ATS2547: Cities and Sustainability

participation -- 5
field trip -- 15
tute presentation -- 20
major essay -- 30
exam -- 30

The content seemed a bit too dry for me, could barely sit through the lectures because they went so slowly. I dont think it was as much of a fast-paced, shitload of content kinda unit which kills me a bit. A lot of it, I felt, was based on common sense, rather than actual content, just talking about society's and governments' responses to various sustainability issues. On the topic of Planning Cities, which seemed to be a theme, there was a bit of theory involved. I felt that the lectures didnt necessarily have any relevance to the tutorial presentation/questions, but rather served as a background for them, and similarly I didnt feel as if any of the so-called 'content' that was tested in the exam was directly covered in the lectures. Its one of those units that you will need to Bullshit your way through. Just make up shit, and as long as it answers the question and is relevant to the themes at play you should be fine.

Didnt go on the fieldtrip, did the 'virtual fieldtrip' which means you look at a whole bunch of maps and analyse the data presented in them pertaining to the demographics of certain municipalities, their position within Metropolitan Melbourne and problems that have arisen/could arise from such facts in terms of sustainability. Cant say I did too well in that though, seeing as I forgot a bibliography ahahaha. Didnt do too well in the Major Essay too, wrote about 900 out of 1500 words, but still got a Credit, I guess thats not too bad for a half-attempt, cant imagine it would be too hard to do well if you put in effort though.

Tutorial Presentation was fun though, I did the one on transport which meant we had to create a survey and ask Monash Students about their habits on transportation to uni and then come up with improvements to our (as in Monash as a whole) sustainability. Got a D for that though.

Definitely agree with Spaciiey though, a very cruisey unit

Stephen Legg

In the exams database. You need to look for 'Cities and Sustainability', not the unit code.

2.5/5

yep, with screen capture. Stephen Legg likes to ramble though, so expect to miss the last few minutes of each lecture if you listen to them exclusively online.

None. Some readings, which I didn't do.

2X 1 hr lectures per week, plus 1 weekly hour long tutorial

2013 sem 1

participation -- 5
field trip -- 15
tute presentation -- 20
major essay -- 30
exam -- 30

Walk in the park if you are a geography student. The content itself was interesting enough, if you are into environmental issues and stuff like that. The assessments are generally easy marks, as long as you spend a little time doing the work before hand. Field trip is optional, if you don't go on it you have to do some alternate report, but I'd recommend going on it, the fieldtrip is only 1 day long and cost about 30 dollars. The major essay wasn't due til week 10 but I knocked mine out over the course of a few days, research and all during the Easter break so I could forget about it, and still got an easy D+. Having good writing skills is a prerequisite for doing well in this subject, you will be writing a fair few essays, and the exam is basically just 3 essays in 2 hours. The beauty about Geography is that even though it's a 'science' subject too, you can walk into the exam knowing that you've already passed.

Lectures were okay, when I went to them but I didnt find myself taking many notes. You can easily get away with not going to them because the slides have a lot of writing on them. Tutes were quite fun, but I think I was just lucky cause I had a good tute group. During the tutes you basically all take turns giving a presentation, and you get your participation marks by turning up to most of them and asking relevant questions/making relevant statements etc. I guess I'd recommend this unit if you are interested in Geography at all. It was pretty easy.

Stephen Legg

In the exams database. You need to look for 'Cities and Sustainability', not the unit code.

3.5/5

yep, with screen capture. Stephen Legg likes to ramble though, so expect to miss the last few minutes of each lecture if you listen to them exclusively online.

None. Some readings, which I didn't do.

2X 1 hr lectures per week, plus 1 weekly hour long tutorial

2013 sem 1

HD