GEOG1002 Hong Kong: Land, People and Resources
2024-25
Department of Geography
Timetable arrangement: Annual; Second Semester
Course: GEOG1002 Semester 2
Time: 4:30 to 6:30 pm
Course Objectives
After an introduction to the major physical features, a range of contemporary issues such as demographic structure and changes, economic development, industrialization, urbanization, housing and planning will be examined. It will conclude with a discussion on Hong Kong’s future development problems and their possible solutions. This is an independent course which can be taken by students from various disciplines.
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Lecture
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Date
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Lecture Topic
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1
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21-Jan-25
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Course introduction
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2
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28-Jan-25
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City development and land-use zoning
(Zoom Recording)
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4 February 2025 (The Lunar New Year Holiday)
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3
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11-Feb-25
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Physical landscape
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4
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18-Feb-25
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Urban planning and country parks
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5
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25-Feb-25
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Environment and resources
management
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6
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4-Mar-25
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Population and employment
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10-15 March 2025 (Reading Week - Optional Field Trip)
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7
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18-Mar-25
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Mobility and transportation
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8
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25-Mar-25
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Public transport and transit-oriented
development
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9
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1-Apr-25
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Trade and logistics
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10
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8-Apr-25
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Energy and environment
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11
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15-Apr-25
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Cultural heritage
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12
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22-Apr-25
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Quality of life, well-being, and
livability
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Field trip (optional)
A field trip will be organized to Mei Ho House, Shek Kip Mei and T-Park during the semester, which aims to provide students an opportunity to further explore the human-environment interactions in Hong Kong.
Date and Time (TBA)
Course learning outcomes
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Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
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Alignment with Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)*
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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1) analyze the key processes of city development in Hong Kong
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2) describe the major physical environmental features in Hong Kong and examine human- environment interactions
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3) identify the key development issues in Hong Kong, including population, land use,
transportation, logistics, energy and cultural heritage
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4) evaluate potential strategies to address those development issues and promote sustainable
development in Hong Kong
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5) integrate the perspectives from land, people, and resources to critically reflect on ways to
promote Hong Kong as a livable city
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6) develop skills in problem identification, data organization, and effective writing
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*Geography Major Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
PLO1 critically analyse the geographical aspects of the relationship between people and the natural environment;
PLO2 demonstrate and develop an understanding of how these relationships have changed with space and over time;
PLO3 identify, collect and utilize primary and secondary data to investigate and analyse the issues and problems facing people, places and society;
PLO4 integrate, evaluate and communicate information from a variety of geographical and other sources;
PLO5 participate in promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability at the local,regional and global scales; and
PLO6 effectively apply a range of transferable skills in academic, professional and social settings.
Course Assessment
50% Coursework (one term essay)
50% Examination (2.0 hours)
Coursework
Write a term essay with a maximum of 2,000 words (excluding tables, figures and references) a given topic. The topics will be announced in Lecture 3.
• Format:
• Reference style. APA or Harvard
• Front size of 12 pt, and a 1.5 line spacing
• Page number should be included (bottom right)
• Word count should be included in the title page
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence. The Department views plagiarism and breaches of copyright very seriously. Any confirmed cases of plagiarism will result in a “F” grade for the assignment. Therefore, you are strongly advised to read the booklets “What is Plagiarism” (http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism/) and “Plagiarism and How to Avoid It” (http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/). All assignments will need to be submitted to Turnitin for plagiarism checking. It is your responsibility to make sure that all references are properly cited in the coursework. Please make good use HKU Library resources (https://lib.hku.hk/) to search for academic literature.
The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
We allow the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to facilitate learning and research. Based on the recent university policies, HKU will provide students 500,000 tokens per month to access any topic they like on ChatGPT 3.5 (https://chatgpt.hku.hk/) and DALL•E 2 (https://dalle.hku.hk). However, it is important for students to uphold academic integrity when using any GenAI tools. Whenever you use the materials provided by GenAI in your coursework, you need to have proper declaration and citations ofthe respective tools. To emphasize, applying the materials directly (or indirectly with paraphrasing) generated from the GenAI tools without proper citations can potentially contribute to plagiarism. Students may face disciplinary actions as a consequence. Please note that alternative assessment may be used to assess student ability.
Submission procedures
Students are required to hand in their course assignments (both a hardcopy and a softcopy) on or before the submission deadline. According to the departmental guidelines, failure to observe this requirement will result in a reduction in coursework marks. For late submissions, there is a 5% reduction per calendar day from the total mark of each item of coursework. For instance, an assignment, which is handed in two days late, will get a 10% reduction. Moreover, any assignment submitted ten calendar days after the deadline will not be accepted for assessment and will therefore be awarded a zero mark.
a) Hardcopy submission
Please print your assignment double-sided for hardcopy submission. Students must follow the specific submission procedures and put their course assignments in the ‘Assignment Collection Box’, which is placed in Room 1048, 10/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus. Submission of assignments to the Department should be made at the following office hours – during weekdays: 9 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm. When submitting the hardcopy, there is no need to attach the Turnitin Report.
b) Softcopy submission (through Turnitin)
Following the university regulations, all coursework needs to be submitted to the Turnitin for checking plagiarism. A Turnitin drop box will be created in the course Moodle. You may upload your essay to Turnitin multiple times until the deadline. Please make sure that the uploaded document is the final version of the term paper. Also, it is the same as the hardcopy version.
Coursework marking
We aim to return all the marked assignment (i.e., essay) before the final exam. Specific comments with each term paper will be provided.
Examination
There will be a 2-hour examination. The date and venue of examination will be announced by the Examinations Office during the semester. The final format of the examination will be announced in the last two lectures.
Grade Descriptors
In order to facilitate students to understand their performance in this course and to improve, some descriptions ofthe different grades are listed below.
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Grade
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Descriptions
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A
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• Deep understanding and comprehensive knowledge
• Demonstrate strong analytical abilities
• Well-focused and coherent argument with a good structure
• Extensive use of literature and other supporting materials
• Well-written and a good use of academic terminology
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B
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• A general understanding in the field of knowledge
• Demonstrate good analytical abilities
• Generally logical and structured arguments
• Good use of literature and other supporting materials
• Well-written and an appropriate use of academic terminology
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C
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• A general understanding but with signs of confusion and errors
• Mainly descriptive with only little evidence of analytical thinking
• Reasonable arguments but without a clear structure
• Limited use of academic literature
• A lack of academic terminologies
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D
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• Presence of multiple errors in the field of knowledge
• Limited background knowledge and understanding
• Lack of a clear structure
• Almost no use of academic literature
• Poor writing style
• Partial or very short
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F
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• Partial or very short answer to the questions
• Presence of a lot of errors in the field of knowledge
• Irrelevant discussion of the topic
• Lack of a clear structure
• Entirely no references used in the essay
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Suggested references
There are three recommended reading items for this course:
Dudgeon, D. & Corlett, R. (2004) The Ecology and Biodiversity of Hong Kong. Friends of the Country Parks/Joint Publishing Company (HK) Ltd.
Mottershead, T. (2004) Sustainable Development in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Yeung Yue-man (ed.) (2007) The First Decade; The Hong Kong SAR in Retrospective and Introspective Perspectives. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Apart from the above suggested references, students are encouraged to read the references on different topics. Relevant references will be provided at the end of each lecture, and most of them will be uploaded on the course Moodle for easier reference.