Writer: Penny Keat.
Geography Unit Plan. Year 12 Geography
Unit Title: Urban Settlements – Wellington
Time Frame: Five to six weeks
Released May 2008
Context
This unit is structured to enhance students’ learning to meet the key assessment areas contained in explanatory note four of the Achievement Standard “Explain an Urban Settlement”. This approach will enable the unit to embrace any further changes to the Achievement Standard and sail a steady course during the demise of the old Geography syllabus and the adoption of the recent New Zealand curriculum.
The three DVDs contain fascinating footage that documents Wellington’s growth as a nationally important urban settlement. Part One focuses on the growth of Wellington and the key processes involved from an early crowded city crammed into a limited amount of flat land to the expanding post war sprawl of new suburbs and their inherent social and structural characteristics up to the present day trend of re-inhabiting the inner city and the rise of apartment living. There is good footage on Wellington’s regional hinterland and the development of the city’s economic relationship with the Wairarapa and Kapiti. Land use patterns, urban sprawl and the state housing boom is well documented through fairly recent documentaries as well as old film unit footage and amateur video. Part Two focuses on the structural, economic and social characteristics of Wellington and includes a wealth of footage on the importance of transport in opening up the city for expansion, industrial growth and decline, and the changing social fabric of the Wellington Region. Part Three looks at Wellington’s present day function, the C.B.D., urban change and future directions, and includes an excellent powerpoint made by Paul Kos of the Wellington City Council, broken into slide sections on the dvd or downloadable from this unit.
This teaching unit has been designed to pinpoint sections of film that provide either important case study examples that students can use in answering questions in the external examinations, or that expand and elaborate key understandings demanded by the Achievement Standard.
Outline
The unit begins with a series of lessons on the early growth and historical development of Wellington. These lessons and activities help to provide and reinforce understanding of the form, function, site and situation of the city. Wellington’s relationship with its hinterland is then developed and there are several lessons that deal with the social, economic and structural characteristics of the city over time. Key processes that have influenced the form and function of the city are looked at in the next few lessons. In all lessons, specific case study information is provided by the film footage. Finally, there is opportunity for the students to practice writing model essays such as are found in the external examinations.
Achievement Criteria/Assessment
This unit provides learning opportunities in the form of activities and specific case study material that will prepare students for the NCEA externally assessed Achievement Standard 90332 Version 2, Explain an Urban Settlement. http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/assessment/search.do?query=90332&view=all&level=02
Also contained in this unit are short quizzes and recall tests designed to emphasise the key information requirements for the Achievement Standard. Essay questions are also provided to help students prepare and practice for the external examination. Possible internal 2.5 research assignment could be included here if time allows.
Resources for this Unit
- NZ Film Archive DVDs:
Part One – Growth of Wellington
Part Two – Land Use
Part Three – Urban Change, Function & Future Directions
- Te Ara - particularly important for early settlement of Wellington.
- Sally Brodie’s Places for People - Urban Settlements, Pearson Education NZ
- Transport as a key process in Wellington’s growth – Powerpoint by P Keat
- Maps – outline maps of Wellington
- Statistics on Wellington’s growth and other important characteristics http://www.stats.govt.nz/default.htm
- Google Earth Programme
- The following website is very useful for examining key economic and social indicators for Wellington
http://www.bigcities.govt.nz/knowledge.htm (see Lesson 8-10)
Prior Knowledge
This unit aims to supplement rather than substitute the teaching and learning for Achievement Standard 90332 Version 2: Explain an Urban Settlement. Students need to have already gained an understanding of the background to Urban Settlements and this will enable them to relate the information contained in this unit to the key understandings required by the Achievement Standard.
Key Terminology and key concepts
Form – the shape of an urban area.
Function – the services an urban area provides and any other key functions .eg. centre of government.
Site – the land a settlement is built on.
Situation – where a settlement is in relation to other important places.
Urban Thrombosis – the clogging of the arterial transport routes into or out of a city.
Migration – the movement of people to one country or region from another.
Urban drift – the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas.
Settlement – the act of populating a place with permanent residents or becoming a permanent resident in a place.
Hinterland – the tributary or source area of a central place.
CBD – Central Business District – the nucleus of the urban area, containing the major concentration of commercial land uses.
Patterns – an ‘important geographical idea’ involving repeat formations.
Urban – City/Living in a city.
Rural – Country side/Living in the country.
Accessibility – the ease with which a location may be reached from other locations.
Spatial – the position of any object in or between places.
Urbanisation – the process resulting in an increasing proportion of a nation’s population living in urban centres.
Scale – a comparison between distances on a map and distances in reality.
Periphery – the edge or outskirts, as of a city or urban area.
Congestion – Overcrowding, clogging: severe traffic congestion.
Urban Sprawl – a largely unplanned, struggling and low-density form of urban growth, occurring around the margins of an urban area, particularly along radial routes.
Zoning – the general process of subdividing geographical space for some purpose, particularly housing.
Primate City – a city which out-ranks all urban all urban settlements in a country in terms of population size, political and economic importance.
Development – Process of an improved standard of living.
Processes – Transformations/ Courses of action or actions.
Gentrification – the rehabilitation of a residential zone. Usually a process by which dilapidated dwellings or neighbourhoods are taken over and converted to expensive housing.
Cosmopolitan – characterised by many races, such as a city or country with many nationalities
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Teacher Notes
The unit provides a series of lessons and activities to go with the Film Archive material that are designed to draw out the important and relevant learning contained in the footage. These pieces of work are fairly comprehensive and can be used to add to the teacher’s programme by giving students valuable visual stimulus of the theory contained in the Achievement Standard. There is a range of activities and teachers should pick and choose according to their professional judgement what will add value to their own programmes.
