Transcript DO I LIVE IN A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY?

Do I live in a sustainable community?
How can I explore my neighbourhood?
What do you think about the PLACE
where you live?
Ideas about place are important in most
geographical investigations.
And so is CHANGE.
Geography often focuses on changes
between the past and the present.
Increasingly we ask about changes in
places from the present to the future.
How do we make places people want?
Communities and Sustainability
• What does ‘community’ mean to you?
• What does ‘sustainability’ mean?
What would you expect to see or know
about a ‘sustainable community’?
Do you think where you live might be a
‘sustainable community’?
How might you investigate this?
Asking the right questions.
One of the skills you need to develop in Geography is asking the right
questions about the issues you are investigating. What questions could you
ask to discover more about how sustainable your community is?
Is there a good choice of
jobs in your community?
Do you live in a clean
environment where
resources are not wasted?
Is the local council doing
a good job governing this
community?
Are any efforts being made
to reduce the use of cars?
Is there a good range of housing
types available to local people?
With a partner work out 5 or more questions you
could ask people in your community.
What evidence do I need to decide if where I
live is a sustainable community?
• Look carefully at your home
area first and use a checklist
to record your impressions.
• Talk to other people who live
in your community. Be sure
to include people in different
age groups.
• Access Government and
Local Council information
about places using the
Internet.
Sustainable Communities deciding on a checklist
How do I
feel about
my area?
Sorting out
impressions
How do
others
see it?
Sustainable Communities – checklist 1
Is your community (the place you live):
THRIVING ~ with a flourishing and varied
local economy;
WELL CONNECTED ~ with good transport
services and good communications to
jobs, schools, health care etc;
ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE ~
with homes designed to have little
impact on the environment;
WELL DESIGNED AND BUILT ~
with a good quality built environment
that gives people a positive ‘feeling’
and is locally distinctive;
Sustainable Communities - checklist 2
WELL SERVED ~ with public, community
and voluntary services that meet
people’s needs and are accessible to
all;
FAIR FOR EVERYONE ~ with individual’s
rights and responsibilities recognised
now and with regard to people’s
needs in the future;
ACTIVE,INCLUSIVE and SAFE ~
with tolerant and friendly behaviour
and good life chances for all;
WELL RUN ~ with inclusive
representation and informing and
open leadership.
Being positive – perhaps…
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there are good shopping and health
services locally available.
accessibility is good particularly linked to
regular and reliable public transport.
the place has real character that makes
it distinctive from other places.
there are well planned open spaces for
people of all ages to enjoy.
provision of leisure facilities for young
people is good.
there is a good variety of job
opportunities provided in the place.
a range of education opportunities is
provided for all ages.
there is a range of housing options
available to local people.
Being negative – perhaps…
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too many parts of your home
place feel unsafe.
educational standards are low in
schools and little is provided for
older people.
young people and local people
often find themselves unable to
get on the housing ‘ladder’.
public transport is expensive and
irregular.
jobs opportunities are limited even
for the well-qualified.
open space is in short supply and
likely to be vandalised.
you feel you have no say in what
goes on in your community.
My community in the balance…
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Now you need to start collecting your thoughts about
the really positive features of your community.
You will also need to think about what you feel are the
negative features of your community.
Draw up a list with 8 positive and 8 negative
features of your home community.
Who is responsible?
• Who do you think is responsible for the most
positive features of your community?
• Who do you think is responsible for the most
negative features of your community?
Are YOU responsible in any way for positive and
negative features of your community?
Sorting out the negatives…
You will have seen a back alley like
this in Coronation Street or Billy
Elliott even if there are none in your
neighbourhood.
Thousands of terraced houses like
these remain in the UK.
Many people would see an area like
this as threatening and dangerous.
They would avoid it generally and
certainly after dark.
The local council here have taken
note of people’s concerns and
installed new street lighting to
reduce the risks of a crime like
mugging and make people happier
about their surroundings.
What else might be done?
Get It Sorted!
What would you do to solve the
problems in your community?
Sort the negative features of your
community into a list with the
biggest problem at the top, down
to the smallest problem.
Solution - the grassed hill in the
background used to be the
waste heap of a coal mine.
Compare your ordered list with
someone else in the class. How
much do you agree on?
Now suggest solutions! Write
down your solutions to the
problems and compare again.
Which solution seems the best to
sort out a problem?
Problem – litter not only looks bad,
it attracts rats and other animals.
Greenfield or Brownfield?
Where new development takes place in a community can be a crucial
aspect of sustainable change. Here the site of a coal mine (of which the
winding wheel is a memorial) has been re-used to provide the land for a
new leisure centre ~ an excellent example of using a brownfield site.
Are greenfield sites
under threat from new
development in your
area?
Look at the cartoons
on the next two
slides. This has been
a concern for a very
long time!
Greenfield development ~ 1829 style
Look carefully at this cartoon drawn in 1829. It shows a real concern
about greenfield development and sustainability nearly 200 years
ago. Notice the bricks and pipes marching into the countryside
south of London in what is today Brixton (part of Inner London).
Greenfield Development ~ 1907 style
• In another 80 years the style
of cartoon had changed but
not the message.
• Here we can see the same
area in May 1907 and below,
after the development has
been built, in October 1907.
• Notice the size of the
individual houses as well as
the gardens.
• Concern about the
sustainability of developing
the countryside has been
around for a long time.
Greenfield Development ~ 2050 style?
•If the development of greenfield
sites continues near your community
and others all over the UK, what
might the situation be in 2050?
•Design and produce your own
cartoon showing what the situation
might be in 2050. Do not be afraid of
exaggeration, this is something
cartoonist often do to make a point.
Use the space on the worksheet
provided.
•Perhaps you could show a crowd of
people or houses surrounding the
last patch of grass in England and
include a funny comment.
YOU DECIDE!
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How can I investigate the issue of
sustainable communities further?
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The Government is very concerned
about those communities in the UK
that suffer from high levels of
deprivation.
The features listed opposite show
some of the indicators of a
community that suffers from
multiple deprivation.
In many ways, but not all, the
communities with many features of
deprivation may be ones that are
least sustainable.
The Government is increasingly
using GIS to map areas of multiple
deprivation to further
understanding of what makes
places more or less sustainable.
POOR JOB PROSPECTS
HIGH CRIME LEVELS
EDUCATIONAL UNDER
ACHIEVEMENT
POOR HEALTH
PROBLEMS WITH HOUSING
PROBLEMS WITH THE LOCAL
ENVIRONMENT
Thinking about sustainable communities
Do you think that deprivation can be used as a
measure of how sustainable a community is?
The next two slides review what a sustainable
community offers……and should be like. Your task is
to use what you have learnt to put them together.
Think about a minimum of four key things that a
sustainable community has and a short description
of what one might be like.
What is a sustainable community?
A community that offers…
Decent housing at
prices that people
can afford
Good public
transport
An active,
inclusive and safe
environment
Schools, hospitals
and shops
A clean and safe environment
A sustainable community should also be…
...thriving, offering a
flourishing and varied
local economy with a
wide range of jobs and
training opportunities.
Taking it further…
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This map of England shows one
aspect of deprivation, in this case
linked to employment. The darker
colours (blues) show the areas of
greatest deprivation. The lighter
colours (yellows) show areas where
lack of employment is much less of a
problem.
Can you see where your community
fits onto this map? Does it suffer from
employment deprivation?
By using the website:
www.communities.gov.uk
you can access a huge amount of
information including tables and
maps about sustainable communities
and multiple deprivation.
Ask your teacher to help you take
your investigation further.