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Methodology ideas, research and information. How could you adapt these ideas to suit your own investigation? Remember you aren't limited to the ideas below!

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Comprehensive list of Place fieldwork methods.

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Various models and frameworks that can be used for an urban enquiry.

Egan Wheel

Urban Sustainability

Liveability and Healthy Streets

What makes a great place

‘Community Spirit Level

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The Place Standard tool is a way of assessing places. | Our Place

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Whether the place is well-established, undergoing change, or is still being planned, the tool can help you.

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Experiential 8-way place thinking fieldwork

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Experiential 8-way place thinking fieldwork

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Helps to explore different ways of understanding and experiencing a place (Gilbert, I. 2006)

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how to create random sampling in an urban environment

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is created as a simple but engaging platform that allows users to explore their urban spaces in a care-free and casual way. It takes the ideals of the Situationists and merges it with digital means in order to create a tool that would imply an exploration of urban space in a random unplanned way as a game. Too often in urban centers we are controlled by our day to day activities thus closing off urban experiences that exist around us. Dérive app was created to try to nudge those people who are in this repetitive cycle to allow the suggestions and subjectivities of others to enter into their urban existences.

The active engagement of communities in their urban spaces unleashes in them new understanding of their urban surroundings, to open up channels of dialogue between individuals and groups through a device that makes the unpacking of urban space part of a game. The task cards that are dealt are created with the intention of heightening the experience of the city for the user, by calling them out to search for specific architectural, urban or social points of interest, thus allowing users of the application to see their urban spaces in a different light.

Besides the Situationists, inspiration came from, amongst others, Near Future Laboratory and UrbanWorks.

General and City card differences

Derive app offers several decks of general urban tasks. These decks contains all directives that could be used across multiple urban spaces. The cards can be combined with whichever unique cards are created for a city.

Groups and custom decks

You can help us expand Dérive app by creating your own deck of task cards and managing your own group of players.

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Dérive app is created as a simple but engaging platform that allows users to explore their urban spaces in a care-free and casual way.

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Department for Transport - UK Government. Student help for accessing data

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How to make better "quality" surveys for fieldwork

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How to make better "quality" surveys for fieldwork

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Ideas for improving how you assess the 'qualities' of some-thing/where.

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Sources of information and research that can inform your investigation in Dorking or provide a source of secondary data.

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Mole Valley District Council (2012)

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Home " England and Wales " England " South East " Surrey " Mole Valley " Dorking South

Dorking South is categorised by the Office of National Statistics as Suburbs and Small Towns: Commuter Suburbs .

Key Stats

Detailed Stats

Select the data you want to see from the dropdown list.

Some data tables are available as both "Quick Stats" and "Key Stats". In general, Key Stats tables have more detail, often including percentage values as well as simple numeric counts.

Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2012

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2012

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Home " England and Wales " England " South East " Surrey " Mole Valley " Dorking South Dorking South is categorised by the Office of National Statistics as Suburbs and Small Towns: Commuter Suburbs . Select the data you want to see from the dropdown list.

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A visit to the charming market town of Dorking is a special experience.. . Surrounded by the beautiful Surrey Hills, you can catch glimpses of the wooded hills and open downland...

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You can also make your own at https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/

Using Username: fscjunguest
Password: guest18

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Originals are in Dorking Library, Make sure you download and extract the files before using.

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Make sure you download and extract files before using

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The impact of cycling on Dorking and surrounding area.

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The impact of cycling on Dorking and surrounding area.

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the relevant section is between 14min-22min.

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Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets? - Channel 5

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There is growing tension between two wheels and four.

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Mole Valley Town, District and Local Village Centres Study 

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Mole Valley Town, District and Local Village Centres Study 

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My father, Harry Day, was gardener at the house when the Case family lived there. As a small child I remember the huge Christmas Tree in the palatial hall. The beautiful cedar tree in the middle of the lawn and the old potting shed.

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Dorking photos, maps, books, memories - Francis Frith

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Browse our selection of vintage and retro black & white photographs of Dorking, along with old maps, local history books, and fascinating memories that our visitors have contributed. All our photos and maps are available to buy in a wide range of product formats, including framed prints, canvas prints and photo gifts including tea towels, personalised mugs, jigsaws, tableware, cushion covers and as customised calendars.

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Further reading material for the topic of Place than can help form investigation ideas.

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Very short, concise and easy to access. An excellent piece of literature to support your thinking and NEA.

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Copenhagen - Most Sustainable City

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A really useful academic article linking the built (contemporary) environment to 7 aspects of quality of life

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Does street layout/orientation have an effect on urban environments?

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Does street layout/orientation have an effect on urban environments?

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Yes ... this is an excellent way to show street patterns which may explain some urban environments

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Air pollution has affected humankind since the beginning of civilisation. Paleopathological studies have shown the presence of carbon deposits and other pollutants in the lung of Egyptian mummies.

Following the industrial revolution, air pollution became a visible presence in urban areas, where the combination of domestic and industrial coal burning caused thick and vast smog which provided inspiration for writers and painters of the time. London's toxic air was a particular fascination to Charles Dickens, who often referred to it as a metaphor of the city's moral slide into decadence caused by greed and corruption.

Unlike the visible smog of Victorian London, modern pollution that can be found in today's cities is made of fine particular matter and gases such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide - all of which are indiscernible at ground level.

The detrimental effects of air pollution on physical health have long been recognised. In 1952 air pollution in London reached breaking point due to cold stagnant weather conditions that trapped coal burning emissions at ground level for several days. This caused an enormous increase in respiratory and cardiovascular complications, and an estimated 4,000-12,000 deaths.

