Course

Economic Geography

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Geography and the Environment
Course code
GEOG 2212
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Course designation
Certificate in Global Competency
Industry designation
None
Typically offered
Fall

Overview

Course description
Wander through a shopping mall, walk down a main street, or drive through the city. Why are only certain stores present in the mall? Why do the types of businesses vary as you move along the street? These and other questions are addressed in Geography 2212. Whether you are interested in business, planning or just curious, this course will clarify the reasons behind the current pattern of economic activity. This course is an introduction to the theories, concepts, methods and data used by geographers to analyze the location of economic activities, the spatial organization of economic systems, the human use of the earth’s resources and environmental issues. Topics studied include agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, retailing, urban structure, spatial diffusion and economic development.
Course content
  1. Introduction
    • History of Economic Geography
    • Spatial concepts
    • Supply, demand and economic concepts
    •  Globalization
  2. Population
    • World patterns
    • Indices of population distribution and growth
    • Models and theories of population growth
    • Global population issues
    • Population structure
    • Migration
  3. Primary Sector Activities
    • Global resource distribution
    • Models of resource activities
    • Contemporary regional resource issues
    • World agricultural patterns
    • Contemporary agricultural issues
    • Environmental, cultural and other factors
  4. Secondary Activities
    • World manufacturing patterns
    • Classical Industrial Location Theory
    • Environmental, cultural and other factors
    • Other models of industrial location and transformation
    • Fordism and Post-Fordism
    • Contemporary industrial issues and globalization.
  5. Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities
    • Classification of the sectors
    • Central Place Theory and related models
    • Analysis of contemporary issues
    • Environmental, cultural and other factors
  6. Transportation
    • Transportation models and indices
    • Case studies of selected transportation systems
    • Analysis of contemporary issues
  7. Urban Issues
    • Models and theories of urban land use and urban land rent
    • Contemporary issues confronting North American Cities
    • Third World urbanization
  8. Theories of Economic Development
    • Measures and definitions of development
    • Theories of development
    • Role of the state
    • Contemporary issues
  9. International Trade
  10. Conclusion

 

Learning activities

This course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following:

 

  • Lecture
  • Labs and/or electronic resources/activities
  • Field Work
  • DVDs/Videos/PowerPoint
  • Online or Electronic Resources and Activities
  • Individual and/or Team Projects
  • Small Group Discussions
  • Map Analysis

 

 

Means of assessment

Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria during the first week of classes.

An example of an evaluation scheme would be:

Labs or Assignments 10%
Field Trip Report 10%
Project 20%
Participation  5%
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 30%
  100%
Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, the successful student will be able to:

  1. Synthesize the concepts, techniques and theories of economic geography.
  2. Communicate effectively orally, graphically, in writing and using quantitative methods.
  3. Describe the history of economic geography.
  4. Explain the importance of environmental, cultural and other factors in determining economic activities.
  5. Explain the concepts of locational analysis, spatial diffusion and spatial interaction.
  6. Explain the alternative paradigms of economic geography.
  7. Apply the concepts, methods and theories to local, regional and global economic issues.
  8. Analyze the location and viability of economic activities in local, regional and global systems.
  9. Evaluate the main global issues confronting the world economy.
  10. Analyze the concepts and spatial patterns of economic development.
  11. Demonstrate effective geographic research and analytical skills.
Textbook materials

Texts will be updated periodically. Typical examples of a text would be:

  • Barnes, Trevor and Christopher, Brett, (2018), Economic Geography: A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell
  • Coe, Neil, Kelly, Philip and Yeung, Henry (2019), Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell
  • Hayter, Roger and Patchell, Jerry. (2016). Economic Geography: An Institutional Approach (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford
  • Mackinnon, Danny and Cumbers, Andrew. (2018). An Introduction to Economic Geography:Globalization, Uneven Development and Place (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge
  • Stutz, Frederick & Warf, Barney. (2012). The World Economy: Geography, Business and Development, 6th edition. Toronto: Prentice-Hall.

 

Requisites

Prerequisites

GEOG 1100

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for GEOG 2212
Coquitlam College (COQU) COQU GEOG 201 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG GEOG 2250 (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU GEOG 221 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU GEOG 2110 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU GEOG 2XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO GEOG_O 261 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV GEOG_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC GEOG 202 (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV GEOG 242 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC GEOG 211 (1.5)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU GEOG 240 (3)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025