'A2' URBAN RURAL INTERRELATIONSHIPS
(Cont...)
NEW RESOURCES CREATED FOR 2006-7
b) In most rural areas, agriculture remains the dominant land use (KEY IDEA)
Start by heading over to LONG ROAD 6th Form College site for some excellent resources. Information on a RURAL environment project involving villages around Cambridge. Follow the links along the top for some more stuff too. Lots of useful PDFs too.
In the same way as we need to think about definitions of URBAN areas we also need to consider the definitions of RURAL areas. One model which explores this is CLOKE's Index of Rurality.
There are some great resources linked around the area of MONMOUTHSHIRE HERE. This is an excellent little site. It's not based around our syllabus but I would recommend checking it out - thanks to Crickhowell High School for these. Another area of the site is based around the city of SWANSEA. Some rather good POWERPOINTS here too. Recommended.
Also news on the suggested Post Office closures now emerging (October 2007)
Need to consider the effect that cities of different sizes have on the surrounding area. Need to be aware of the different types of agriculture: AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS. How do we classify agriculture ? Start with:
COMMERCIAL - SUBSISTENCE
INTENSIVE - EXTENSIVE
ARABLE - PASTORAL - MIXED
SHIFTING - SEDENTARY
How do we build on these basic definitions ? There are few websites with information on this particular area. The COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY is an obvious place to look for information on change in rural areas. Found that it has a mine of useful information. On the home page when I visited was a report on the Leisure Day Visits Survey for 2002-3 which would be very useful for those doing TRAVEL and TOURISM options. The RESEARCH AREA has some great documents to go into depth on the changes in the countryside over the years e.g. CRN 47: Are villages sustainable ?
Consider the different agricultural systems that operate: apart from Commercial and Subsistence, you also need to consider agribusiness, collective farming etc. and the various systems which have been used to make use of a patch of land...
Check out various sites for AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY. This will allow you to consider land use and perhaps do some sort of mapping exercise. Try some SAMPLING TECHNIQUES here. I purchased AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY of the East Anglia region by MEMORY MAP using e-Learning credits. Geograph would be another good source of imagery for your local area as it offers a range of images of local landscapes.
A new resource for 2007
Thanks to Val Vannet for pointing out some new materials on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6919829.stm - excellent article on the location of FARMING, particularly the different farming types in England - useful detail on farm incomes, food prices and subsidies.
It then goes on to talk about a particular family farm in SOUTH DEVON, which acts as a nice example of a particular farm with the old lady, the current farmer and his son and wife who are the future of the farm (or not...)
What problems face local farmers ?
Try the DEFRA site. Click the logo. I remember when it was MAFF (and it was all fields when I was a lad...)
Why not head to this section of the site where you can download copies of the WHITE PAPER on:
OUR COUNTRYSIDE: THE FUTURE - A FAIR DEAL FOR RURAL ENGLAND.
This has sections on a range of issues which are relevant to this area. The DEFRA site also has information on CAP REFORM. Here's a WORD IQ definition. Check out the NFU's site which has a great EDUCATION section and some good articles.
A good article with various CASE STUDY materials at the BIZED site.
A recommended read is Richard Benson's book, which won the Guardian First Book Award for 2005. It's called THE FARM.
There is a supporting website for the book which seems to have disappeared. Buy a copy ! There is a recommended download.
We look at a range of case studies of farming:
PLANTATION FARMING - various examples - Rubber, Coffee, Bananas (complicated issue)
KENYA - Flower farms on the shore of Lake Naivasha and Nakuru - BBC article here.
SUBSISTENCE FARMING
Locally we have several examples of where the RURAL areas are changing. On the edge of THORNEY (which is also used as a bypass case study...) I passed a sign yesterday saying that work is starting on golf course and driving range. This will now have a good access point at the end of the bypass. This sort of additional case study is something students should be keeping their eyes on. The THORNEY BYPASS IS NOW OPEN!
There was an excellent article by Simon Jenkins in 'The Guardian' on Friday December the 16th. It was titled:
"We must help farmers hold back the threat of rampant urban sprawl" and was in the Comment & Debate section of the paper.
It had some very useful statements, many of which would make useful statements for Year 13 students to investigate and give their opinions of as discussion topics:
Refers to a Farmer called Mr. Walston in Thripston, Cambridgeshire who writes an annual report of the subsidies that he has received - each year he receives £150 000 - £200 000 from CAP.
