Undergraduate Courses
For information on courses offered for the forthcoming semesters, as well as on instructor details, select the relevant semester option below. Please note the changes to some course codes, and pay attention to course preclusions provided in the detailed write-up for each course.
Courses offered:
Semester 2 - AY2026/27
DR JAMES D. SIDAWAY
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-2-5
Pre-requisite(s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GEH1022/GEC1007
Description:
This is cross-Faculty course aimed at introducing Geopolitics to a broad range of students. The course is designed to be as engaging and interactive as possible: utilising various multi-media tools, including documentary clips, news media, filmic resources, popular journals and magazines. Not surprisingly, the course has a very lively section on Popular Geopolitics. In addition, we introduce students to the interactions of geopolitics and political space through detailed examination of different geopolitical eras and codes, specifically: Cold War Geopolitics and the Human Landscapes of Southeast Asia: and the so-called "Global War on Terror".
C.A.: 40%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
DR MUHAMMAD NAWAZ
PROFESSOR DAVID TAYLOR
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-2-5
Prerequisite/Cross-listing: Nil
Preclusion: GE2018, GESS1002, GES1004
Description:
The course will focus on the functions of the biophysical environment of the city state of Singapore. The topics include geology, soils, river systems, water supply, natural reserves, green areas, land reclamation and coastal environments. The environmental problems that arise from the development of a large tropical city within a limited area, and the possible solutions for such problems will be examined.
The course does not require an extensive science or mathematics background.
C.A.: 60%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
ASSOC PROF WOON CHIH YUAN
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-4-3
Pre-requisite(s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusions: GE2202 and GE2222
Description:
This compulsory course provides an introduction to political and economic geography, and serves as a gateway to more specialised level 3000 and 4000 modules in these fields. It advances two key arguments, namely that politics and the economy are (1) tightly intertwined and (2) innately geographical phenomenon. It explores how politics, the economy and the environment are constituted through different sets of actors and their interrelationships. It mobilises core geographical concepts, notably place, space, scale and territory, along with notions of power and resistance, to offer a distinctive perspective on processes of uneven development in the contemporary world.
C.A.: 60%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
DR VANESSA BANTA
ASSOC PROF KAMALINI RAMDAS
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-4-3
Pre-requisite(s)/ Co-requisite(s)/ Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s):
Description:
Living Space introduces students to the idea that space is lived and experienced as part social and cultural life. Drawing from the arts, food, sports and film, and/or other related topics, the module delves into critical developments in social and cultural geography, providing students with the foundational knowledge and required grounding to read advanced courses in the sub-discipline. It introduces methodological approaches which include ‘ways of seeing’ and ‘landscape as text’. These are critical to understanding the human/culture and environment/space relationship.
C.A.: 60%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
DR GRETCHEN COFFMAN
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-2-4-1
Pre-requisite(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): Nil
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course offers students an in-depth exploration of the practice of Ecological Restoration and the science of Restoration Ecology within the geographical context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030). Students will explore species distributions, landscape processes, and community-driven ecological restoration in tropical ecosystems of Southeast Asia. Students will engage with local communities, applying interdisciplinary perspectives to real-world ecological challenges, fostering empathy, contributing to community resilience and exploring conservation solutions. This international immersive two-week experience integrates fieldwork and problem-solving. It aims to deepen students' understanding of societal issues, encouraging reflection and action towards sustainable community resilience.
C.A.: 100%; Exam: 0%
ASSOC PROFESSOR KAMALINI RAMDAS
SANJANA MUGERAYA
Units: 4
Workload: 2-0.5-0-2.5-0-5
Prerequisite: Priority for CHS students. This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards. Students are encouraged to have completed at least two of the Level-1000 CHS Common Curriculum courses, which may include: HSl1000, HSHl 000, CHS Data Literacy course, and CHS Digital Literacy course.
Cross-listing: Nil
Preclusion: GEH1034, NST2044
Description:
Carbon emissions from energy account for over two-thirds of all global emissions and offer an avenue for mitigating climate change via a transition to clean energy. Electrifying end-use section and shifting electricity production towards clean sources form the basis of the decarbonised energy transition.
