MSc Global Development

The overarching aims of this course unit are: (i) to introduce students to a range of approaches for achieving transitions to sustainability; and (ii) to equip students with the skills to evaluate different proposed transition strategies from socio-economic, ecological, and social justice perspectives.

The overarching aims of this course unit are: (i) to introduce students to a range of approaches for achieving transitions to sustainability; and (ii) to equip students with the skills to evaluate different proposed transition strategies from socio-economic, ecological, and social justice perspectives.

Week 1 will introduce students to key theories and frameworks on socially just transitions and transformations to sustainability, establishing the underlying logic for the course unit. It will also introduce the first of the two assignments.

Weeks 2-4 and 6-9 will be a series of thematic lectures on different approaches to achieving transitions to sustainability. Each of these lectures will begin with a broad introduction to the topic, followed by one or more detailed case studies of the application of the approach. Precise topics are flexible depending on the staff members contributing to the course, with possible topics including:

1. Social movements in sustainability transitions

2. Decolonising sustainability transitions

3. Transforming business

4. Transformation through ecosystem restoration

5. Digital-driven transformations to sustainability

6. Degrowth

7. Urban transformation

8. Transforming water systems

9. Transforming food systems

Week 5 will set up the second of the two assessments (see below) and introduce students to the process of developing and writing critical problem-based case study reports, taking examples such as consultancy reports.

The fi

Students will be asked to watch around 60 minutes of pre-recorded video lecture content in each week in advance of in-person sessions. For those lectures focused on specific approaches, these videos will include a broad overview of the approach following by one or more case studies. Students will then attend 2-hour interactive sessions, which will build on the materials presented in the videos through a mixture of whole-group and small-group activities.

• Describe approaches designed to achieve transitions/transformations to more sustainable futures.
• Discuss different definitions and understandings of transformative change and just transitions to sustainability

• Evaluate the benefits and trade-offs of different approaches to transition.
• Critically analyse a case study on a sustainability challenge and compare and contrast different approaches to achieving sustainability.

• Work effectively in teams to carry out a case study analysis.

• Explain the strengths and risks of different approaches to transition in language appropriate to both academic and non-academic audiences.
• Apply problem-solving skills/approaches to real-world sustainability challenges.

Informal feedback will come through in-class interactions. Written formal feedback will be provided on assessed coursework.

O’Brien, K. (2011) Global environmental change II: from adaptation to deliberate transformation. Progress in Human Geography 36: 667-676.

Osborne et al. (2021) The political ecology playbook for ecosystem restoration: principles for effective, equitable and transformative landscapes. Global Environmental Change 70: 102320.

Kothari, A., Demaria, F., & Acosta, A. (2014). Buen Vivir, degrowth and ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the green economy. Development 57: 362-375.

Escobar, A. (2015). Degrowth, post-development, and transitions: a preliminary conversation. Sustainability Science 10: 451-462.

Nirmal, P., & Rocheleau, D. (2019). Decolonizing degrowth in the post-development convergence: Questions, experiences, and proposals from two Indigenous territories. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2: 465-492.

Whitfield et al. (2021) A framework for examining justice in food system transformation research. Nature Food 2: 383-385

Nost.& Goldstein (2022) A political ecology of data. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 5: 3-17