Settlement posters from S4

Thanks to a little reminder from Kenny O'Donnell's blog we did this task a couple of weeks ago and as a consequence pupils were much more confident in their ability to explain the location of land uses when asked in mapwork questions. Their explanantions in the groups were excellent and I loved the "skippy" and cactus in our Australian settlement example. The rest of us were in Scotland and still had prevailing SW winds and as a result had the NE areas of all settlements pretty grotty. Next - what about a trip to Glasgow and a visit to all these areas we discussed. Early Christmas shopping here we come! Settlement Posters from Carrick S4 on PhotoPeach

Urban change in Glasgow

Thought a little timely reminder of settlement would come in handy as you revise for those dreaded exams. A few good films here on urban regeneration in Glasgow

Sony Bravia

Making of Bravia paint ad

Traffic solutions in Tokyo

Thanks to Val Vannet for finding this one. One way to maximise the numbers on a train.

Urban Change

Great cartoon here flagged up by Alan Parkinson (many thanks for the reminder). This is a good link for the settlement stuff covered by S4 recently and for Higher who have just about finished the urban section. It mentions sky scrapers and the green belt as well as the importance of planning new settlements. Remember Irvine and East Kilbride were New Towns built on exactly this model. Jobs as well as houses were planned along with shops, schools and leisure areas. New town building after the war
In the immediate post-war period 'New Towns' were considered to represent one of the main hopes for the future. Designed to help overcome overcrowded inner cities by building in less populated areas, hopes were high. It resulted in twenty-nine 'New Towns'. Twenty-three towns in England and Wales and six in Scotland, Stevenage being the first.

Urban traffic control measures

Electronic bollards
Watch this video and see if you think these are a good idea or not.

Little Boxes

OK Just listen, cringe and then listen to the words. Can you work out what this has to do with Geography? Thanks to Miss Ellis for this one.

Manchester congestion charge

The government has approved a peak-time congestion charging scheme for drivers entering and leaving Manchester. The scheme needs to be approved by councillors. If the scheme goes ahead, Manchester will become the first major British city outside London to introduce large-scale congestion charging.
In 2002, Durham became the first city to introduce a road charge, which controls access to its cathedral and castle area. Not everyone approves of this though and an MP said "The truth is the government is telling Manchester: 'If you say 'yes' to congestion charging you get money to improve transport. If you say 'No', you do not.
"That is bullying, pure and simple."

Congestion Charging Manchester

Plans are for a two-ring scheme, charging up to £5 to enter the city centre at busy times after 2013. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), which has proposed the scheme, said no congestion charge would be brought in before "significant improvements" had been made to bus, tram and rail services. The proposed public transport improvements would include:
· Metrolink extension to Manchester Airport and the Trafford centre
· Second Metrolink route across Manchester city centre
· Priority for buses on several major roads
· Extra carriages for rail services
· Stations to become "interchanges", linking into other types of transport

Under the congestion charge, drivers would pay a deposit for an electric tag, which would trigger charges on journeys into the city in the morning and evening rush periods.
Watch out for news of the decision Monday 9th June.

Glasgow redevelopment revision

Thanks to Kenny O’Donnell for highlighting this in his blog. Good revision for Higher / Int 2 for the Urban section and Standard Grade for the Settlement section.


And here’s a little Glasgow classic- Hew haw to do with Geography but it made me laugh!

Urban Street patterns

Got this from another blog –link here showing cities around the world. Look for the grid iron of New York as well as the unplanned urban morphology of Rome. Want to learn to drive in Rome? Cool stuff!
http://designnotes.info/?p=1242

Out of Town Shopping Summarised

Out of town shopping revision for Higher and Int 2 NABs
Good stuff here on out of town shopping centres from Rob Chambers. Fab for Int 2 Urban revision and Higher as well. I know these are English case Studies but exactly the same rules apply to us.

Car-sharing cameras tests

A new generation of road camera which can deduce how many people are in a car is to be tested for the first time. It will initially be used to monitor car-sharing lanes in Leeds. What is the situation in Leeds?
Four out of five cars driving into cities at rush hour only have one person in them.
The government believes encouraging people to share journeys will help combat congestion. Car sharing lanes are already in operation in cities such as Birmingham and Leeds.
In Birmingham only cars carrying at least two people, are allowed to join motorbikes and cycles in using the lane, in a bid to ease congestion into the city centre.
High occupancy vehicle lanes can be part of that because they certainly encourage car sharing. It also contributes to improving the environment and can cut the cost of travelling as well.
Great stuff for Higher and Int 2 Urban transport case studies. Use these in answers and you can pick up lots of marks.
Read the articles here and here on this. Watch the video here too.

