social, and environmental characteristics of Greece, placing them within broader Mediterranean and global geographical contexts.
  
• Interpret key processes, such as urbanization, demographic change, geomorphological evolution, and socio-ecological transformations, and explain how they shape landscapes and societies in Greece (and in the wider European context).
  
• Apply geographical concepts and approaches to analyse contemporary challenges, such as urban and regional inequalities, climate and environmental change, biodiversity loss, and pressures associated with intensive tourism development.

Content

The course is based on the understanding of Geography as an inherently interdisciplinary field that bridges the natural and social sciences, integrates different spatial and temporal scales of analysis, and draws on diverse epistemological approaches. In this context, Geography offers multiple analytical lenses for understanding the world and interpreting the complex relationships between environment, society, and space. Building on this theoretical and methodological foundation, the thematic development of the course begins with the urban realm, focusing on the historical evolution, contemporary challenges, and resilience of Athens as the country's capital and dominant metropolitan region. It then broadens the scope of analysis to examine issues such as regional inequalities, demographic change, geomorphology, biodiversity and environmental change, rural transformations, insularity, and contemporary challenges of environmental governance. Emphasis is placed on the interactions between social and environmental change in a context of demographic decline, biodiversity loss, and intensifying pressures from overtourism.

Assessment

Assessment is based on two components:

Group assignment – 30%
Students will work in small teams to produce an illustrated blog post on a topic related to the course.

Written examination – 70%
The written examination consists of short-answer essay questions. It is designed to assess students’ understanding of the course material and their ability to develop well-reasoned, coherent arguments, rather than their capacity for memorization.