Geography A level project - Need ideas!!

i have been set a project to do over the summer by my geography teachers. i've basiclly been told i can do anything with geogrphical relevance :confused:

i have no idea what to do! id rather not go out with a questionnaire onto the streets of Cardiff! cardiff is where i am, so maybe that might help?

i need ideas ASAP so i can get on with it, i feel time is running out with such a lot of work ahead of me!!

i am doing it with WJEC (CBAC) if anybody needs to know!

Help!!

Reply 1

harmonyy.

First decide if you want it or be physical, human or a combination.
You could do it on:
Floods- MEDCs (UK) LEDCs (Bangladesh) both received flooding this summer, the cause, effect and solution of them, similarities and differences.
Recycling
Waste
Sustainability
Farming

Hope I have helped

Reply 2

wilkinson42

Look through your geography notes or text book from last year (if youve just done your AS levels) since these are the theories that you will understand best and these will certainly be relevant to the course. Anytime there is a pattern or theory explained, think whether or not this pattern could be experimented upon in your local area.

The whole idea of geography projects are generally trying to prove or disprove that a generic geographic theory so dont worry if the site you would go to experiment on would not fit the theory exactly (this is probably better than having a site that does match theory).

It is also important to have access to secondary info on the topic so consider if this can be retrieved (from the environment agency or local council). You must also have an interest in topic and be able to realistically complete the task (correct equipment from your college or sixth form/time)

I dont really know Cardiff but, knowing it is a large city, I would guess that a human study would be more appropriate. I did AQA so dont know what topics are on your syllabus but possibly the following;

Urban heat islands - investigate temperatures etc at different points along a transect heading from the centre of the city to the rural urban fringe

Deprivation - pick certain areas and review as to whether some areas have fewer services or transport / better employment aspirations

Comparing and contrasting Cardiff with the Hoyt and Burgess models - photos of types of housing and recording the use of buildings in the city at different points from the centre outwards - does the CBD contain what would be expected with shopping malls etc? Does the outer city have cul-de-sacs? Any redevelopment? Has the model changed since the opening of Cardiff Bay Barrage due to the development this encouraged? This could actually be an interesting topic with a wealth of information.

Hope ive given you some ideas or things to think about and work upon - good luck - post to let me know what you end up doing.

Reply 3

Niez

1st of all, thanks for replying! you mention the floods, but what kida thing would i be able to do that on? id need a hypothesis and things like that!
i think id like to do a combonation possibly of human and physical.

i dont have a clue what to do my project on, and how to go about doing it :s-smilie:

(its a bit stupid to have set a project over the summer, cos if we get stuck, we cant contact them!!)

another slight problem with floods is, i have to collect primary info, which is slightlly hard scene as cardiff hasnt been affected by the floods!

i really am screwed arent i! :s-smilie:

do you have any ideas i could do, comparing differet area in cardiff (im aware u dont know cardiff, but surelly the same hypothesis would apply to majority of Cities!

thanks again
Niez

Reply 4

wilkinson42

The projects about the cities I listed above are really the best ones you could choose to do for urban studies based on theories in the A level syllabus. If I was to do an urban study anywhere, I am sure that these are the only three I would consider.

If its specific examples of conclusions you would come up with, tell me which one you are interested in and I could do that briefly to explain the ideas behind these sorts of studies clearer.

Reply 5

Niez

wilkinson42

Thanks again!
the one that sounds most appealing to me is "Deprivation - pick certain areas and review as to whether some areas have fewer services or transport / better employment aspirations".

i can see this being rather interesting and i copuld learn quite abit about my city! the only problem is i dont see what hypothesis i can get out of this and some "presuppositions" (i looked it up in the dictionary and thats what it told me!)

thanks
Niez

Reply 6

arkbar

'Areas in Cardiff with a lower than average median income recieve a below average provision of services'?

Reply 7

wilkinson42

In the A level syllabus, the deprivation issue is said to arise from movement of populations. Where more attractive, modern development has taken place, the more affluent and more mobile members of society tend to move towards them. Those who are unable to move are said to be 'stranded' so to speak and unable to move, leaving poorer sections of society in areas such as inner cities; these areas tend to be more deprived. There is a cycle of deprivation since jobs move away with the better skilled areas of society, people are left unemployed, they do not pay tax and councils tend not to invest in services there.

But this is all just theory. What you have to try and experiment upon is whether this theory is true.

What you would need to do first is identify the main parts of city - inner city( generally terraced homes, flats and factories), the inner city (1930-70 semi detached homes), outer city ('Brookside' style cul-de-sacs) and the rural urban fringe (the most modern homes close to out of town shopping centres). I would say to select one 'site' - unsure about size - that you can continue to use whenever you talk about/research 'the outer city' for example.

Once this is done (and this will be part of a preliminary research task that you can write about, show photos of and, best of all, get marks for) you can talk about these areas directly in your hypotheses etc without the examiner thinking you are making assumptions.

Hypotheses:
The inner city will be deprived of recreational areas and transport provisions.
You would expect this because of the lack of local authority investment.
You could test this by recording number of buses that pass within one hour at each of your sites across the city or retrieving secondary data from Arriva or local bus service websites.
You may conclude that the inner city is well provided by buses but only because it is enroute to the CBD and therefore cannot be relied upon as evidence but you still suspect the city is deprived (this is a completely valid conclusion) - you may also find that the inner city is actually the most advanced area and least deprived due to regeneration of the inner city - this has occurred in Newcastle and may well have happened beside the bay barrage (however i do apologise but dont know which section of the city that the barrage is located).

You could pick a school in each of the areas and compare GCSE results for evidence too.

2nd hypothesis: There are better employment opportunities as you move out of the city.
using a sample approach in each area, record the land use - business/residential etc and record the type of business and estimate the salary of the average resident of that section of the city. I could see some nice graphs here.

Car registration plates should get newer as you move out of the city.
There should be fewer minorities outside of the inner city.
Air quality - indicating poor quality of life - will improve as you move out of the city - if you could find equipment or source of info.
Look for council housing and councils will certainly have statistics as well as the DSS about the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

Overall, you want to get enough information so that you are able to make an informed decision as to whether certain areas of the city are more deprived than others - conclude with a heirarchy and compare with the expectation you had (ie. more deprived as you approach centre with older buildings etc - i would leave regeneration out of your expectations and leave that as a thoughtful ending "the inner city did not meet my expectations since the local authorities have recently undergone redevelopment in order to improve the quality of life in the area" - then what would be really good is if you went on to question whether the tactic works - will the poorer sections of the community not just be forced out into other areas, remaining deprived, whilst more affluent members of society become tenants in the attractive new apartments?

Hope ive helped - ive tried to think through the project myself and say the path i would take but obviously not thought about it for too long - this will have certainly given direction. I was confused this time last year but just picked something and went for it and got very frustrated at times thinking - but where is this going to go? it will come together in end!!