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? Is the local council doing a good job governing this community? Do you live in a clean environment where resources are not wasted? 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? How do others see it? Sorting out impressions

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… 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. Y O U D E C I D E !

Being negative – perhaps… 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. Y O U D E C I D E !

My community in the balance… 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. POSITIVE NEGATIVE

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. 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? Solution - the grassed hill in the background used to be the waste heap of a coal mine. 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 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 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 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! ?

How can I investigate the issue of sustainable communities further? 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 Schools, hospitals and shops A clean and safe environment An active, inclusive 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… 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: 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.