Department of Geography and Environment

Our department – which covers general, applied and academic geography – focuses on the relationship between societies and the spaces and environments they shape and live with. Compared to other departments in Europe, this one is especially dedicated to analyzing the spatial and environmental dimensions of social facts and public policies.

During the last decades, scholars in Geneva have made significant contributions to the field of geography in areas such as theories on territoriality, semiological approaches to territory and its representations, the organization and dynamics of urban regions, borders studies, and the analysis of subjective experiences of place and landscape.

Today, the focus has shifted to cultural geography (identity, alterity, and territorial representations), political geography (network and territorial organizations, evolution of the status of international borders, etc.), and environmental geography (social construction of nature, political economy, environmental policies, etc.).

The department offers courses in the following subjects:

• Geography
• Territorial Planning and Development
• Social and Environmental Sciences
• Geomatics