Ruby Forshaw Geography

I have made revision notes for the AQA AS geography coastal systems section They can be downloaded here They are based on the spec, my class notes, and a variety of textbooks

This week looked at a relatively new theory called Urban Living Labs. An urban living lab is an experimental form of governance put in an urban area. An example would be the Boris Bikes- they were initially a temporary installation, but due to their success, they were kept in. The lectures this week were: Climate Governance and Urban Experiments, by Prof Harriet Bulkeley, Durham Uni Urban Living Labs, Dr Kes McCormick Urban Innovations, Dr James Evans, Manchester Uni Governance of Urban Transitions, Urban Europe WWF positive, the importance of connecting places through climate responses The Urban Green, part 3 The reading this week can be found here The key points were: Prof Bulkeley As cities grow, the impact of climate change becomes more serious Municipalities are now looking at their impact on the environment, and how to reduce this In the 1990s, combatting climate change was kept to the grassroots level mainly voluntary work small projects However, t...

There were a couple of lectures on infrastructure this week: Kes McCormick defined the principles of infrastructure Lara Hale from Copenhagen Business School talked about sustainable business standards Dr Thomas Lindhqvist from Lund University discussed the use of light in a city ESRC video on cities and climate change A short clip by WWF about the importance of transport in a city A short clip on ICLEI Building Urban Resilience in Boulder, USA The Urban Green part 2 discussing renewable energy The key points were: Kes McCormick Infrastructure can be defines as: The physical and organizational structures necessary for society and the economy to function  The main infrastructure issue cities face now is adapting the mobility Cities were built for cars, and decarbonisation is hard to implement with this dependency A successful green city will encourage people to act sustainably, instead of enforcing it upon them. Lara Hale Sustainable building standards ar...

This week looked at what a sustainable city actually is. I watched a lecture by Kes McCormick, who talked about the processes behind sustainable urban transformation. There was also a talk by James Evans, a professor at Manchester University, who talked about how cities learn to be sustainable. Dr. Jennifer Lenhart talked about the importance and characteristics on urban climate governance. A video by The Economist on efficient energy use in cities A video by WWF on housing adaptation The Urban Green Part 1 The reading this week was on Sustainable Urban Transformation and the Green Urban Economy Click here to access it The key points from this week were: Kes McCormick The 21st Century has been called the 'Urban Century' by UN-Habitat. This is because more people now live in cities that rural areas, and because of the strategic importance of cities in sustainable global development. Cities are not just a source of environmental problems, they also provide oppo...

Coursera is a great app for studying things outside of the A level framework. I am currently following "Greening the economy: sustainable cities" by Lund University. It is all about how we need to balance ever-growing cities environmental sustainability with the social and economic considerations. Each week, I watch maybe 1-2 hours of lectures and read a some scholarly works and articles. I then do a 10 question test. On occasion, I do a piece of coursework which is peer assessed. It fits in very well the AQA AS Geography Contemporary Urban Environments theme. Even if you don't study geography, it works well with other interests and subjects like economics and sociology. The Coursera app is available on the App Store, Google Play, and it's also a website. Click here to access the Coursera website