This public health disaster - which came to be known as London's Great Smog - led to a set of policies aimed at reducing air pollution. For example, the Clear Air Act (1956) introduced smoke-free areas in which only smokeless fuels could be burned, leading to considerable reductions in respiratory and cardiovascular disease across the city.

In contrast the detrimental impact of air pollution on mental health is a more recent discovery. Since the turn of the century, several studies have reported associations between air pollution and psychiatric disorders. For example, a recent investigation found that the risk of developing depression - the most prevalent mental disorder in the world characterised by with low mood and feeling helpless - is 50 per cent higher in people exposed to greater levels of air pollution. The risk of developing bipolar disorder - where people swing between feeling low and lethargic and feeling very high and hyperactive - is 29 per cent higher.

The risk of developing schizophrenia - a severe psychiatric disorder associated with hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and disorganised thought - is 147 per cent higher. And the risk of developing personality disorder - characterised by difficulties relating to other people and controlling impulses and emotions - is 162 per cent higher.

Similar findings have been reported for other mental health problems such as anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive decline and dementia. In addition, in people with a diagnosis of mental illness, high levels of air pollution are associated to worsening of symptoms, including more hospitalisations and emergency department visits. There is even evidence that air pollution leads to higher risk of self-harm and suicide in the general population.

Most of these effects have been reported across all stages of life, including children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. In addition it appears that prenatal exposure to air pollution, which occurs when the mother lives or works in close proximity of busy roadways, power plants, industrial facilities or other pollutant sources, can be as harmful as postnatal exposure.

Is there a safe threshold? A Swedish investigation of 5,000 children and adolescents found that living in areas with higher than average nitrogen dioxide concentration led to higher rates of prescribed medication for psychiatric disorders. Remarkably, this was the case even when the concentration of this pollutant was half of the recommended threshold by standard guidelines by the European Union and the World Health Organization. This is consistent with studies on the impact of air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular disease, which have found no evidence for a "safe" level of exposure.

Explaining the link

So how does air pollution increase the risk of developing mental health issues? Although there is little disputing that exposure to air pollution is associated with higher risk of mental health issues, at present we have little understanding of the pathways that underlie this association. One possibility is that air pollutants enter the blood stream via inhalation into the lungs and reach the brain, causing harmful effects such as neuroinflammation, hormonal dysregulation and neurotoxicity.

Another possibility is that air pollution leads to changes in our day-to-day physical and/or social activities, which in turn have detrimental effects on our mental health. For example, high levels of air pollution can lead to a reduction in the amount of time people spend exercising or socialising outdoors, which in turn affects the release of endorphins and other mood-boosting hormones.

Another possible pathway is sleep: when pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and particular matter increase, people are more likely to experience sleep disturbances, including disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia (i.e. low oxygen in the blood). These disturbances, when occurring over a protracted period of time, increase the risk of developing mental health issues.

Who is most vulnerable?

Children tend to be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution for at least two reasons. Firstly, they breathe more air per unit body weight and therefore, all other aspects equal, inhale more pollutants than adults. Secondly, their bodies are still developing and as such are more susceptible to damage, for example, exposure to traffic-related pollution leads to slower lung growth which, in turn, is linked with higher risk of developing chronic illness in adulthood.

People with low socioeconomic background also tend to be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution. This is because they are more likely to live in close proximity of busy roadways, power plants, industrial facilities and other sources of pollution; and less likely to live in proximity of green spaces or have access to high-quality health care.

Finally, vulnerability to the harmful effects of air pollution is greater in people who are experiencing psychosocial stress. For example, children are more likely to develop asthma from traffic-related air pollution if they are also exposed to intense parental stress. Similarly, adults are more likely to develop cancer from air pollution if they are also experiencing multiple adverse social conditions.

The overall vulnerability of an individual to the harmful effects of air pollution will therefore be especially high in people with low socioeconomic background who are under intense psychosocial stress. This means that reducing exposure to air pollution is only part of the solution; the other part must involve reducing the existing social inequalities which magnify the harmful effects of air pollution in disadvantaged communities.

How long do we have?

Most of these results are based on long-term exposure to air pollution over a period of several years. Yet recent evidence demonstrates that short-term exposure can also have a measurable adverse impact on our minds. For example, in a pioneering investigation examining the relationship between daily variation in air pollution and expressed happiness on social media, using 210 million geotagged tweets across 144 Chinese cities, increases in fine particular matter concentration were associated with lower levels of happiness.

This is consistent with earlier reports of greater risk of suicide and compulsive behaviours on days when air pollution is higher. The impact of short-term exposure is also evident in the brain. In particular, animal studies have shown that brief exposure to air pollutants is sufficient to cause changes in the brain which resemble the type of neurodegeneration typically observed in dementia.

The good news is that air pollution is controllable, and therefore its adverse effects on mental health could be prevented. Several studies have shown that improving air quality can have almost immediate health benefits.

For example, following improvements to air quality in Beijing at the time of the 2008 Olympic Games, beneficial effects were observed within a matter of months. These included higher infant birth weight and improvement in markers of cardiovascular health, such as blood pressure and heart rate, as well as markers of inflammation and thrombosis in young people. In addition, studies have shown a linear relationship between pollutant concentration and adverse health effects, suggesting that any reduction in air pollution would generate public health benefits. While these studies focused on physical health, one would expect similar immediate benefits in the domain of mental health.

