Cultural Geography Blog

A cross posting from my GeoLibrary blog - over 500 books and other resources for geography teachers have been placed on the shelves of the library so far. A cli-fi novel, which has been turned into a film, which is now out in cinemas. The original book was published in 2017. I read it yesterday in one sitting. It features a mother who gives birth at the same time as a disastrous flood inundates London (and presumably other areas in the south of England) leading to a breakdown in society, and martial law style interventions with refugee camps in Scotland and riots and fights breaking out over food. She is separated from her partner and family and fights to protect 'Z' - her child. All characters are identified only by a letter, and the text is broken up into short snippets and sections of just three or four lines in one go at most. It mostly works, and certainly creates a pace to the read. As things slowly start to improve, she aims to return 'home' to see what is left.

  Making Space for Sand is a project I was made aware of recently. The ‘Building Community Resilience on a Dynamic Coastline by Making Space for Sand’ project (also known as Making Space for Sand or MS4S) is one of 25 national projects funded by DEFRA as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCRIP).  The programme will drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate. The project website has an excellent section outlining the formation of Sand Dunes, particularly within the located context of Cornwall. Sand Dunes are an important part of the coastal defences in the locations where they are found. I am particularly familiar with the dunes on the North Norfolk Coast at places like Holkham.  I've previously carried out fieldwork on those dunes with both GCSE and 'A' level students, and also  Atkins has provided GIS support and created some visualisations of future landscapes.

I was there at the London concert featured at the end of this piece... and I still have the t-shirt...

  A cross posting from my Geography on Film blog. The new film by Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos is called 'Poor Things' and it's a remarkable piece of work. Warning: may contain spoilers. It is based on a book by Alasdair Gray - the original book was generally thought to be unfilmable, and like a lot of his work is structured in an unconventional way and heavily illustrated. Check out 'Lanark' as another example of his style. The book is a mix of a cyber-punk world, where a Frankenstein-style experiment plays out and is unleased on the world in the shape of Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone. There is a lot of sex I should warn you - don't watch it with your mum and dad. Bella visits Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris - as well as London. In fact the versions of these cities she visits are realised in great detail, as is the ship she travels on, and is a different version of these places, much like the variation on Oxford in 'His Dark Materials'. Here's t