Module manager: Glenda Garelli
Email: g.garelli@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| GEOG3050 | Helsinki : Urban Growth and Sustainability |
| GEOG3125 | Bilbao: Contested Urban Transformations |
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Focused on the challenges and opportunities of global migration, this week-long fieldtrip to Sicily will visit the Italian region where most migrants travelling to Europe through the central Mediterranean route end up landing. Focusing on a vibrant urban centre (Catania) and on a rural landscape (Simeto River Valley), students will explore the systems and politics of integrating migrants within a culturally rich, economically weak, and institutionally complex local context. We will explore how a traditional tourist-based economy has been complemented by a new migration industry that has brought different actors to the island linked to border enforcement, humanitarian aid, public media services, and civil society engagement. The fieldtrip includes lecturer directed work (from UoL staff and local partners) and independent investigation in the field. The trip is prefaced by lectures, seminars, and group learning.
The key aims of this module are to provide students with:
- training in field methods (e.g., participant observation, interviewing, visual methods), research design approaches (e.g., participatory action research), and data collection and interpretation issues (e.g., positionality ethos, non-extractive approaches to the interviewees, triangulation techniques, and the “politics of visibility” involved in framing humanitarian crises).
- an appreciation of the complex geographies of the global migration crisis and the dynamic effects on the urban environments of Sicily in Italy through a week of fieldwork on the island.
- the opportunity to explore contemporary debates about belonging, globalization and migration and the geographies of difference and inequality with particular reference to migration, ethnicity, class, gender and humanitarian crises.
- an understanding of the contradictory role of technology in humanitarian crisis management.
- the skills to undertake independent field research, plan projects and write reports.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
SSLO1: Analyse key theories within human geography, especially those regarding migration and displacement, integration and settlement, segregation and social exclusion, humanitarian crises, and moral economies.
SSLO2: Assess key policy debates and implementation frameworks for managing humanitarian crises and migration flows.
SSLO3: Apply concepts and methods learned in the classroom to practical situations.
SSLO4: Evaluate the role of migrants, NGOs, and migration management actors in shaping and transforming the culture, economy, and politics of cities.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
SKLO1: Academic Integrity
SKLO2: Academic Writing (Academic)
SKLO3: Information Searching (Academic, Sustainability)
SKLO4: Referencing (Academic)
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Project | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Fieldwork | 6 | 7 | 42 |
| Lecture | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Seminar | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Private study hours | 145 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 55 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Students receive formative feedback once a day during the fieldtrip. This is provided by the UoL staff and educational partners, as the class discusses sites visited and data collected during the day.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Group work | 30 |
| Coursework | Coursework | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Students needing to resit the group work will produce a visual analysis of the scene of migrants’ arrival in Sicily by selecting 2 key images and producing a visual analysis following the group assessments’ guidelines
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 06/05/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team