After bicycles, Paris tries self-service cars

Here is an update on the Vélib scheme, which has equipped Paris with thousands of self-service bikes since last July. The almost free bikes are no longer a novelty. They are part of the landscape, already a bit “last summer”. So now, Mayor Delanoe has come up with a new idea. This consists of self-service cars that you can pick up and park almost where you want, like the bikes.
First the bikes: On normal days, the parking bays are not enough to cope with the rush of morning commuters, leading to bike rage as people struggle to dock their machines down town near their work.
The colder wet weather and a few accidents have not done much to dim the enthusiasm with which Parisians use Vélibs to get to work or wobble home at night when taxis vanish (There are fewer taxis in Paris than before World War Two and most don't work at night). The bikes have been used for eight million trips so far and there will be 20,000 by the end of the year, the company that provides them in return for city advertising space. There has been one death -- a woman in her 50s who was crushed last month when a truck cut her off on the inside of a turn. The bikes now carry warnings to be careful of trucks and three training courses have been opened to help debutants get the hang of la bicyclette
Read the rest here

Traffic congestion ideas

The Highways Agency is to pilot a scheme to cut congestion and speed-up motorway journeys by creating lanes for vehicles with two or more passengers. Read here.
High occupancy vehicle (HOV) or carpool lanes, either created by using the hard-shoulder or widening roads, are intended to encourage drivers to share. Read also here.

Shanty towns in Madrid, Spain

Watch this video and think why these immigrants stay here and not elsewhere in the city? Why does this not happen in some other cities to the same extent eg Glasgow, London?

Cities of the Dead information and Tour of Egypt

Good info here to back up the Development and Health information on Shanty towns as well as info on housing issues of the ELDC case study for Int 2. Click here.

Brilliant site here on the One Child Policy in China. We don’t have time in class to do the enquiry but there are some good links for you to use to help revise this either now or later.

Notting Hill Carnival, London

This street festival began initially from the black immigrants from the Caribbean, in particular, Trinidad, where the Carnival tradition is very strong, and from people living locally, who dreamed of creating a festival to bring together the people of Notting Hill, most of whom were facing racism, lack of working opportunities and poor housing conditions resulting in a general suppression.

There had been racial tensions in the late 50s and black people were subjected to constant pressures. Dances were organised in halls in North London, where black people could come together freely. At the same time steel band music was being played in Earls Court by Trinidadians who had immigrated to this country. From this evolved the idea of inviting the steelband to take part in a street festival in Notting Hill, to encourage people, mainly children, both black and white, to come onto the streets and express themselves socially as well as artistically. This first took place in 1964 and was a huge success.
In Trinidad, during the days of slavery, black people (slaves) were forbidden to play musical instruments and wear costumes, apart from when the traditional imported European Carnival took place, six weeks before Easter. On those occasions their participation was limited to providing entertainment for their masters.

It was also known that slaves wore forbidden to be in the streets after dark unless they were accompanying their masters. When the Laws were repealed and freedom from slavery was announced in 1833, the slaves took to the streets in song and dance, indulging in their culture and using their artistic skills to mimic their masters and pour scorn on the system that had had them enslaved for so long.

Consequently, slaves would dress like their masters, powder their faces to look pale like their masters or make masks to resemble their masters, distorting images and features to show they regarded their masters as evil or ridiculous.

These celebrations of freedom provided the only opportunity for black people to express their feelings about their slave masters and they quickly developed the art of costume making, creating fantastic ensembles which satirised their situation as Africans, transported to the Caribbean top become slaves.

In the late 20the Century there was a lot of trouble and violence at the carnival but in recent years, the event has been much freer from serious trouble and is generally viewed very positively as a dynamic celebration of London's multi-cultural diversity, though dominated by the Caribbean culture in the best traditions of Rio. However, there has been controversy over the public safety aspects of holding such a well-attended event in narrow streets in a small area of London. Now over a million people attend this part of London .

Higher could link this to the film Notting Hill for the Urban section you are covering just now with Mrs McF.