Managing Urban Environments

Name of Teachers

Bridget Oeppen and Jane Verity

Key Stage

Key Stage 4, Year 10

Focus

This A2 course stresses that urban environmental issues stem from the concentration and dispersion of population and economic activity. This links with the Where Will I Live project emphasis on the interconnected nature of housing markets.
The main thread throughout the A2 course is sustainability, the project as a whole emphasises the notion of sustainable communities (link). This college’s work usefully emphasises issues connected with the future of large urban areas and the limited environmental resources available.
The A2 course is synoptic in nature, lending itself well to incorporating geographical imaginations (link). There is time within the course to dwell on factors which the particular group of students find stimulating.

Summary

A2 Managing Urban Environments.
This option focuses on the economic, social, cultural and environmental problems of urban areas; the planning responses to these problems and the management of change in both MEDCs and LEDCs.

Concepts and Big Ideas

• Place
• Space
• Scale
• Interdependence
• Sustainable Communities
• Reasoning with Maps
• Geographical Imaginations
• Geographical Communication

Places

South Cambridgeshire
Milton, Cambourne, Northstowe
Cardiff, Burnley, Mexico City, Mumbai, Curitiba

Adapting this scheme for you own school

The scheme of work offered here provides a really useful scaffold for developing students investigations within this A2 unit.

Files to download

• Scheme of Work
• Ideas for Resources
• Summary of A2 Unit

Evaluation

The teachers reflected on their teaching of this unit in their Evaluation.