How reliable are the research findings?

It is important to remind ourselves that these results are based on observational rather than experimental studies, and therefore it was not possible to demonstrate a causal relationship. This means that the observed associations between air pollution and mental illness could be due to other factors that happen to differ between people who live in areas with low and high air pollution, such as smoking or drinking.

Nevertheless, most studies were able to account for these factors by including them in the statistical modelling of the data. Furthermore, several studies have reported a so-called dose-response effect, meaning that the higher the exposure to air pollution the greater the adverse effects. This provides indirect evidence that air pollution does cause an increase in the risk of developing mental health issues.

If this interpretation of the data is correct, one would expect to be able to detect a biological impact of air pollution in the brain. Consistent with this expectation, long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with neuroinflammation, neuronal damage, hormonal dysregulation and cerebrovascular changes in the human brain. Furthermore, animal studies, in which the amount of air pollution was experimentally manipulated, have confirmed that air pollutant exposure has neurotoxic effects in the brain and leads to impaired cognition as well as depression-like symptoms.

What can we do?

Despite a number of recent policies aimed at improving air quality, such as the introduction of the ultra low emission zone in London, levels of air pollution in our cities remain high.

It might be tempting to think that the solution is to abandon our cities and move to the countryside. In fact, it turns out that rural areas can be more polluted than urban areas - a surprising statistic that can be observed all over the world, and is particularly evident in developing countries.

Air pollution in rural areas tends to have both natural and human sources. Natural sources include forest fires, dust storms and underground coal fires, whereas human sources include indiscriminate use of insecticides and pesticides, burning of straw and other crop residue and the production of grain dust when cereal crops and maize are harvested. A further source of air pollution is the wind-propelled transport of emissions that originated far away - in some cases even continents away.

An alternative solution is to reduce our carbon footprint, for example by avoiding highly polluting diesel vehicles and boycotting companies which are responsible for high amounts of air pollution, to help create a cleaner and healthier environment. While the idea that we could all make a difference by adjusting our lifestyle might seem idealistic, the impact of our collective action on the quality of the air we breathe could be enormous.

But perhaps the most effective solution is to increase pressure on our politicians who have the power and responsibility to improve the quality of our air, for example through investment in clean and affordable public transport and housing. This is where our increasing knowledge and understanding of the pervasive impact of air pollution on our health become essential. We can use this knowledge and understanding to advocate for policies and practices that will improve the quality of the air we breathe.

It is time for the emerging evidence on air pollution and mental health to become part of this conversation, strengthening the case for cleaner air as a fundamental human right.

Andrea Mechelli is Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health at King's College London.

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Do British cities have grid systems? We used science to find out

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Air pollution has affected humankind since the beginning of civilisation. Paleopathological studies have shown the presence of carbon deposits and other pollutants in the lung of Egyptian mummies. Following the industrial revolution, air pollution became a visible presence in urban areas, where the combination of domestic and industrial coal burning caused thick and vast smog which provided inspiration for writers and painters of the time.

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Royal Geographical Society - Changing Places

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Royal Geographical Society - Changing Places

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GeoFactsheet 321 Death of the High Street?

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GeoFactsheet 321 Death of the High Street?

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Urban Microclimates - GeoFILE

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The Socio-Demographic Structure of UK cities

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Article - From urban meteorology, climate and environment research to integrated city services

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Article - From urban meteorology, climate and environment research to integrated city services

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Sustainable Urbanisation - transport hubs

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Sustainable Urbanisation - transport hubs

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Travel by train through Reading or Northampton and you will be able to observe the construction works of the station redevelopment programmes currently being carried out in those urban areas. According to last week's Economist these are two of Network Rail's 11 stations being redeveloped.

This development is not just about improving stations as transportation nodes, it is also about enhancing the city and making stations desirable destinations in their own right as 'exchange spaces' or 'meeting places' for city residents, workers and visitors.

"Without a bigger and better station, Northampton's vital economic growth will be constrained" announces the Northampton Station website. "Cities now measure their appeal by their stations" claims the Economist, and if we consider St Pancras International, Rotterdam station in the Netherlands, or Schiphol Airportcity in Amsterdam, we can begin to understand how this might work, for in these locations one is encouraged to invest time and money, and to stay a while.

Developments of this type can complement sustainable urbanism, a theme taken up by Rapoport in Area. Her 2014 paper explores the actors who guide sustainable urban projects - the masterplanners - of large-scale programmes that create sustainable urban areas or 'eco-cities' from scratch. Rapoport identifies an elite group of international architecture, engineering and planning firms known as the global intelligence corps (GIC), and analyses their role in shaping an international model of sustainable urbanism. She unearths a rather standardised set of ideas for enhancing urban development that, she argues, creates a discourse defining what is unsustainable about current urbanisation patterns, and what solutions can and should be used in response (e.g. bus rapid transit, bicycle lanes, sustainable urban drainage systems, and renewable energy).

While sustainable urban projects such as Vauban in Freiburg, or the Bogotá and Curitibas bus rapid transit systems provide examples that GIC rate as 'good practice', Reading and Northampton might soon provide a template for visionary urban regeneration where the station is developed as a more sustainable and intricate part of contemporary urban living in Britain.

Rapoport, E. 2014 Globalising sustainable urbanism: the role of international masterplanners. Area. DOI: 10.1111/area.12079

Urban Planning: Rail ambition. The Economist (March 1st)

Northampton Station redevelopment

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Sustainable Urbanism: Transport Hubs and City Exchanges

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by Fiona Ferbrache Travel by train through Reading or Northampton and you will be able to observe the construction works of the station redevelopment programmes currently being carried out in those urban areas. According to last week's Economist these are two of Network Rail's 11 stations being redeveloped.

