If we are to create a sustainable future, we need to encourage young people to think about the design of our towns and cities and how we live within them.
Great Bow Yard housing scheme © Richard Mullane
The way land is developed, buildings are constructed, services are supplied and places are connected has made a major contribution to the current global environmental crisis.
Exploring these issues in a local context develops students’ understanding of sustainability. Perhaps more importantly, it also helps them realise that they have a role to play in changing things for the better.
We have collated a list of activities, organisations and resources for you to use with your students in learning about sustainable communities.
Subjects: English, citizenship, geography, history, art and design, design and technology, ICT.
Cross-curriculum dimensions: global dimension and sustainable development, community participation, creativity and critical thinking.
Initiatives: Learning Outside the Classroom, Every Child Matters (make a positive contribution), Sustainable Schools, Eco Schools.
Activities
Eco day out
Take a group of students to visit an eco-friendly house or building in your area. Arrange for the architect or an employee to show you around and tell you about it. How and why was it designed and built? What materials and construction methods were used? What features make it environmentally friendly to live or work in?
Ask the students to draw and model design ideas for a new eco-friendly building for your neighbourhood. They could share their work and what they have learnt with the rest of the school in assembly.
The resource, building in focus: The Cardboard Building gives further ideas on how to use an eco-friendly building as a teaching resource. Or download the How Places Work resource for guidance on reading buildings.
Cardboard building, Westcliff on Sea © Peter Grant Photography
Learn from the past
Using old and new maps of your local town, talk to the students about key features such as housing developments, shops, leisure facilities, places of worship and industrial areas.
How have things changed over the past 50 years? Arrange for the students to talk with people who have lived in the community for a long time. Do they think the changes have been for the better or worse?
As a class, draw a simple map of the town highlighting key features today. Then draw two visions of the future – one reflecting what will happen if the town continues to develop as it has over the past 50 years, and another showing a more sustainable alternative. What are the main differences? How can we influence the future shape of our towns?
The Northmoor Trust raises awareness of sustainability by helping people understand the impact of past and present lifestyles on the environment.
Make it green!
Show the students how to use Google Earth to look at your village, town or city and its layout at different scales. How much green space is there? Explain that green spaces are decreasing (in London, for example, 12 square miles of front gardens have been concreted over for car parking). Relate green space and trees to biodiversity, quality of life and health.
Can the students redesign their neighbourhood to make it greener? They could consider using roof space, car parks and derelict areas for planting, or could create more cycle paths. Help them use a paint program to overlay a map or satellite image of their neighbourhood.
Read how St Pius X Catholic High School used Google Earth to investigate change in the Dearne Valley.
A lawn in the city of London © Stephen McLaren
Material difference
Take the class on a walk down a local street to look at how buildings old and new were constructed. List the materials that make up different structures, for example concrete, brick, stone, wood or glass. Do they have a positive or negative effect on the environment? How do they affect the way the building works in terms of it being heated and cooled? Take photographs showing different examples.
Back in school, ask the students to research alternative, sustainable building materials. Can they annotate their photographs to show where these could replace more traditional materials?
Read how students at Dr Thomlinson Middle School built a structure in the school grounds using locally sourced sustainable materials.
Local controversy
Find out about an environmental controversy in your area – perhaps a plan for a bypass, a new airport runway, wind turbines or a power station. Ask the students to create a questionnaire and to survey how local people feel about the proposal.
What are the arguments for and against the development? Organise a class debate and get the students to vote on the issue. If there is a strong feeling one way or the other, why not write to a local councillor or the local paper to express your views.
Read Using the built environment to achieve the outcomes of Every Child Matters for ideas on how students can engage in decision making and consultation about the local area.
Mersey Valley Processing Centre © Ian Lawson
Helpful organisations and venues
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency aims to protect the environment and promote sustainable development. It works closely with local authorities and others to tackle environmental issues around the country. The website contains helpful information on pollution, ways to reduce your environmental impact as well as environmental maps.
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth is the UK’s most influential environmental campaigning organisation. Its website includes information for both teachers and young people with downloadable resources, information packs, posters to do with climate change.
CREATE
The energy education experts at CREATE want to change people’s attitudes to sustainable energy use. The website contains resources and information for teachers and students about energy management, transport and the environment.
Young People’s Trust for the Environment
Visit the YPTE’s website for a range of environmental information and services for schools, including talks, residential courses, competitions and award schemes.
Hockerton Housing Project
The UK’s first earth-sheltered, self-sufficient, ecological housing development is at Hockerton in Nottinghamshire. The project runs on-site visits for primary and secondary schools, as well as offering online resources and a virtual tour. Visit the Hockerton Housing Project website to find out more.
Parkfield primary school students growing plants in school © Lydia Evans
Resources
Green Day
An annual one-day event for schools about climate change, sustainability and the built environment. Run by CABE, Green Day is a fun and flexible way to integrate these themes into lessons and whole-school activities. You can download the activity kit which is full of practical ideas and activities for all subjects to use at anytime of the year.
M&S Plan A
Plan A is M&S’s campaign to combat climate change, reduce waste, safeguard natural resources, trade ethically and build a healthier nation. Visit its website for ideas on how to make your lifestyle more sustainable.
Learning for sustainable cities
Produced by the Manchester Development Education Project, the learning for sustainable cities website is the outcome of a three-year project on education for sustainable development. The website includes case studies and a wide range of activities on topics such as sustainable cities, green and open spaces and thinking about your local environment.
Greener Futures
Greener Futures is an online teaching resource designed to help reveal the effect of our everyday lives on our surroundings and ourselves. Your class can complete the environmental questionnaire which can feed into topical work. There are a range of online games to complement learning for key stages 1 to 3.
Google Earth
Google Earth brings satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings from around the Earth to your fingertips. Visit the website to download the product for free.
Go back to the Ospringe CE Primary School case study.
