Geography of Europe

Code:

GEOGR023

Acronym:

GEOEUR

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Geography

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Geography
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Geography

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
GEOGR	75	study plan	2	-	6	41	162
LA	96	Study plan	2	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Portuguese and english
Obs.: Obs.: Caso haja estudantes internacionais que não falem ou escrevam Português, as aulas serão lecionadas em inglês e os estudantes serão incentivados a fazer as suas intervenções em inglês

Objectives

The main objectives of the curricular unit are the following:

• Learn the main human, physical and environmental components of the European continent and its geographical diversity: identifying and describing the main regions of Europe.
• Learn the main political milestones of recent European history, since World War II
• Acquire a critical view of the political history of the European Union, the founding documents, the main institutions and their competences and responsibilities, the successive enlargements and the recent shrinkage
• Learn, understand and explain the Cohesion Policy (European Regional Policy) in its main aspects and the evolution of its instruments.
• Analyse critically the EU regional disparities
• Develop prospective scenarios and future studies for the EU
• Acquire geographic analytical skills that can be applied to a variety of professional tasks where the analysis of spatial information is required.
• Facilitate the internationalization of students by strengthening their knowledge of the most recent international research in the field of Geography in Europe
• Enhance more focus and continuous work by the students

 

Learning outcomes and competences

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

 

• Evaluate present main challenges in Europe through the Geographic framework with a special focus on regional social and economic disparities
• Develop an informed view of the role of the European Union in the framework of globalization and multiculturalism.
• Communicate ideas and results and debate with others (with a special focus on intercultural communication skills)
• Develop elementary work to characterise European regions; know the sources and have autonomy in establishing a consistent work plan.
• Understand, explain and critically analyse European policies related to the social and economic development of the regions.
• Critique changes of the economic and political systems in Europe, with a special focus on the Cohesion Policy and its efficiency on the peripheral regions of Southern Europe
• Build prospective and future scenarios for the peripheral regions of Southern Europe
• Strengthen the soft skills of students with a special focus on human rights, on migrations and social inclusion European policies

 

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Solid basic knowledge in Human Geography, International Relations and a good level of knowledge in English to consult the bibliography and debate in English in practical workshops and presentations.
Basic knowledge of statistical sources, in particular EUROSTAT. Basic knowledge of databases, statistical data processing and graphics (access and excel).

Program

Geography of

2024/2025

Program (Contents):

 

Introduction/Framework

1. Europe: a continent, a concept, a utopia?Geography and Europe. A European and Eurocentric science that emerged and contributed to the creation of the very idea of Europe.
2. Bela Ballassa's theory of economic integration. The historical process of European integration and the construction of the European Union. Deepening economic integration and enlargement. Brexit.

Part I - The Human Geography of Europe (Economic and Social)

3. The Population of Europe
   • Basic concepts of population geography (LA)
   • The ageing of the European population
   • Migration in Europe
   • Demographic Dividend
   • Demographic projections in various scenarios
4. Europe's Economic Base
   • Europe's economic base
   • Productive sectors and dynamics
   • The challenges facing European agriculture today
   • Employment and unemployment
   • Human capital and the education dividend
   • Mario Draghi's Report
5. European Regional Disparities and Social Risks.
   • GDP per capita in PPS as a % of the European average, by region
   • Economic and social dimensions of regional disparities
   • Concentration and polarization of economic growth
   • Mario Draghi's report.
6. Cohesion Policy or European Regional Policy
   • Nature and objectives of Regional Policy/Cohesion Policy
   • The main milestones in the development of Cohesion Policy
   • Structural Funds and European Programs with a territorial component
   • The Digital Transition and the Green Transition (decarbonization)
   • The performance of regional disparities in the face of the digital transition and the green transition: the better and worse placed regions.
   • Mario Draghi's Report
7. The Geography of Discontent in Europe
   • The idea of a Geography of Discontent in Europe associated with regional disparities.
   • Peripheral regions, left-behind regions; places that do not matter.
   • The link between discontent and the rise of extremist political parties and populism.

Part II - Climate Change in Europe

8. Climate change in Europe: impacts and risks
   • Overview of climate change in Europe
   • Climate risks by region
     • Southern and Mediterranean Europe,
     • Northern Europe and the Arctic.
     • Central Europe.

9. Adaptation strategies in Europe
10. Climate policies
    • Climate policies in the UnionEuropean
    • Financing and international cooperation
    • Socio-economic challenges and inequalities

 

Part III - Natural Resources and Hazards on the European Continent

11. Natural resources of the European continent
    • Geographical limits of the European continent
    • Morphological zones
    • Geological units and paleogeography
    • Mineral and geological resources
    • Surface and groundwater resources
    • Maritime resources
    • Edaphic resources
12. Natural hazards on the European continent
    • Geological hazards: seismic, volcanic and tsunami activity.
    • Geomorphological hazards: slope movements and water erosion of soils.
    • Mixed hazards: soil degradation, aquifer contamination and forest fires.
13. European Strategy for Disaster Reduction
    • European Disaster Risk Management
    • European Civil Protection Mechanism
    • Disaster Resilience Targets
    • Prevention and preparedness projects
    • Adapting to future disasters in key sectors (land use planning and civil protection).