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Health on the High Street: Running on Empty

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Health on the High Street: Running on Empty

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Royal Society for Public Health (2018). A report looking at how the UK high street can influence public health.

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' A love letter to my hometown highstreet' What happens to communities when the highstreet starts to fade away?

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' A love letter to my hometown highstreet' What happens to communities when the highstreet starts to fade away?

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BBC 16th August 2019

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A love letter to my hometown high street - BBC Three

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Last time I was back home on the Isle of Wight, I walked a route I’ve taken over a thousand times. I passed my old school, the park I used to play in and the big house where I first got drunk on a bottle of cheap wine with my best friend. I glanced through the windows of the pub where 20 of us used…

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How has your highstreet changed since 2020?

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How has your highstreet changed since 2020?

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BBC News. 7th December 2022

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Beauty salons and tattoo parlours have prospered on High Streets while the number of banks and department stores has fallen, BBC analysis shows.

Places to eat and drink have also increased - despite social distancing.

To find out how the High Streets and shopping areas near you have changed since the beginning of the pandemic, type in your postcode below.

If you can't view the postcode lookup, click here. For further detail on the Ordnance Survey data used in the postcode search above, please see full methodology at the bottom of the page.

The full extent of changes to Britain's High Streets after two years of Covid lockdowns and trading restrictions is revealed in data from Ordnance Survey.

Overall, there were 9,300 fewer retail outlets in March 2022 than March 2020, as shoppers switched to online stores.

The findings illustrate the changing face of the British High Street from a place to buy things to a place to do stuff - like get your nails done and meet friends for a coffee or a cocktail.

The figures are revealed by BBC analysis of 1.5 million records contained in the Ordnance Survey's "Points of Interest" mapping data, a comprehensive quarterly survey of businesses, facilities and services operating in England, Scotland and Wales.

Debenhams and Beales were among the landmark High Street retailers to close their doors during the pandemic, contributing to a 13.4% drop in department stores across Great Britain. Two years on from the first lockdown in 2020, there were 328 fewer such stores.

Kendal in Cumbria was one of the towns to lose its Beales store, now boarded up. But developer Geri Ward has begun turning the building into what she calls a celebration of Cumbria.

"This town was dying when Beales closed, people stopped coming here," she says, standing in the old perfume hall as a workman rips a Chanel sign from the wall.

"We are a traditional nation of small shopkeepers. We decided we would provide more of a location where tourists and locals can come to with smaller, independent retailers inside - the fantastic artisans, the entrepreneurs, the producers of Cumbrian food."

The number of clothes shops operating in Britain is down 4,300, a fall of 8.5%. The collapse of the Arcadia retail empire in 2020 saw Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Topshop and Miss Selfridge all disappear from our shopping streets.

More than 800 High Street banks and building societies closed their doors during the pandemic (-8.1%) along with the loss of more than 6,000 cash machines (-13.2%).

The changes suggest the pandemic accelerated the move away from physical cash-based retail to card-based online shopping.

High Streets and shopping centres have become a magnet for hair and beauty services in the past few years - an additional 5,100 premises now operate compared with pre-pandemic - an increase of 5.9%.

In the G1 and G2 postcodes of central Glasgow, hair and beauty services are now the most prevalent type of shop - overtaking pubs and bars which were the most prevalent in March 2020.

Tattoo parlours and piercing studios have proved particularly popular with 350 more in March this year than before the Covid restrictions, a rise of 8.2%. Many areas have acquired one for the first time.

Sheffield had 15 more tattoo parlours in March 2022, Kingston upon Hull had 11 more, while Stockport and Cornwall each had an extra 10. South Lakeland, straddling the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, had more than twice as many as pre-Covid - up from four salons to 10.

There are half a dozen tattooists operating in Kendal. Tony Davis is the artist at Samsara in the High Street.

"You can't get a tattoo online. If you want a tattoo you've got to go to a tattoo parlour," he says. "Our industry is definitely mainstream now and if you go to some cities in England there are three, four, five, six studios down the same street."

The town mayor, Doug Rathbone, agrees that service-based businesses are transforming the High Street experience.

"It's about not just shopping, it's about going to the shops and having a cup of coffee as well, popping into various different places," he says. "It is so important that we celebrate and do something about the vitality of our town centres and High Streets."

However, High Streets and shopping areas appear to be evolving into more service and hospitality-based venues. And despite the restrictions of lockdowns and social distancing rules, eating and drinking establishments saw growth of almost 4%.

The Ordnance Survey data found 700 more pubs and bars were operating after the pandemic. There were also 2,000 more cafes or tea rooms and 4,600 more fast-food outlets.

The great British chippie proved its popularity during Covid - 300 more fish and chip shops were operating in March this year than two years earlier.

The government announced a number of financial support schemes for the hospitality and leisure sectors during the Covid pandemic, helping them survive the loss of trade during coronavirus restrictions. As well as "eat out to help out", the Treasury introduced a temporary business rates relief package and other measures.

Not all hospitality thrived, however. There were almost 150 fewer nightclubs post-pandemic - a fall of one in 10 - as an already-declining sector was hit by social distancing rules.

Food shops did well over the pandemic.

Independent convenience stores increased by 1,600, a rise of almost 3%. The big supermarket chains operated 194 more stores by the end of the Covid restrictions, up 2.5%. There was a similar rise in the number of organic and other speciality food shops.