This year, that has changed due to changes in CAP in 2002, which means that the UK no longer subsidises production.
Mr. Walston's farm is now going to lose money.
The price of wheat is down to £64 per tonne from £130 per tonne 10 years ago, while costs of fertiliser are going up 30% per year.
The prairies of Eastern Europe are also seeing an increase in grain production.
Setaside is continuing as part of the 'single farm payment' system - this offers payment for the loss of production, and also for 'landscape stewardship"
"Taxpayers are rewarding farmers for what the opinion polls claim to want, the custodianship of the countryside. He can grow what he likes and sell it where he can."
The next farming generation will mostly be "hobby farmers".
Workforce on Mr. Walston's farm was 47 after WWII, now it is 2.
"The farm's biggest asset is no longer its subsidy, but the cottages where the farm labourers used to live."
"The best local crop is Cambridge commuters and second homers." Talks about the Royston/Cambridge/Ely metroplex. (a phrase I hadn't heard before...)
"The countryside is now under intensive pressure just to vanish."
"It will require all the ingenuity of planners and subsiders to hold back a rampant suburban sprawl."
If you have an opinion on this, get in touch...
c) There is an inter-dependence between urban and rural environments (KEY IDEAS)
As the site says on the home page:
Eleven million people, over a fifth of the population of England, live and work in rural areas. Despite the perceived rural idyll, 25 per cent live in or on the margins of poverty. Low wages, under-employment and inadequate housing are everyday realities for large numbers of people. Homelessness is increasing in the countryside and rural services are in decline
Also found a site which is aimed at moving TOWARDS TOMORROWS COUNTRYSIDE. Click the logo below for more:
The site has 6 areas of interest, all of which are relevant to this topic:
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
RURAL BUSINESS
PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
RURAL ENVIRONMENT
COUNTRY LIVING
FOOD
Seems like this is one of those areas where various Government agencies come up with a range of policies. There are a number of policies with stirring titles... They all offer guidance via a variety of website areas.
VITAL VILLAGES is one of these: it gives various examples of Case studies of transport projects. These include taxi vouchers, community buses etc. These are of vital importance for those sectors of the population who have no private transport.
Another good site is that of HULL UNIVERSITYs Coastal Observatory, which includes information on the nature of rural areas just inland of the coast.
Passed a sign recently on the side of a barn as I passed through Leicestershire:
'Beautiful Countryside c/o British Farming'
Update October 2007: the sign's gone...
Produced a POWERPOINT presentation on Second Homes to use with my A2 group. A starting point for this was a GEOGRAPHY REVIEW article, which is also available in a Philip Allan Rural Matters article which is available to download from the Philip Allan website. There was also a good article in Wideworld magazine for GCSE students. This is a useful local case study.
Check out the website of VIRSA: the Village Retail Services Association.
Check out the RURAL HOUSING TRUST: "Village homes for village people" (YMCA anyone ?) - affordable housing is vital for revitalising communities.
Also check out some forthcoming work on BURNHAM MARKET.
RESOURCES PRODUCED DURING 2006-7
1.
visit this website for the starting point
of your researches. Click on the logo to see the official reports and data which
are provided by this department.
2. Read this article which has an extract from "The Farm"
This is from the Guardian's site
3. Check out Sinclair's Model of Land Use on the Rural Urban Fringe and Cloke's Index of Rurality
4. GM FOODS
"Frankenfoods" ?
Check out existing GM page
More to come soon..
An investigation / campaigning resource based around the announcement in December 2006 that thousands of rural post offices are set to close as part of the Barker report. This was featured on BBC News in early December 2006 and I have the video to prove it.
What will happen in the local area ?
6. Check out the details on the management of cities in places such as SINGAPORE, and with the powerpoint relating to the GEOGRAPHY COLLECTION video, which featured Bangkok and the Isaan region (complete with Mr. Condom), and his 'Cabbages and Condoms' restaurant.
7. CASE STUDY OF LITTLE THORNES FARM in Norfolk
8. New for April 2007. Thanks to Paul Williams from Thailand for this mystery which delves into the changes that are taking place in Mexican agriculture related to the themes of bioethanol...