Challenges associated with decarbonisation require an interdisciplinary approach that considers scientific and socio-environmental constraints and opportunities. This course will introduce students to the pillars, major challenges and benefits of transitioning to clean energy. Students will learn how the harnessing of clean energy technologies can be optimised to ensure rapid and fair transition to a low/zero-carbon future.
CA: 100%
ASSOC PROFESSOR MICHIEL VAN BRUEGEL
DR CARLY NICHOLS
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-3-0-4
Prerequisite: This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards.
Students are encouraged to have completed at least two of the Level-1000 CHS Common Curriculum courses, which may include: HSI1000, HSH1000, HSS1000, CHS Data Literacy course, and CHS Digital Literacy course.
Cross-listing: Nil
Preclusion: Nil
Description:
Within the context of environmental degradation and promoting sustainable lifestyles, this course will focus on four critical environmental issues: clean and adequate water for everyone; sustainable food production; healthy urban environments, and protecting endangered species. By synthesising perspectives from environmental sciences and social-cultural geography, students will learn to critically evaluate environmental initiatives and policies by comparing evidence-based arguments and opinion-based public discourses. The course will expose students to the challenges of reversing damage to ecosystems by highlighting the difficulties of reconciling conflicting views and confronting the ambiguities and complexities surrounding real-world initiatives and the uncertain outcomes generated through them.
CA: 100%
DR XIANGZHONG LUO (REMI)
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-3-0-4
Pre-requisite(s): This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards.
Students are encouraged to have completed at least two of the Level-1000 CHS Common Curriculum courses, which may include: HSA1000, HSS1000, HSI1000, HSH1000, CHS Data Literacy course, and CHS Digital Literacy course.
Preclusion(s): Nil
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
What if we say life on earth is deeply intertwined with this invisible thing we call air? This course takes ‘air’ as a central concept to understand various contemporary environmental issues. Spanning science and culture, it focuses on five aerial prompts: weather, climate, disaster, disease and turbulence. By synthesising perspectives from earth system science and the social sciences, students will learn how physical processes in the atmosphere are inextricably linked to human imaginations and appropriations of the air. The course posits that air is both a scientific fact, and a social construction that informs present-day, real-world problems and solutions.
C.A.: 100%; Exam: 0%
DR SHAUN TEO
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-3-4
Preclusion(s): Nil
Pre-requisite(s)/ Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course places urban planning in relation to wider social, political and economic trends as well as geographical contexts. Students will be challenged to 1) identify the complex influence of planning in shaping cities and everyday urban life; and 2) critically evaluate strategies and possibilities of planning for better urban futures. Examples are drawn mainly from rapidly changing regions in Asia, and include issues on urban redevelopment, housing, poverty, public space, resistance and state-society collaborations.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
DR LINJUN XIE
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-3-4
Preclusion(s)/Pre-requisite(s)/ Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course examines important geographical, ecological and political concepts and approaches to natural resources management. In particular, we focus on ownership regimes, access, exploitation and conservation in different social, economic and cultural contexts. Detailed cases of fisheries, forestry, freshwater and agriculture conflicts and problems are discussed.
C.A.: 50%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
DR TANG HAO
Units: 4
Workload: 2-0-2-4-2
Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Pre-requisite(s): students must have taken GE2215
Description:
This course focuses on the applications of GIS and remote sensing in a geographical context. The emphasis is on the use of spatial data in business analysis, environmental planning, and resource and impact assessment. One section of the module covers topics on digital image processing with emphasis on the knowledge and understanding of techniques used in a planning context. The second section deals with spatial analysis and visualisation for geographical and business analysis (GE2215 is a prerequisite for this course).