In Kendal, a new local butcher has recently opened. Owner Robert Unwin says business is good because he offers a service you cannot get online.

"It's the little advice you give," he says. "All I think about is meat, literally. A lot of people want quality but they don't really know what exactly they're looking for."

The data highlights regional and local differences in the resilience of High Streets and town centres.

Scotland saw the largest growth in eating and drinking outlets, with a rise of 6%. In north-west and north-east England, the increase was around 5%. The south-west of England and Wales saw the lowest increases in eating and drinking businesses.

The variation is even more marked at local authority level. For example, Oxford saw close to a 9% fall in retail while Gravesham in Kent experienced a 6% increase.

East Dunbartonshire, Barnsley and Knowsley each saw a big rise in eating and drinking establishments, up more than 15%. The number of eating and drinking establishments on Shetland fell by more than a fifth (21.3%), while Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales experienced a 10% reduction.

Jamie Howe is Cumbria's surveyor for Ordnance Survey. He walks the county's streets to measure changes in the landscape or amenities - sometimes to the nearest centimetre. He says he has seen significant changes, for better and worse.

"A lot of shops have been closing down, but lots of other shops and local community shops have been opening up. Coffee shops, breweries, hair and beauty - and maybe the community has come closer together because of these changes."

Credits

Produced by Will Dahlgreen, Nassos Stylianou, Daniel Dunford, Callum May and Mark Easton.

Design by Jana Tauschinski and Lilly Huynh.

Development by Scott Jarvis, Alex Nicolaides, Assiz Periera, Alex Nicholas, Zoe Thomas, Kieran Crowley, Arun Bhari, Marcos Gurgel and Toby Cox.

Editing by Sarah Bell.

Methodology

The data is a combination of two datasets from Ordnance Survey (OS).

To report which businesses have opened and closed we have used the Points of Interest dataset.

This is a comprehensive, location-based directory of all public and privately-owned businesses, education and leisure services in England, Scotland and Wales. Points of Interest contains over four million records and is updated four times a year. The BBC has analysed data from a selected number of categories within the Points of Interest database.

For the purpose of this research we have used one data release in March 2020 and one in March 2022, to give a snapshot of the points of interest across Great Britain that were active at those times.

For the interactive postcode look-up, to report the number of businesses on 10 of the High Streets and shopping areas close to the postcode entered, we have used the OS Retail Geographies dataset.

This is an experimental dataset from the Ordnance Survey describing the geography of shopping across Great Britain. It clusters retail areas using street names and includes local High Streets, retail parks and shopping centres. Longer streets are divided into smaller sections where there is a change of road name or retail addresses are more then 150m apart. The resulting clusters must also meet the minimum threshold of 15 retail addresses for highly populated urban areas and five retail addresses for smaller rural areas.

To find the 10 nearest shopping areas to the postcode you have entered, we have chosen the 10 where the middle of the box surrounding the area is closest to the centre point of the postcode boundary as the crow flies. There may be some streets that are very close to the postcode, but do not quite fit this criteria; or there may be some which are very close as the crow flies as we have defined it, but may not be the easiest to travel to.

Everywhere else that we have reported the number of businesses, we have counted the number of points from the Points of Interest dataset that fall within the relevant geographic area, regardless of whether they fall within a street as defined by the Retail Geographies dataset.

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Postcode checker: how has your High Street changed since 2020?

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Beauty salons and tattoo parlours have prospered on High Streets while the number of banks and department stores has fallen, BBC analysis shows. Places to eat and drink have also increased - despite social distancing. To find out how the High Streets and shopping areas near you have changed since the beginning of the pandemic, type in your postcode below.

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Podcast by the Royal Geographical Society

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Much of British life and experience happens around the high street. By engaging with this space we can explore how national and global processes, such as migration, shape our experience.

Dr Suzanne Hall is an urban ethnographer and Director of the Cities Programme in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics. In this podcast we speak to Dr Hall about how people make, shape and participate in their urban spaces based on her research into ordinary and super-diverse streets.

You can follow Dr Suzanne Hall on twitter at @SuzanneHall12

Rye Lane, Peckham © Geography

Everyday
The practices (laws, language, material objects, and object use) that people under-take in order to make spaces such as the street their own.

Ethnography
An approach to research that involves spending time in a particular place in order to gain a greater understanding of how that place is habitually experienced by the people that live, work, or pass through it.

Global capitalism
The transnational flows of capitalism that is shaping states and displacing people through capital.

Ordinary
The space outside that is designated by authorities; it refers to places that are governed by everyday practices and people.

Super diversity
The notion that population diversity is higher than ever before.

Micro-entrepreneur
A vendor who owns, or operates a business with five or fewer employees, such as a fruit, or vegetable vendor or mobile phone shop.

City Street Data Profiles on Ethnicity, Economy and Migration
Rookery Road, Birmingham Stapleton Road, Bristol Naraborough Road, Leicester Cheetham Hill, Manchester
Show students the film, Ordinary Streets. In class discussion: what have they learned about the particularities of Rye Lane, Peckham? Introduce today's lesson as focusing on ordinary high streets.

As a starter, ask students to consider their local high streets - what are their experiences of it? Students should sketch a pencil illustration of their high street that considers how the space is used.

Introduce the Super Diverse streets project and provide students with City Street Data profiles for one of four places: Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester, and Manchester.

