Delivery method: In person teaching in Hugh Owen B21b, Penglais Campus. 

Britain’s coastlines are dynamic landscapes shaped by time, energy, natural processes and human activity. In today’s climate of extreme weather, environmental degradation and socioeconomic instability, it is increasingly important to consider the factors that create and reshape coastal areas, as well as current pressures, solutions and future possibilities for ‘life on the edge'.

Course Description

Britain’s coastlines are dynamic landscapes shaped by time, energy, natural processes and human activity. In today’s climate of extreme weather, environmental degradation and socioeconomic instability, it is increasingly important to consider the factors that create and reshape coastal areas, as well as current pressures, solutions and future possibilities for ‘life on the edge’.   

 This wide-ranging course will draw upon geographical, historical, sociological and ecological perspectives and will be of interest to learners who wish to develop a deeper understanding of how coastal environments in Wales and the UK have been formed, are managed, and change over time. In ‘Understanding Coastal Environments’, we will discuss waves and tidal systems; coastal landforms and the processes of erosion and deposition that create them; the social history of Britain’s coastal towns; current challenges facing coastal environments and communities, as well as conservation efforts and sustainability in coastal areas. By the end of this course, learners will have the necessary skills and knowledge to describe and interpret the coastal environments around them and be able to view these familiar places from a new perspective.    

Understanding Coastal Environments can be studied as a stand-alone course and as an optional course for the Certificate of Higher Education in Field Ecology at Aberystwyth University.