HOW HAS SHEFFIELD CITY CENTRE CHANGED SINCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEADOWHALL ?

This was a document produced as part of the EU funded Ecoschool project which involved schools in the UK and Finland exchanging information. The pages are still available on the Internet, but the hyperlink is unreliable.

Thanks to David Owen of Sheffield Hallam University for permission to use this material.

Meadowhall out of town shopping centre in Sheffield was opened on the 4th of September 1990. It is situated three miles North East of Sheffield in the county of South Yorkshire. This site is an ideal location as it has a catchment area of nine other cities all within an hours drive of Meadowhall. These cities are: Leeds, Nottingham, Wakefield, Manchester, Hull, Leicester, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. Since the opening of Meadowhall there have been 19.8 million visitors in the first year, 22.2 million in year two, 24.7 in year three, 27.5 million in year four,levelling out at around 30 million in the fifth, sixth and seventh years.

WHY HAVE LARGE SHOPPING CENTRES DEVELOPED ON THE EDGES OF CITIES?

Since 1980 the most important change in retailing in Britain that has occurred has been the rapid growth of out of town shopping centres. During this time it has been estimated that four fifths of all new shopping floor space has been on out of town sites. The first large regional shopping centre to be developed was the Metro Centre in Gateshead, since a number of other out of town shopping centres have been opened including Meadowhall in Sheffield. There are a number of reasons why these out of town shopping centres are built on such locations and it is important that teachers and children are aware of these when looking at this issue.

They are ideally on a motorway interchange and near main roads which makes the delivery of goods easier and gives access to shoppers from several large urban areas. This also allows closer links with retailers selling similar goods.
There is plenty of open space for large car parks. Such centres aim to attract motorists as there are no parking problems or traffic congestion as there is in the city centre.
As land values are lower than those in the C.B.D then so too are the rates and rent which shop owners have to pay. This allows individual shops to use large areas of floor space and so keep the price of their goods down. Being so large, shops can stock a large volume and a wider range of goods.
Unlike in the city centre there is plenty of space for possible future expansion.
They are near suburban housing estates which will provide a workforce, especially as many employees are female, work part-time and have to work late most evenings.

PREPARATIONS MADE IN THE CITY CENTRE, IN ANTICIPATION OF Meadowhall OPENING

We have gathered together relevant information from newspaper articles published around the time of the opening of Meadowhall.

Before Meadowhall opened, Sheffield City Council began to prepare for the competition which its development would create. Sub-committees investigated into how improvements could be made to combat the immediate issues of litter, graffiti and the refurbishment of pedestrianised areas. Parking facilities are also being improved and a special emphasis is being given to security. A "City watch" scheme has been established which will aim to reduce crime within the retail zone.

John Taylor, Chief Executive of the Cities Chamber of Trade said, he did not see Meadowhall as a threat but as a tremendous challenge for the city to meet. It is thought that a new type of shopper will be attracted to Meadowhall so therefore it will have a less than substantial impact upon the city centre. Meadowhall will attract customers from a wide catchment area who combine shopping with leisure and recreation. Convenience shoppers will still continue to use the city centre.

EFFECTS Meadowhall HAS HAD ON THE CITY CENTRE

Although great effects on the city centre were not expected, changes can be seen from walking around the city centre . Shops have closed down as they are attracted to new, cheaper and better locations in Meadowhall. Some shops have also had to close as takings have dropped by twenty five percent since the opening of Meadowhall. Empty shops are targeted by graffiti and therefore make the city centre less attractive. Due to this, new traders are not attracted to the city centre and so the vicious circle continues.

AREAS THAT CAN BE COVERED IN THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM PROGRAMME OF STUDY

Geographical Skills

Use appropriate geographical vocabulary to describe and interpret their surroundings.
Undertake fieldwork.
Make plans using scales, symbols and keys.
Use secondary sources of evidence.

Places

Human features and environmental issues.
How the features of localities influence the nature and location of human activities within them.
About recent changes in localities.

Settlement

How land is used in different ways
The issues that arise from the way that land is used.

These are all areas of study which are suggested in the Meadowhall resource package and are relevant to the National Curriculum. We have chosen to plan activites for Key Stage two children as we feel that the issue of shopping centres developing on out-of-town locations is more suitable for the year six age group. The geographical concepts that can be covered within this area of study are:

HUMAN PROCESSES - How and why are shopping habits changing?
LOCATION - What factors influenced Meadowhall's location?
PLACE - Which features of the shopping centre attract people?
PATTERN - Which factors have remained the same in the city centre and what has changed since the development of Meadowhall ?
SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCE - Is this an issue in a distant place?

