Queen Anne's Geographers Become Town Planners

As part of World Town Planning Day, the Geography Department identified our very best geographers and challenged them to enter the annual competition run by the Royal Town Planning Institute. The competition gives students the opportunity to plan how to make urban communities and places more sustainable for the future.

Urban planning for sustainability has never been more important than today, when more than half of the world’s population live in cities and there is rapid growth of cities and megacities in low income countries, coupled with the challenge of global heating in increasing temperatures and flood events in cities. The importance of urban planning for communities has been highlighted by the global pandemic including the need to reduce levels of deprivation and improve access to open space. All of our students study urban future in U4 geography, as well as through case studies in GCSE and A Level Geography of Rio de Janeiro, Bristol, Reading, Detroit, and Bengaluru as well as numerous other examples.

Students were asked to pitch a plan for regeneration to the local council for an area in need of regeneration. Students identified a local area and planned the strategies that could be followed to improve the area and solve local issues.

The criteria were to describe a local site, include maps and images as well as data. Plan their vision for the future of the site and discuss where this would be in 10 years’ time.

The Entries:

Four of our best geographers have entered the competition and have produced excellent entries.

Sasha B (U4) proposed a change of use for Caversham Park, the former home of BBC Monitoring and listed in the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Sasha proposed establishing community sports facilities on the land to benefit the health and wellbeing of Caversham residents today and in the future. Well done, Sasha. 

Alice R (U4) decided to regenerate the former site of Central Pool into an urban farm in order to improve the standard of living especially in terms of health, open space, and crime in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Reading. Alice also included a community ‘third space’ as a focal point for the community specifically addressing the issues of internet access, elderly poverty, and access to language-based groups in an area with a high percentage of people with English as a second language. Brilliant work, Alice.  

Holly B (L6) chose to consider the former Reading Gaol site with the aim of turning from ‘a place of exclusion into a place of inclusion.’  Holly’s proposal focussed on the inclusion of Reading’s LGBT+ community into the site where Oscar Wilde was famously locked up being homosexual, in an area of Reading synonymous with the LGBT+ community. Well done Holly, especially for bringing such positivity to our town.  

Etty B (L6) addressed a serious local issue of traffic congestion in Henley town centre with a plan to pedestrianise the high street and create a park and ride system, in order to promote a stronger sense of place for Henley as a safe, clean, tranquil and historic market town, promoting economic and social wellbeing. Well done Etty, especially for being part of the ‘voice’ on a relevant local issue.  

The Geography Department is committed to bringing a strong stretch and challenge programme for our geographers. Thank you to our new geography teacher Mrs Tate for leading on this initiative. We are very proud of our students who took on the challenge and entered the competition. You do not need luck with such strong entries, but we are keeping our fingers crossed for you all!