Global, national and regional scales of urbanization are addressed through the presentation of concepts and theories and their application to contemporary processes. Specific foci include housing and employment, urban-rural relations, regional disparities, urban structural characteristics, and the relationship between urbanization and development processes. This course focuses on the ecological basis for resource management, evaluates a number of current ecological theories and addresses their implications for resource management. An examination of resource management, focusing on public and private decision-making processes. Consideration of techniques for evaluating resources, including EIA and risk analysis.
Emphasis is on the economic, social and environmental implications of resource development and use.
Contemporary Canadian case studies will be presented at appropriate scales. This course explores the structure and dynamics of food production systems in advanced economies. Particular attention is paid to the interaction of farms with the environmental, economic, social and institutional forces that shape local types and regional patterns of agricultural activity. The concept of sustainability is used as a focus for the consideration of selected trends in agriculture and associated policy and planning issues. The evolution of resource use systems, settlement patterns and built environments, their interrelationships and contribution to the Ontario landscape.