The following suggestion is a planning checklist for all geographical activities:

What do you want the children to learn? Appropriate parts of the programs of study should be selected to show learning outcomes (place, themes and skills)
What geographical questions will you and the children ask so they will learn this in an active fashion.
How will they learn it? Will they carry out an enquiry? Use IT? Use maps? Do fieldwork? etc.
How will you achieve differentiated learning? By task? By resource? By the organisation and grouping of children? or by outcome?
How will you know if they have learned what you have selected in 1)? Will you base your assessment on written evidence? Graphical evidence? Oral evidence? Or the products?

Organising fieldwork.

Fieldwork is using outdoor experience to reinforce learning in the classroom by providing an environment to test out ideas and hypotheses, and allowing pupils to extend their understanding of the real world. Fieldwork gives pupils the opportunity, through a structured pathway, to become observant, to develop skills of recording, analysis and deduction and, hopefully to develop enquiring minds.

Before planning a fieldwork visit there are various health and safety issues that must be considered. There are five stages to a good risk assessment which, ideally, should be made not too long before the visit takes place:

Identify the hazards which could occur at the location, e.g. narrow pavements, large numbers of people, constant moving traffic.
Decide what could happen as a result of the hazard and who might be affected, e.g. pupils could be pushed off the pavement, there may be difficulty in crossing the road.
Evaluate the risks involved and decide whether or not the precautions taken are sufficient or whether further ones are needed.
Record and date your findings, and find out whether or not there will be any significant changes for your visit.
Review the risk assessment before a further visit is made.

As field work in this particular situation is part of an enquiry, it is important for you as the teacher to plan ahead. The following points are examples which you may wish to consider in planning your visit:

What tasks will they be doing on site?
How the pupils will be organised on site?
What follow up work will be done in school after the visit?

POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES FOR YEAR SIX CHILDREN

When planning a fieldwork trip to any location it is necessary for preparatory work to take place beforehand. These are possible activities which you as the teacher could give to the children:

List why you think people might travel to Meadowhall rather than going to the city centre. If you are stuck for ideas why not look at the Meadowhall website.
CLICK HERE FOR A Meadowhall EXPERIENCE!
Prepare questions which would be suitable to ask a shop owner who is based in the city centre about how their business has been affected by the development of Meadowhall. Your teacher may invite a shop owner into school to talk to you but, if this is not possible work in a pair to practice taking on the role yourselves.
In small groups use your own experience of visiting Meadowhall to list the advantages and disadvantages that you found when shopping there.
Discuss with your teacher the reasons for the location of Meadowhall. On the map below five available sites for shopping centres are marked. Rank the five sites in the order which you think that the shopping centre will prefer. Give reasons for your answers.
Working in small groups share ideas concerning how you are expected to behave when outside the school. Remember you are representing the school! Create a poster to show your ideas. You may like to think about respect for others and your environment.

Why is it important to study distant places?

Studying distant places provides a great opportunity to make the most of the children's natural curiousity about other people and places. Catling (1995) identifies reasons for studying other places with children in school:

It will develop their interest from their curiousity about places.
It will give them the opportunities to explore ideas and skills.
The children will be able to develop their existing knowledge and understanding of cultures and environments.
Children can examine existing experiences.
The children will gain spatial awareness on a global scale.
It will show recognition of interdependence of the rest of the world.
The children will be gain spatial awareness on a global scale.
It will show positive attitudes about people around the world.
It will show values of diversity of places.
It will combat ignorance and help to avoid stereotyping.

When teaching Geography we are lucky as within a project we are studying, we are able to slip into the role of being able to provide opportunities and promote understanding when challenging ignorance or prejudice. It is also important to remember that when studying distant places there is a risk of presenting a misleading or biased picture and so it is important to try and avoid this in any possible way.

It is important that when choosing a locality that the children are able to compare and contrast it with their own locality, so it is manageable to understand and easy to relate to.

Some good postings on Meadowhall at the Sheffield Forum. Here's one I liked... I'll put a wider range of responses here soon:

Meadowhell: prams + grannies + slow walkers = HELL

Other shopping malls are available...

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