Mandatory literature

Rodriguez-Posé, Andrés; The European Union: economy, society and polity, Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780198742869
European Commission ; Competitiveness in low-income and low-growth regions The lagging regions report., 2017 (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/reports/2017/competitiveness-in-low-income-and-low-growth-regions-the-lagging-regions-report)
Madalena Pires da Fonseca; Regional upgrading in southern Europe. ISBN: 978-3-319-49817-1
Iammarino, Simona; Rodriguez-Posé, Andrés; Storper, Michael; Regional inequality in Europe: evidence, theory and policy implications, Springer. Journal of Economic Geography, 19 pp 273-298, 2019. ISBN: Online ISSN 1468-2710
European Commission ; Investment for Jobs and growth. Promoting development and good governance in EU regions and cities. Sixth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion., Publications Office of teh European Union, 2014. ISBN: ISBN 978-92-79-37910-9 (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cohesion_report)
Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés; Ketterer, Tobias; Institutional change and the development of lagging regions in Europe, Regional Studies. Routledge, 2019. ISBN: ISSN 1360-0591 (Online) ( https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1608356)
Riccardo Crescenzi & Mara Giua; One or many Cohesion Policies of the European Union? On the differential economic impacts of Cohesion Policy across member states, Regional Studies. Routledge, 2020. ISBN: ISSN 1360-0591 (Online) ( https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1665174)
Crescenzi, Riccardo; Luca, Davide; Milio, Simona ; The Geography of the Economic Crisis in Europe: National Macroeconomic Conditions, Regional Structural Factors and Short-Term Economic Performance, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, March 2016, v. 9, (1). pp. 13-32. doi:10.1093/cjres/rsv031, 2016
Fratesi, Ugo; Rocriguez-Posé ; The crisis and regional employment in Europe: what role for sheltered economies?, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2016, 9, 33–57, 2016. ISBN: Online ISSN 1752-1386 (doi:10.1093/cjres/rsv032)
European Commission ; White Paper on the Future of Europe and the Way Ahead. Reflections and scenarios for the EU27., European Commission, 2017. ISBN: 978-92-79-67643-7 ( https://ec.europa.eu/commission/white-paper-future-europe-reflections-and-scenarios-eu27_en)
European Commission ; Eight Progress Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. doi:10.2776/74866 , 2013
European Commission ; website oficial da Comissão Europeia com documentos relevantes para a Política regional/ Política de Coesão (European Commission/ EU regional and urban development/ Regional Policy/ (The new) Cohesion Policy), https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/2021_2027/
THE HIGH-LEVEL GROUP ON THE FUTURE OF COHESION POLICY; FORGING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE TOGETHER: COHESION FOR A COMPETITIVE AND INCLUSIVE EUROPE REPORT OF THE HIGH-LEVEL GROUP ON THE FUTURE OF COHESION POLICY February 2024, European Commission, 2024. ISBN: 978-92-68-10296-1
European Union; Ninth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion, European Commission, 2024. ISBN: 978-92-68-10894-9

Comments from the literature

Eurostat will be the mais data source for the individual essays but also for downloading studies and reports made available there regularly with updated statistics and for relevant themes.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching and learning methods aim at student-centered learning. Hence, the front talk lectures will be very focused and reduced to a minimum for theoretical framework and objectives presentations, topics and readings recommendations, guidelines, rules for workshops or debates and with discussion opportunities. Talks, presentations will be made available and there will always be personalized coaching, in English or Portuguese.

The aim will be to: contribute to good teaching, study and experience conditions for students, boosting their motivation for research work; priority will be given to flexibility and the humanistic component and the development of transversal skills, through multidisciplinary integrating projects, organizing multicultural working groups as far as possible. Awareness of human rights topics will be always attempted when studying regional disparities and migrations in Southern Europe.

Particular attention will be paid to the development of oral communication, argumentation and debate skills.

Intercultural communication will also be a tool to facilitate internationalisation at home, for students.

Software

Excel
Access
Word

keywords

Social sciences > Political sciences > Policy studies > International relations
Social sciences > Geography
Social sciences > Political sciences > Policy studies > EU policies

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	65,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho de investigação	32,00
Total:	142,00

Eligibility for exams

Students must attend 75% of the classes and carry out the practical work and experimental exercises learnt, presenting the results orally in the respective class.

Calculation formula of final grade

Assessment of Geography of Europe 2023/2024

The assessment of the students on the Geography of Europe course (GEOEUR) follows the Regulations for the assessment of students on first cycles, second cycles and doctoral courses at FLUP, revised and approved in 2018 and available on SIGARRA.

The assessment of the GEOEUR course is an assessment by a final exam (20 points).

The exam has the model of  a Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam to be taken in class on the FLUP computers during the exam period on Moodle.

Attendance at at least 75% of classes is compulsory, except for students with special status.

Students who do not obtain a positive mark in the exam, may submit an appeal.

The appeal consists of taking the PEM exam for students who did not take it in the normal period and an oral exam for the rest.

Grade improvement consists of an oral exam.

In all other aspects of assessment, the regulations in force at FLUP apply.

Examinations or Special Assignments

n.a.

Internship work/project

n.a.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Working students (TE) and others with special status must take the PEM exam 
The appeal for TEs consists of taking the MCQ exam for students who didn't take it in the normal period and an oral exam for the others.

Grade improvement consists of an oral exam.

ENEEs will have tests adapted to their specific difficulties, to be defined on a case-by-case basis, year by year, with the NAI and the ENEEs themselves. More time will be given for exams, suitable exams will be made, for example, printed on paper with a large font size for ENEE with vision difficulties or other customised solutions.

Classification improvement

Students who do not obtain a positive mark in the exam, may submit an appeal.

The appeal consists of taking the PEM exam for students who did not take it in the normal period and an oral exam for the rest.

Grade improvement consists of an oral exam.

The Multiple Response Questions exam can only be taken once. Students do not repeat it.