Where will I live? is a partnership between the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Geographical Association (GA).

Twenty-five teachers of geography and citizenship working in schools in South Cambridgeshire and East Lancashire explored how geographical thinking could support students to develop an understanding of design and other housing market issues in an increasingly interconnected world.

The teachers wanted to excite and engage students by dealing with ‘the bigger concepts’, promoting in depth knowledge of real world issues. Students were not asked to simply gather facts, but to relate facts to each other

The hope was that this would encourage: Growth in students’ desire and capacity to ask geographical questions of themselves and of others Growth in their sense of the complexity of the world around them Growth in their sensitivity to their own and other people’s inner worlds (geographical imagination) Growth in their capacity to make and articulate reasonable judgements about what is good, worthwhile or desirable

Venn Diagram Answers Cambridge Photos B I K L P R V W Burnley Photos A C D E F G H J M N O Q S T U X

CABE CABE is dedicated to helping young people improve their understanding of the built environments they inhabit, opening their eyes to the way good and bad design affects the quality of their lives. CABE also aims to help young people to become more active and demanding citizens who can play an important role in improving our towns and cities.

Draw a picture to illustrate the sort of house that you would like to live in.

A Geographical Mystery Why do two similar houses in different areas of Blackburn have such widely differing values?

House 1 – Mellor £167,500 House 2 – Darwen £40,000

Participatory Geographies Many planning and design professionals are eager to elicit the views of young citizens. Indeed planning legislation requires the inclusion of young people’s views. Geography teachers can use the subject to nurture young citizen’s ability to participate in their community.

“I now understand about Padiham. I used to think that it was just a town full of vandalism graffiti and litter but now I’ve learnt that there are some nicer areas as well.” “I’ve learnt that if we all put our ideas together and discuss our choice, something good can happen and we can change it for the better.” “I understand the word ‘option’ more. It means that we have to make a choice.”

During the project a planning professional suggested that it was no longer viable to represent plans and designs on maps because people can’t understand them! The use of maps and plans became a feature of many of the project’s teaching and learning sequences. Maps are certainly a twenty-first century tool and all citizens need competence in creating and using maps.

“As a result of the project, I include more graphical information in the form of mapwork in my lessons. For example assessments or tasks do not always need to be in the form of a written piece of work, instead they could involve labelling maps at a variety of scales.” “I more regularly include map work in lessons to encourage students to better understand spatial relationships and interconnectivity between places.”

There is a project booklet and website (both will be available during the summer term) that share some of the teaching and learning resources that have been developed to motivate and engage Key Stages 3, 4 and post-16 students to understand the significance of place when considering housing issues.

Teachers TV Programme, 20 th April 2006 and website Architecture Centre Network Pedagogy Conference, 28 th April 2006 Jacbee Report CABE 360 Magazine CABE Review, featured project Conference session, April 2006

“The project has helped me to reflect on how I could incorporate topical local and national issues into my teaching. This has been really valuable, especially as a teacher of citizenship and geography” “The housing market is not ‘somewhere else’, but a real live issue which students and future members of the housing market need to have some grasp upon if they are not to be disadvantaged” “We were amazed at how independently the students worked when it came to the final task.”