Your students may well be familiar with the purple wrapped dairy-milk bar but may be less aware that there’s more to Cadburys than just chocolate. Featuring in the news in November 2009 as the recipient of a hostile takeover bid from the American food giant Kraft, Cadburys’ past is a tale as much about architecture and place making as it is about cocoa.
Selly Manor in Bournville © Pete Ashton, flickr.com
Bournville: a model village
The moving of the Cadbury’s factory in 1893 from central Birmingham to a greenfield site four miles to the south of the city marked the beginnings of Bournville. The Cadbury brothers chose the area partly as it was seen as healthier and cleaner than their original city centre location.
Buying land close to the newly sited factory, George Cadbury planned and then built a model village at his own expense, which he hoped would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'.
Nowadays Bournville is home to around 25,000 people and research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggests that it is one of the nicest places to live in Britain: residents are twice as likely to rate their local area as pleasant than those in other parts of the country.
Life is sweet
So what makes it so great? Is it the fact that there is so much green space? Large gardens and recreational spaces mean that over one-tenth of the whole area is green.
George Cadbury’s concern for his workers wellbeing led to the development of sports pitches, parks and even a lido (now closed) as part of the original plans. His work popularising gardening and grow-your-own has real resonance today.
Perhaps it is the high level of social cohesion which exists which keeps residents happy. There are community events such as fetes and maypole dances which are well attended along with local schools which serve the area.
Rest House in Bournville © Pete Ashton, flickr.com
Getting your students involved
Although students are unlikely to ever have the opportunity to place-make on this kind of scale, getting them to consider what their perfect town or village would be like is a good introduction to thinking about how to improve their local area.
George Cadbury demanded ‘improved dwellings, light, space and air’ for his workforce. What would students want out of their ideal place?
MTV showcases the mansions of the rich and famous, but what do students really think makes a nice home? What would they like their future house to look like? And how do they think planners should go about creating a community which keeps all residents happy?
Once students have done their “blue sky thinking” it is important that they get a chance to address real issues with their local area. If they could change one thing about the place they live, what would it be? Inviting in local council representatives would give them a chance to discuss their ideas with the people with the power to make them reality. And of course you could always reward the best ideas with a bar of dairy-milk!
Resources
Bournville village
Cadbury World
Bournville village trust
Teaching resources – shaping the future (class activities, useful links and organisations)
