Cultural Geography Blog

Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog over the years and/or  subscribed to the Substack.

Roblox is a very popular game. For several years, Helen Young has been working with the BBC and several companies to produce some immersive geographical experiences based on the game engine to add to BBC Bitesize's offerings for students. Details were published here of the results of all that work. Planet Planners on Roblox is a new geography game from BBC Bitesize delivering learning mapped to the KS3 geography curriculum (and equivalent) in an immersive and engaging way. Planet Planners on Roblox offers a new way for students aged 11-14 to learn about some of the world’s most pressing challenges – from preparing for natural disasters to managing large cities. A decision-making game with geographical thinking at its core, Planet Planners on Roblox develops essential skills like teamwork, time management, resilience, critical thinking and strategic planning as well as an understanding of human and physical geography. It is accessed via Roblox – an immersive platform for 3D experie...

A GA blog sharing news of a teacher toolkit which I was aware of when it was launched, but couldn’t make it.  One for ‘A’ level cultural geographers for sure, produced by Charlene Rose as part of her PhD research in the Ladywood area of Birmingham. Caribbean cuisine and superdiversity in the Ladywood constituency, Birmingham Details of the resource: This case study was written by Dr Charlene Rose based on research undertaken for her PhD thesis and will be of use to those teaching the A level geography ‘Changing place; changing places’ theme. It considers how Caribbean restaurants and takeaways use their signage to advertise to the superdiverse Ladywood constituency in Birmingham, UK, and provides real-world examples for the changing places sub-themes:changing demographic and cultural characteristics economic change and social inequalities food production, circulation and consumption cultural and artistic approaches to representing place lived experience of place (i.e. how people s...

You have until the end of August to join in with the Slow Ways Crowdfunder to fund the next stage of development and get some benefits in return. Details are here. Where we’re coming from Thanks to thousands of people we’ve already created a Slow Ways national walking network with 140,000km of routes that connect all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes. We’ve proven the idea. Now it’s time to take it to the next level. Where we’re going With your support we’ll help millions of people to find, follow and enjoy great routes that match their diverse interests and needs - making places more enjoyable and inclusive in the process. We'll make the network much bigger and better, add more ways of getting around, enable groups and organisations to share routes for communities and develop website and app to make it all happen. Slow Ways routes will always be publicly available and free for everyone to follow and enjoy. We’ll be introducing memberships for people and groups ...

The GeoDem AI project was a follow-up to the D3 project, funded by the Civics Innovation Fund. The final project was launched earlier in the year. The project includes some Teacher Stories , and I've contributed one of them. (PDF download) They are well worth checking out. Thanks to Karl Donert for putting the stories together...

A cross posting from my Geography in/on Film blog. A new short film, featuring Mark Rylance   Written and Directed by Jack Cooper Stimpson  Produced by Lewis Brierly, Izzy Meikle-Small, Jack Cooper Stimpson  Executive produced by On the Edge and made in association with the wetland conservation charity WWT (Wildfowl and Wetland Trust). A brief summary of the plot: Athel and Edward enjoy visiting the wetlands. Edward likes watching the birds, whilst Athel seems to have a much deeper connection to the landscape. When Athel makes a discovery, she is forced to re-examine what the wetlands mean to her.  A meditation on identity, nature and wellington boots.  The story explores human identity, discovery, and the mystery of these under-represented eco-systems. A note from the director: “Our wetland habitats were not on my radar prior to this project and it has been fascinating researching them and learning more about their quirks and characteristics, alongside their sc...