Students should work in groups to look over these profiles and present their findings to the class. Ask them to describe the economic and social landscape at this place. How is it linked to other parts of the world? In class discussion considers: how does this complicate the idea of place being fixed?
As part of their own independent research, students should return to the pencil illustration of their local high street. What are the economies populating this place? What are the activities that take places there on an everyday basis? How is this linked to other parts of the world? Expand this illustration so it becomes a 'world to street' map similarly to the data profiles. Is their local high street diverse? If not, consider why not.

Ask students to reflect on times that their local high street has been used beyond what has been intended by the council, or official place-makers. What activities have taken place here? How are people participating in this space?

To finish, as a class, debate how retail spaces can be used as a place-making activity beyond economic value, for example, as a form of community, and social exchanges.
A Level overview: Changing places Valuing Place: the RSA heritage index 60 second guide: Identity Animating place space Ordinary Streets, LSE Cities (Video) Super diverse Streets, LSE Cities Global cities, local streets The Casey Review
Bayat, A (2005) Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East. Routledge: London

De Certeau, M. (2011) The Practice of Everyday Life. University of California Press (3rd Edition)

Hall, Suzanne M. (2015) Migrant urbanisms: ordinary cities and everyday resistance. Sociology, 49 (5). pp. 853-86

Robinson, J (2005) Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development. Routledge: London

Vertovec, S (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 30 (6) 1024-1054

Zukin, S, Kasinitz, P, Chen, X (2015) Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai. Routledge: New York

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Royal Geographical Society - Geography resources for teachers

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Much of British life and experience happens around the high street. By engaging with this space we can explore how national and global processes, such as migration, shape our experience. Dr Suzanne Hall is an urban ethnographer and Director of the Cities Programme in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics.

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Can everyone access the place equally?

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People with disabilities are protected under the law regarding the use and access of services without being subjected to disability discrimination. There is a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve accessibility of services for people with disabilities.

Everyday services

People with disabilities have important rights of access to everyday services. This includes services provided by:

local councils

doctors' surgeries

shops

hotels

banks

pubs

post offices

theatres

hairdressers

places of worship

courts

voluntary groups, such as play groups

Non-educational services provided by schools are also included.

Access to services is not just about installing ramps and widening doorways for wheelchair users - it is about making services easier to use for all people with disabilities, including people who are blind, deaf or have a learning disability.

DisabledGo is an online directory with detailed access information about venues across the UK. You can search the database, and filter results so that you can check whether a venue is suitable for your own individual needs.

The Adapt NI is another website offers practical information on the existing services and facilities available for you to enjoy a day out and about. It has a database of accessible venues across Northern Ireland called Access 400.

Transport services

People with disabilities have legal protection against disability discrimination when using the following forms of transport:

trains

buses and coaches

taxis

vehicle rental

vehicle breakdown services

You can find out more about how the DDA applies to transport services at the Equality Commission's website.

Discrimination and reasonable adjustments

The legal definition of disability discrimination states that it can occur in two ways:

Firstly, it is unlawful for a service provider, without lawful justification, to treat a person with a disability less favourably than other people for a reason related to the disability. Less favourable treatment might occur if a person with disabilities is refused a service that others are receiving, or is provided with a service of a poorer quality than others are receiving.

Secondly, it is unlawful for a service provider to fail, without lawful justification, to meet the duty to make reasonable adjustments. This duty requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments to their policies and practices and to the physical features of their premises and to provide auxiliary aids to improve the accessibility of services for people with disabilities.

Examples of reasonable adjustments include:

installing an induction loop for people who are hearing impaired

giving the option to book tickets by email as well as by phone

providing disability awareness training for staff who have contact with the public

providing larger, well-defined signage for people with impaired vision

putting in a ramp at the entrance to a building as well as steps

What is considered a 'reasonable adjustment' for a large organisation like a bank may be different to a reasonable adjustment for a small local shop. It's about what is practical in the service provider's individual situation and what resources the business may have. They will not be required to make changes which are impractical or beyond their means.

Failure or refusal to provide a service to a person with disabilities - which is offered to other people - is discrimination unless it can be justified.

Local services you use most often

It's a good idea to talk to the service providers you use most often, for example your local doctor's surgery or coffee shop, and explain exactly what your needs are. This will help them understand what adjustments they might need to make to the way they provide their services.

If you feel you've been discriminated against

If you find it difficult to access a local service - for example, you cannot call a telephone helpline because you're deaf - you should contact the organisation and let them know. It is in their interest to make sure everyone can use their service.

It's best to offer constructive suggestions as to how the service provider could improve the way its services are provided. Explain the difficulty you have in accessing their service and give examples of how other businesses have solved the problem, if you know of any.

If the service provider agrees to make an adjustment, ask if they can put it in writing. This will help you follow up your request if the service provider does not keep their promise.

Businesses' DDA responsibilities

You may find it useful to refer service providers to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland website for more information about making their services accessible to customers with disabilities. The Equality Commission can advise service providers about their legal responsibilities and how they can meet these.

Help and advice

If talking to a service provider about your needs doesn't result in any changes, the first place to turn for help and advice is the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. It supports people with disabilities in securing their rights.

More useful links

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People with disabilities are protected under the law regarding the use and access of services without being subjected to disability discrimination. There is a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve accessibility of services for people with disabilities.

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Sustainable urban communities & young people

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Sustainable urban communities & young people

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An article on sustainable communities and how they intersect with children and young people’s everyday lives

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Dr Sophie Hadfield Hill is known for her research into urban space, sustainable communities and how they intersect with children and young people's everyday lives. More recently, these themes have been explored in the content of newly emerging economies, such as India.

