Excellent maps of London

12 data maps that sum up London http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29915801

In praise of the boring city....

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/01/in-praise-of-boring-cities-arlington-zurich-adelaide-dull

Will climate change save Detroit?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/28/climate-change-detroit-brighter-future-us-cities-weather

Will climate change help Detroit?

Hull- UK capital of culture....

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/20/hull-residents-celebrate-city-culture

Hull has won the battle to be the UKs next capital of culture- will it act as a catalyst?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2013/nov/20/hull-named-city-of-culture-2017-video  VIDEO CLIP

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/20/hull-10-reasons-uk-city-culture-2017
Reasons to visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-25018146  hidden Hull



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-25017168

Crap towns is back......

This years crappest town is...


read on to find out....

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/05/crap-towns-london-bradford-chipping-Norton

How to rebrand a Whiskey town......

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/30/bushmills-paints-derelict-shops-houses

A novel way to rebrand.....

Would you stay in an unbalanced hotel?

Just take a look at this rebranding strategy, a bold architectural design aimed at providing Lima, Peru with the iconic (flagship) building it has been lacking to attract visitors and investors to its borders-

Do you think this will work? It has yet to be backed so it may never materialise unless someone takes a chance and invests their cash into the venture, still it is unique.  Would it attract people to Lima? would you stay in it?

Rebranding Somalia- very interesting look at this previously blighted nation...

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/30/business/mogadishu-holidays-business-economy/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

What ambition these people have and what an opportunity to rebrand somewhere, many thought was unbrandable, I wish them luck....

AS students first week.....

So the year 12's begin their advanced Geography studies, first thing to note is the sheer number of them- 2 classes and 49 students in total, a massive number and my teaching must adapt to accommodate such massive numbers.

Due to my illness we are commencing their studies with AS unit 2- rebranding places instead of the usual unit 1.
So I begin by introducing the concept 'what is rebranding' and showing them examples of places that have been rebranded and defining the key unit terms- rebranding, reimaging and regeneration.

Then we moved onto perceptions of places to establish a need for rebranding, we did quick perception surveys and image analysis of places like Las Vegas, New York, London, Walton on the Naze and Blackpool, to start introducing students to techniques they will need to use in their fieldwork over the coming weeks.



This week we are going to look at profiling places and delve further into establishing a need for rebranding urban, rural and coastal areas.

Do these places need a rebrand?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/21/english-seaside-towns-deprivation

Britain's rundown seasdie towns- need a rebrand??

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398822/How-Britains-coastal-towns-deprived-country.html

Some statistics and evidence to show some of the UK's seaside towns are some of the most deprived places in the country.

Rio- cleaning up for sport!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/rio-cleans-up-brazil-olympics-world-cup

 

 

Rio is sorting itself out ready for the (arguably) most important 3 years ahead, during which it will play host to (again arguably) the Olympic games and football world cups!

 

 

They are using a stick approach to litter, to try and ensure their city is clean in time!

 

Do you think this idea is the right idea to solve their issues?

Can you think of a better one?

 

 

Also in Rio, they are using technology to make the city more sustainable-

 

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/29/world/americas/rio-big-brother-control-room/index.html?hpt=ila_t3

 

The link above has an article detailing the strategy and a video that explains how it works. 

Living walls are the next big thing!!!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/picture/2013/aug/21/london-largest-living-wall-big-picture

 

This is a living wall near London Victoria!

Built to take in CO2 and moisture to help green the city,  these are excellent in the 'fight' against climate change and for encouraging wildlife and therefore biodiversity!

 

New York has had these for a while as have other cities, do you think they will catch on?

What do you think about them?