It's a MYSTERY, entitled
"Why can't Maria Gonzalez afford enough tortillas to feed her family ?" (WORD document)
9. ONE PLANET AGRICULTURE
An excellent resource which KES students need to download and read: it's produced by the SOIL ASSOCIATION.
10. VERTICAL FARM
A project in USA to develop, well, vertical farms...
11. DATA COLLECTION SHEET: a very simple A3 sheet.
Has 6 headings:
LAND USE CHANGES
ECONOMIC CHANGES
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES
SERVICES / FUNCTION CHANGES
SOCIAL CHANGES
"Other changes...."
We used the CLASS TOOLS jackpot machine, which is one of several rather excellent tools produced by Russel Tarr. These would allow teachers to produce some good resources in a creative way.
We used Tim Burt's article from Geography Review of 2005 on multiple uses of land...
Green Belts developed as part of the Greater London Plan of 1944
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/10/greenpolitics - very useful history - you need to know why they were introduced... and be able to evaluate how successful they have been...
They were placed around major conurbations such as London, Birmingham and Leeds.
The idea was to provide a buffer for the cities, and prevent them merging with each other, or sprawling out into the countryside. Worth finding the Charley in New Town site.
Check the COUNTRYFILE site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/countryfile/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Belt_(UK)
http://www.naturenet.net/status/greenbelt.html
http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/planning/green-belts - Green belts keep the city in the city...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/10/greenbelt?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront - changes in designation and threats to the Green Belt - a very recent article
They have come back into the news in recent months due to some new threats to the Green Belt land.
A good quote by Jasper Gerrard from The Observer on green belt land and its value on 14/10/07...
"Increasingly, farmland is viewed as dead space waiting to be turned into something useful. We hear this in the call to develop green belt land, much of which we are told is 'nondescript agricultural land'.... Accept the utility premise to determine land use and you can kiss your countryside goodbye. Any development will always be judged more 'useful' than farm land.... Even if green belt never sprouts another turnip it is still worth keeping because otherwise it will sprout concrete."
Also an interesting news story relating to the issue of grain shortages, which has meant the apparent withdrawal of SETASIDE.
13. SHORT'S 'MODEL'
This is featured in Yarwood's excellent GA book: Countryside Conflicts - fill in the details and add some others...
| Rural Idyll
|
Urban Nightmare
|
| Anti Idyll
|
Urban Dream
|
What determines what your experiences are likely to be ?
14. CHANGES IN RURAL URBAN FRINGE
Simple exercise. Each person (or group) has a heading and has a week to research appropriate examples of changes that have been noticed, and the places where they have taken place.
|
Land-use changes
|
Employment changes
|
Functions / service
changes
|
|
Demographic changes
|
Social changes
|
"Other" changes
|
Post offices around the country are facing the threat of closure.
One of the first tranches of closures is being scheduled for ESSEX. Some good materials on Andrew Stacey's site. How about getting students involved in this as being "responsible informed action" ?
http://www.essexruralpartnership.org.uk/postoffice.asp
16. DAILY TELEGRAPH SERIES
November saw a series of articles on Rural Life.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/14/nrural114.xml - Rural homes cost 14 times wages - a very useful image include in this article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/portal/2007/11/17/ftvillage117.xml - HAVEN AND HELL
17. GLOBALISATION OF FOOD PRODUCTION
Added 2007
An excellent article by Joanna Blythman was used for the first time in 2006 and then recently added to in 2007
The article was from the OBSERVER FOOD MONTHLY.
Looks at the COSTA RICAN pineapple production.
Some particular areas that are focussed on include: LAND USE, POLLUTION, WATER CONTAMINATION, LABOUR RIGHTS, METHODS OF PRODUCTION etc.
Pick up a pineapple in Tesco and it's bound to be a Costa Rican Gold - just about...
New resource: a sheet to help your note taking using the article - produced by Miss McFaul
18. DUBAI
This year, we have added some mentions of DUBAI.
This has used some resources produced by Noel Jenkins and others...
The growth of DUBAI is in contrast to any of the urban models. Does DUBAI's structure really conform to any model ?
There are also opposing views to the huge employment of people from India and the Asia Pacific, and the wages and working conditions.
The BBC NEWS site had a series of related articles which we used.
A new DUBAI page (not a lot there yet)