Urban Change in the UK: London's Environmental Challenges

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 2A: In this lesson we look at the environmental challenges of urban sprawl and housing provision in London.

We start with a retrieval practice grid with questions based on the London unit so far (but you just amend to whatever you want).

We then look at what urban sprawl is, we then consider the advantages and disadvantages of urban sprawl in a spray diagram. The pupils are given some sentence starters to help them consider what they might be. We move on to consider if there is a housing shortage in London. We use house prices as a proxy for this and the pupils spend some time working with a graph of house prices and completing some questions related to the graph.
We then consider the options London has of developing on either brownfield or greenfield sites. The pupils complete a photo annotation task on the two types and what the advantages and disadvantages of building on both types are. We then move on to a mapping activity where the pupils map the available greenfield and brownfield sites for development. They answer some questions related to London’s options to solve its housing problems and what the impact on the environment might be.

Once we have completed the diagram we tackle a 6-mark question on the effects of urban sprawl on the environment and people. There is guidance should the pupils need it.

In a nutshell lesson includes:

Retrieval practice starter
Benefits and drawbacks of urban sprawl diagram task
Greenfield and brownfield photo annotation task
Video clips where appropriate
Mapping London’s greenfield and brownfield sites task.
GCSE-style question with guidance or live writing exercise.

Hope this saves you some valuable planning time.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer