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When AI makes a place: what happens to geography?

When AI makes a place: what happens to geography?

11 September 2026

Read time: 5mins

‘A good geography case study isn’t simply a plausible place. It is a carefully selected real place through which students encounter geographical concepts, evidence, complexity, perspectives and connections.’

Michelle Graffagnino

During PGCE observations and follow-up conversations with my external examiner, we discussed the rise in the use of AI generated lesson plans and resources, some of which are AI generated and therefore based on fictional rather than real-world places.

This is something I have not encountered before in a geography classroom: PGCE students were using AI to create a completely fictional place. The ‘place’ was Riverdale. At first, I was struck by how quickly AI could produce a convincing geographical landscape – a settlement, its people, economy, environment and even its identity. Yet my immediate question was not ‘How realistic is this?’ but ‘What does this teach us about place?’

The Geographical Association’s Curriculum Framework positions place as a key geographical concept, connected to ideas such as character, identity, home, community, landscape, sense of place and diversity. It also highlights interpretation, including the significance of representations and the influence of digital technologies. This made the fictional AI-generated place unexpectedly powerful. Students could ask: Who created this place? What assumptions has AI made? Whose experiences are represented – and whose are missing? Would different prompts produce different places?

However, whenever AI is used in geography, we should approach its outputs critically, questioning their accuracy, assumptions, perspectives and representations. Ultimately, a geography case study should not simply be generated by AI. A strong case study should use a real place to develop geographical concepts, contextual understanding and geographical thinking, enabling students to explore the complexity, diversity and lived experiences of places.

A good geography case study should develop students’ ability to think and work like geographers. It combines geographical concepts, enquiry, evidence, representations, place, scale and fieldwork, enabling learners to investigate, analyse and apply geographical knowledge. Embedding our signature pedagogy of geographical enquiry as an effective pedagogy that connects substantive knowledge with disciplinary thinking, geographical practice and real-world application.

So, what makes a good geography case study?

It is rooted in a real place	Make it a case study of somewhere not anywhere.
It has geographical significance	Meaningful context through which learners can explore concepts, relationships, patterns, processes, perspectives and connections across different scales.
It shows complexity	Helps students explore ideas such as place, space, scale, interconnection, inequality, environment, change and representation, rather than simply memorising facts.
It provides usable evidence	Critically engaging with maps, data, photographs, fieldwork, GIS, interviews and other sources allow students to investigate rather than simply receive information. This also ensures the case study is up-to-date and relevant.
It allows different perspectives	Students should encounter different perspectives and experiences. Avoid a single story: whose places are included and excluded? and whether teaching challenges misconceptions about places. Case-study selection can influence pupils’ worldviews, so representations need to be accurate, current and diverse and mapped sequentially to develop place knowledge over time.
It supports enquiry and geographical thinking	Students should be able to ask questions, interrogate evidence, make sense of data and develop explanations and arguments, while reflecting on the process.

A good geography case study isn’t simply a plausible place. It is a carefully selected real place through which students encounter geographical concepts, evidence, complexity, perspectives and connections.

AI can generate a representation of a place, but it cannot replace the geographical value of investigating the place itself. Places are experienced, represented and imagined, and that geography teaching should develop a critical, reflective and multidimensional understanding of places.

In other words: AI might make a convincing place, but geography makes sense of places. That turns the case study from a story to remember into a geographical tool for thinking.

See Teaching about places from the Geographical Association for further inspiration.