Housing market and planning issues are significant aspects of living in the UK today with a growing need for houses and important areas for pupils to engage with through geography and citizenship. Geography education emphasises the significance and interconnection of places. Thinking geographically fosters pupils’ critical and informed thinking rather than the passive acceptance of a description of the status quo.
The planning process goes to the heart of many of the issues that determine the question of what citizenship is. Public engagement in the planning process is a statutory requirement and any citizen has a right to express a view on any development. If this right is exercised responsibly and through an informed understanding of the geographical and design issues, the active citizen can make a real difference to his or her own community, improving quality of life through improving the quality of design.
Geography classrooms help prepare pupils for such public engagement, and demonstrate their current and potential role in informing, and being, decision takers.
Many of the following activities engage pupils in small group work. This involves them in the social skills of speaking, listening and reasoning in a geographical context. They will practice using appropriate geographical terminology and contextualising their spatial understandings in real places.
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