C.A.: 100%
PROFESSOR CHANG TOU CHUANG
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-2-5
Pre-requisite(s)/Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course evaluates the intersections and diversions between development and leisure/tourism. Using critical development lenses, the course will first critique “big D” Development’s (specific intentional interventions to achieve improvement or progress) globalized approaches in tourism development and then “respond” to these critiques by considering more localized political, economic, and cultural connections in tourism strategies. While localized “development” projects often suggest more equitable growth, input from local stakeholders, an incorporation of livelihood strategies and grounded knowledge, and more “sustainable” models with a long-term sensibility, the module will take a critical position toward these ideas as well.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
DR DYLAN BRADY
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-4-3
Pre-requisite(s)/Preclusion (s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course examines the tenets of transport geography with a contemporary view in mind. Not only is it interested in the subdiscipline's tradition of describing and explaining the Earth's transport systems, it also seeks to advance understandings of how transport systems are changing. The module will examine key land, sea and air transport technologies, consider their spatial characteristics, and interrogate emerging trends that could impact the future geographies of transport. It is concerned with practical questions of transport organisation and design, as well as socially pertinent challenges like inequity and sustainability. Case studies will be drawn from Singapore and beyond.
C.A.: 70%; Duration of examination: 2 hrs
C.A.: 100%
DR FENG CHEN-CHIEH
Units: 4
Workload: 2-0-2-4-2
Pre-requisite(s): GE2215
Preclusion (s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course examines the range of considerations necessary to develop a GIS database and perform spatial analysis. It is intended for geographers, planners, IT managers and computer scientists who have already acquired an introductory knowledge of the field. The module begins with an in-depth understanding of raster GIS analysis and its applications in physical or urban environment. It then provides formal understanding of the development of a GIS database.
Topics covered include representation and storage of spatial data, database design, and basic scripting language in ArcGIS. Students will obtain substantial hands-on GIS skills in support of geographic analyses.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: Nil
DR VANESSA BANTA
DR DYLAN BRADY
Units: 4
Workload: 2-1-0-5-2
Pre-requisite(s): Nil
Preclusion (s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Description:
This course is designed to enhance your preparations to conduct an independent research project and write a convincing research proposal. Along the way, you will improve your reading, critical thinking and writing skills. This means your appreciation of and capacity to appraise published research in Geography and other disciplines will be enhanced. Also, you will get to employ select research methods used in Human and Physical Geography and gain project management and research communication skills.
Should you choose to do an Honours Thesis or not, the research skills you will gain (from coming up with your own research questions, choosing the most appropriate method/research design, considering ethics, communicating research effectively) will be useful in a variety of contexts, fields and industries.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: Nil
DR MUHAMMAD NAWAZ
Units: 4
Workload: 2-2-0-2-4
Pre-requisite(s)/Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE2230
Description:
The extraction, production, distribution and use of energy sources have significant environmental, social, political, and economic impacts. These impacts are multi-scalar, ranging from global climate change to socio-cultural disruption at the local and national scale. This course exposes students to these impacts with detailed case studies. The course also gives students a comprehensive background on the development and use of promising future post-carbon alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and biofuels. It also discusses how to build the architecture of a post-carbon economy.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
DR MARIO SORIANO
GE4211
Units: 4
Workload: 0-3-0-2-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4211HM
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2021 onwards : Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE.
BES XDP students : Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: NA
GE4211HM
Units: 5
Workload: 0-3-0-2-7.5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4211
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2019 and before:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
- Global Studies students :
Completed at least 80 Units, including 28 Units in GL/GL-recognised non-language courses with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours Track. - BES students from both specialisations :
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need to complete 28 Units of GE courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need a minimum GPA of 3.20 before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
Cohort 2020:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
- BES students from both specialisations :
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need to complete 28 Units of GE courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need a minimum GPA of 3.20 before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
C.A.: 125%; Duration of examination: 0hrs
Description:
This course adopts a catchment-based approach to discussing fluvial and hydrological processes and their application to water management issues, with emphasis on Asia.
A detailed analysis of the changes that occur to these processes as a result of the degradation and urbanisation of catchments is a particular focus of the module, as is the use of Asian and local examples.
PROFESSOR DAVID TAYLOR
DR RACHEL OH
GE4220
Units: 4
Workload: 0-3-0-2-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4220HM
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2021 onwards:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
- BES XDP students:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: Nil
GE4220HM
Units: 5
Workload: 0-3-0-7-2.5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4220
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2020 and before:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.50 or be on the Honours track.
- BES students from both specialisations:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need to complete 28 Units of GE courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need a minimum GPA of 3.20 before they can read any level-4000 courses.
C.A.: 125%; Duration of examination: Nil
Description:
The course provides an opportunity for students to gain hands-on skills and research design practice through residential fieldwork in physical geography.
The field trip will be embedded within the regular semester and will be preceded by preparatory classes to provide concepts, theories and specific techniques relevant to the fieldwork location. It will be followed by a period of post fieldwork analysis and presentation of project outcomes.
PROFESSOR LU XIXI
Units: 4
Workload: 0-3-0-2-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4222HM
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2021 onwards:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.50 or be on the Honours track.
- BES XDP students:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
Description:
This course addresses the interactions between surface processes and landforms and landscapes. These interactions lead to physical, chemical and biological changes, which in turn create the current landscapes and the geological record of past landscapes.
This focus is core to both physical geographical and geological communities, and also the wider geosciences.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
DR ALLEN XIAO
GE4225
Units: 4
Workload: 0-3-0-2-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4225HM
Cohort 2021 onwards:
- Completed at least 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: Nil
GE4225HM
Units: 5
Workload: 0-3-0-4.5-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4225
Cohort 2019 and before:
- Completed at least 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
- Global Studies students:
Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE or 28 Units in GL/GL-recognised non-language courses, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Cohort 2020:
- Completed at least 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
C.A.: 125%; Duration of examination: Nil
Description:
This course will examine the theories and concepts of childhood and youth-hood from critical geography and development studies perspectives. The course will particularly focus on approaches and material from the sub-discipline of children’s and young people’s geographies. It will explore material and representational geographies of children and young people from a global perspective. Different strands of examination may include key issues such as: children’s and young people’s social and spatial identities; the complexities of growing up global; young people and social and cultural development; mediated representations of younger people; youthful politics and activism; contexts of education, employment and aspirations.
DR NATHAN GREEN
GE4232
Units: 4
Workload: 0-0-0-2-3-5
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4232HM
Prerequisites:
Cohort 2021 onwards:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE or GL/GL-recognised non-language courses. Must read and passed GE1101E.
- BES XDP students:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
C.A.: 100%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
GE4232HM
Units: 5
Workload: 0-0-0-3.5-3-6
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4232
Prerequisites:
Cohort 2020 and before:
- Completed at least 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE or GL/GL-recognised non-language courses, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours Track.
- BES students from both specialisations:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need to complete 28 Units of GE courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need a minimum GPA of 3.20 before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
C.A.: 125%; Duration of examination: 0 hrs
Description:
This course explores the relationships between politics (broadly defined) and the environment at a global level.
Global political ecologies will examine environmental issues that have explicit global impact. It is also interested in issues that have comparatively less global impact but are nonetheless considered “global” because they are endemic in many places around the world.
Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of political ecology and case studies around the world, this course will explore themes such as: environmental ideology and discourse; politics and livelihoods; energy and natural resource management; production and consumption of food, nature conservation and climate change.
DR LUO WEI
ASSOC PROF WANG YI-CHEN
Units: 4
Workload: 0-3-0-3-4
Cross-listing(s): Nil
Preclusion(s): GE4241HM
Pre-requisite(s):
Cohort 2021 onwards:
- Completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in GE. Must have read and passed GE1101E.
- BES XDP students:
Completed 80 Units of NUS courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses. Do not need to complete 28 Units of GE courses before they can read any level-4000 GE courses.
Description:
This course covers the principles and methods of using geospatial technologies to address health issues, focusing on human-health-environment relationship. Geospatial concepts and data for health and disease ecology are explained. Methods and considerations are introduced with case studies for mapping population and health data, quantifying spatial patterns and detecting spatial clusters in health events, measuring exposure to risk factors, and evaluating spatial accessibility to health care. The combination of seminar discussion and practical work will provide students the opportunities to gain a thorough understanding of the roles of the environmental factors, social-economic conditions, and behavioural responses on health outcomes.
C.A.: 100% Exam: 0%