AP Human Geography Education

mixed used train-tracks/market place...

I've used similar videos in my classes and students are usually quite shocked to see how a city like Bangkok, Thailand operates.  I've used this as a 'hook' for lessons of population growth, urbanization, economic development, sustainability, megacities and city planning. 

TED Talks Map designer Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city -- less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places.

This video touches on numerous themes that are crucial to geographers including: 1) how our minds arrange spatial information, 2) how to best graphically represent spatial information in a useful manner for your audience and 3) how mapping a place can be the impetus for changing outdated systems. This is the story of how a cartographer working to improve a local transportation system map, which in turn, started city projects to improve the infrastructure and public utilities in Dublin, Ireland. This cartographer argues that the best map design for a transport system needs to conform to how on cognitive mental mapping works more so than geographic accuracy (like so many subway maps do).

Tags: transportation, urban, mapping, cartography, planning, TED, video, unit 7 cities.

At TEDxPhilly, Next American City editor at large Diana Lind explains why cities should rethink their highway infrastructure.

For generations, the prominent model of urbanism accepted in the U.S. has placed the automobile as the top priority for public places, placing massive highways right in the middle of key downtown areas.  Some cities (including Denver, DC, NYC, Providence and Dallas) are rethinking the relationship between urban spaces and the transportation networks.  

Aurash Khawarzad looks at three projects that turned crude into gold, as old gas stations are quickly updated into a movie theater, a cafe and a restaurant.

Different models of energy usage and urban form would lead to a radically distinct urban environment. 

"Schools used to be the heart of a neighborhood or community. Children and not a few teachers could walk to class, or to the playground or ball field on the weekend. This was relatively easy to do, because the schools were placed within, not separated from, their neighborhoods. They were human-scaled and their architecture was not just utilitarian, but signaled their importance in the community. Now it has become hard to tell one from a Walmart or Target."

What better way to demonstrate the concepts of urban sprawl, automobile-dependent city planning and economies of scale than by analyzing the very geographic context of our schools themselves?  This is a very nicely arranged photo essay that most could spark conversation and would foster some discussion on how best to plan neighborhoods and spatially arrange the city.   

Tags: transportation, planning, sprawl, education, scale.