Since I was born I have always lived in the north of Glasgow. Over the past few years the area has been developing and changing to suit the needs of its community. Many tenement buildings have been or are in the process of being demolished in order to build houses that have driveways or private gardens. A ten minute walk from my house would have took me to the Red Road Flats, these high rise flats were originally built to help the problems with unhygienic overcrowding in the local area however in 2015 all of these high rise flats were demolished. Most of the houses are semi-detached and located within small streets and cul-de-sacs. As there are three primary schools, a nursery and a secondary school all within a 5 mile radius to my house the majority of the roads have traffic calming measures and operate a 30mph speed limit. Stobhill hospital is the closest hospital which offers minor injuries and an out of hours GP service. There is a catholic church and a church of Scotland within walking distance. The church of Scotland has many social activities on throughout the week, such as; a community café and a community garden. There is one community centre which within it has a public library, the centre offers fitness classes such as Zumba and dance to a variety of ages.

Barmulloch is an area that suffers from a high rate of social deprivation and a lack of green space (Central Scotland Green Network, 2013). In 2013 money was offered to the area that would allow for regeneration. There is one large green space in which there is a pond, wildlife trail, childrens park and basketball/football area although this is here the park is not well lit which puts many people off from walking in it.Within my area only 3 bus services are available and unless you drive or are willing to walk this is the main transport link to the city centre. This can quite often cause problems in the winter months as the small streets are not gritted leading to bus delays and cancellations. Car parking is becoming an issue as more and more households have 2 or more cars. This can cause the air to become quite polluted. According to Air Quality in Scotland (2017) the air quality in my postcode is at level 3 which is classed as low.

The closest supermarket is Asda Robroyston which is roughly a 25 minute walk. This Asda is open 24 hours. The local shops consist of a hair dressers, two Chinese take-away restaurants, three Indian take-away restaurants, a Spar, a Post-Office, a C0-Op, a pharmacy and a butchers. These shops offer jobs to the local community and some take on pupils that wish to go on work placement in their secondary school years.

My area could be deemed to be peri-urban however the green space that there is is not maintained to a high standard and there are areas of unruly woodland.

During this task I learned that within my area there is a lot more green space than I originally thought. It is important that children learn what is around them and therefore there are many ideas that could allow a child to do this. Using the Curriculum for Excellence ( Scottish Government, 2004) a lesson plan can be devised. As a teacher you could take your class on a walk though their urban environment and on their return to the classroom the children could draw out a map detailing what they have just seen and discuss it with their peers (SOC 1-07a). A follow up lesson could be a visit to a building within the urban environment such as the community centre to enable children to learn about what activities and events take place.

During last weeks seminar we were asked to take part in various activities. In a small group I participated in a sensory walk. This made me open my mind to the environment around my university. There is a lot of green space within the grounds of my university and I explored and found areas I had not been to before. While on the walk my group noticed various plants and wildlife.

References:

Air Quality in Scotland. (2017) Latest Pollution Map. [Online] Available: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/latest/?postcode=G21+3HY&postcode-submit.x=0&postcode-submit.y=0 [Accessed: 19 September 2017].

Central Scotland Green Network. (2013) Red Road and Barmulloch Greenspace Study. [Online] Available: http://www.centralscotlandgreennetwork.org/delivering/project-archive/red-road-and-barmulloch-greenspace-study [Accessed: 19 September 2017].

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Social Studies. [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed:19 September 2017].