You can follow Sophie on Twitter @HadfieldHill

Professor Peter Kraftl is well known for his research on the everyday lives of children, including the geographies of education and architecture. He is currently Editor of the journals Area and Children's Geographies.

You can follow Peter on Twitter @peterkraftl

What are sustainable urban communities and how do these spaces interact with the everyday lives of young people? We discuss young people's experience of changing places with Dr Sophie Hadfield Hill and Professor Peter Kraftl from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

Belonging
The feeling of attachment to a particular group or place, from a local, national, or transnational scale.

Citizenship
The relationship between citizens and the state and the importance of understanding how institutions, rights, laws and responsibilities affect the political and economic processes that shape our lives.

Leftover spaces
Parts of urban spaces that have been become disused, disregarded, or overlooked, due to lack of development - for example, abandoned railways, or vacant buildings.

Mobility
Broadly, it refers to the movement of people. It is different from migration in terms of spatial and temporal scale. It matters because of how it is related to power and agency. For example, how categories such as age, class, gender, and race affect a person's movement.

Participatory geographies
An approach to research, learning and teaching that engages the world, local people and communities as co-researchers and producers of knowledge as part of, and working towards transformative change to people, place and society.

Sustainable Urban Community
Part of the Communities Plan sets out by Government's in 2003 that aimed to build sustainable and inclusive communities across the UK.

Draw a map of your local area; of the areas that mean something to you, it might be your favourite place, or places you visit locally. Reflect, is this space designated as important by policy or other institutions, or have you made it important to you through other means?

In groups, pupils should work together to research and put forward their design ideas for a sustainable urban community. What do they think it would look like? How would it differ from their currently experience of place, or urban spaces they have visited? Consider architecture, design and inclusivity of different ages.

Ask pupils do consider: how can we make children's voice heard? Discuss the importance of representing the experiences of young people.

Pupils can interview one another about their experience of place. Ask them to describe their journey to school from home this morning. What does the local area look like? How do they interact with it? In essence, this is an opportunity for pupils to better understand the concept of mobility.
Professor Peter Kraftl Dr Sophie Hadfield Hill Child Friendly Cities Garden villages: Locations of first 14 announced (BBC, 2017) Case study: Bicester New Garden City (2015) New Urbanisms in India: Urban Living, Sustainability and Everyday Life (2016) Sustainable communities: building for the future (2003) The UN convention on the rights of the child
Horton, J., Hadfield-Hill, S., Christensen, P. and Kraftl, P. (2013) Children, Young People and Sustainability: Introduction to Special Issue. Local Environment 18: 249-254

Horton, J., Hadfield-Hill, S. and Kraftl, P. (2015) Children living with Sustainable Urban Architectures. Environment and Planning A. 47: 903-921

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Royal Geographical Society - Geography resources for teachers

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Dr Sophie Hadfield Hill is known for her research into urban space, sustainable communities and how they intersect with children and young people's everyday lives. More recently, these themes have been explored in the content of newly emerging economies, such as India.

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Does the supermarket of a town reflect its sense of place? Or does its sense of place attract the supermarket?

https://www.my5.tv/m-s-vs-waitrose-which-is-better-value/season-1/m-s-vs-waitrose-which-is-better-value  (Some scenes filmed in Dorking)

https://www.my5.tv/aldi-vs-lidl-supermarket-wars/season-1/aldi-vs-lidl-supermarket-wars

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Complete this worksheet before you arrive at Juniper Hall, using the Padlet and StoryMap.

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Have a look through this StoryMap before arriving at Juniper Hall, to get locational context for your fieldwork.

If you are collecting you NEA data at Juniper Hall, you can begin to think about what and where you could investigate.

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An Introduction to your A-Level urban fieldwork

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The CDRC is working with consumer-related organisations to open up their data resources

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The CDRC works with private and public data suppliers to ensure efficient, effective and safe use of consumer data in social science.

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Department of Transport Road Traffic Statistics

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Department of Transport Road Traffic Statistics

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Use this website to find information about the road traffic statistics collected over the last 18 years. The data published on this website makes it available to the public, specialists and charities.

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UK Ambient Air Quality Interactive Map - Defra, UK

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This interactive tool allows you to explore ambient air quality concentration data from Defra's national Pollution Climate Mapping modelling. Read guidance on using this GIS tool (PDF - opens in a new window)

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AQA Specification - Contemporary Urban Environments

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AQA Specification - Contemporary Urban Environments

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Does this article apply to an urban setting - how much 'urban greening' is needed to be effective?

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The world's forests play a far greater and more complex role in tackling climate crisis than previously thought, due to their physical effects on global and local temperatures, according to new research.

The role of forests as carbon sponges is well established. But comprehensive new data suggests that forests deliver climate benefits well beyond just storing carbon, helping to keep air near and far cool and moist due to the way they physically transform energy and water.

The study, which is the first to pinpoint the non-carbon dioxide benefits of different forests, found that the band of tropical rainforests spanning Latin America, central Africa and south-east Asia generate the most local and global benefits.

Researchers from the US and Colombia found that overall forests keep the planet at least half of a degree Celsius cooler when biophysical effects - from chemical compounds to turbulence and the reflection of light - are combined with carbon dioxide.

In the tropics - from Brazil and Guatemala to Chad, Cameroon and Indonesia - the cooling effect is more than one degree. In short, while all forests provide multiple benefits, some are more important than others in keeping the climate stable.

"Despite the mounting evidence that forests deliver myriad climate benefits, trees are still viewed just as sticks of carbon by many policymakers in the climate change arena," said Louis Verchot, principal scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and co-author of the study The Unseen Effects of Deforestation: Biophysical Effects on Climate. "Forests are key to mitigation, but also adaptation."

Deforestation has devastating impacts on biodiversity, food security, and global heating. A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned about catastrophic consequences humanity faces with rising temperatures.

The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, suggest that forests are important to mitigation and adaptation, cooling the air and protecting us from droughts, extreme heat and floods caused by the climate breakdown.

Forest cooling is due to a range of biophysical effects such as the physical aspect of the trees' wood, leaves and density, as opposed to biochemical factors such as the carbon.

Researchers found that forests emit chemicals called biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) which create aerosols that reflect incoming energy and form clouds - both are cooling effects. While they also lead to a buildup of two greenhouse gases - ozone and methane - on balance, the cooling outweighs the warming.

Deep roots, efficient water use and so-called canopy roughness also enable forests to mitigate the impact of extreme heat.

These physical qualities allow trees to move heat and moisture away from the Earth's surface where we live, which directly cools the local area and influences cloud formation and rainfall - which has ramifications far away.

In the tropics, where forest carbon storage and sequestration rates are highest, the biophysical effects of forests amplify the carbon benefits. In other words, tropical deforestation immediately increases extreme heat locally and decreases regional and local rainfall.

"The biophysical factors don't cool the planet, but they do change the way we experience heat, and that matters," said Deborah Lawrence, professor at the University of Virginia and the lead author. "The heart of the tropics is at the heart of the planet and these forests are critical for our survival."

Better protection, expansion and improved management of the world's forests are considered by many experts as among the most promising nature-based solutions.

Michael Coe, the tropics program director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and a study co-author, said: "Without the forest cover we have now, the planet would be hotter and the weather more extreme. Forests provide us defense against the worst-case global warming scenarios."

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The world's forests do more than just store carbon, new research finds

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New data suggests forests help keep the Earth at least half of a degree cooler, protecting us from the effects of climate crisis

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simple ideas that can be adapted and used

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This website provides useful resources by external geography tutors. You can use the filter tabs to refine your search.

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We've just flicked the switch on moving all our digital resources to instant digital download - via our new subject stores.

For every subject you can now access each digital resource as soon as it is ordered. This will always be the latest edition of each resource too (and we'll update you automatically if there is an upgraded version to use).

Simply add the required resources to your cart, checkout using the usual options and your resources will be available to access immediately via your mytutor2u account.

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The Exam Performance Specialists | tutor2u Geography

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We've just flicked the switch on moving all our digital resources to instant digital download - via our new subject stores. For every subject you can now access each digital resource as soon as it is ordered. This will always be the latest edition of each resource too (and we'll update you automatically if there is an upgraded version to use).

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Here are some ideas for simple, fun weather related fieldwork which you can try out in the school grounds. We started off with 10, but then had more!

Bubble chase - see which way bubbles drift in the wind to determine the wind direction and speed. Here is some guidance from OPAL.

Does rain always come from dark clouds? Use our colour chart to find out. Or, use a home made cyanometer to see how blue the sky is, and link it to art or to discussions about why the sky is blue, and how pollution affects it.

Microclimate - how long does it take an ice cube to melt in different places?

Identifying cloud types. You could use our cloud bookmark, cloud wheel or cloud chart.

Which way are the clouds moving? You can use the OPAL guide to making a nephoscope for this.

Wind speed - use the Beaufort scale to estimate the wind speed.

Cloudiness - you could either record as 'Clear sky, mostly clear, mostly cloudy or overcast', or record in oktas, using a cloud mirror (using a ruler, draw a grid of lines onto a square mirror so that you have 16 equal size boxes; look at the sky with the mirror. How many boxes are mostly cloudy? Divide by 2 to give oktas and repeat for different bits of the sky to get an average).

Evaporation - draw around the edge of a puddle to see how long it takes to evaporate (guidance here).

Rainfall - make your own raingauge using our DIY sheet. If you can, use paraffin wax (sold by candle making suppliers) rather than jelly.

Collecting and looking at snowflakes with a hand lens or tracing frost patterns on car windows.

Raindrop size measuring using a sand tray or blotting paper. There is a fairly high level guide here but it could easily be adapted for all levels.

Where is the warmest/ coldest spot in the school? Or, if you want to take wind speed into account too, Where would you put a picnic bench?

What's the temperature in your school grounds today and somewhere else in the world/ UK?A very good way of seeing this is to use WOW. By zooming in and out, you can compare temperatures locally and around the world.

Record temperatures for a week in your area and in another city elsewhere? Can you compare them?

Contrails (OPAL) - Use this guide to record what sort of contrails you can see.

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Top 10 Ideas for Weather Fieldwork - Metlink Teaching Weather and Climate

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Here are some ideas for simple, fun weather related fieldwork which you can try out in the school grounds. We started off with 10, but then had more! Bubble chase - see which way bubbles drift in the wind to determine the wind direction and speed. Here is some guidance from OPAL.

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Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDS) case studies

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Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDS) case studies

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The extent to which the case studies have embraced the SuDS principles and exemplary good practice will vary and will often reflect the availability of guidance, the brief from the client and the subsequent philosophy and design criteria. However, all examples demonstrate the advantages of SuDS and provide improvements in either water quality, water quantity and amenity/biodiversity compared to traditional drainage.