The Rural-urban Fringe

This article looks at the rural-urban fringe, an important concept in settlement geography. After consideration of general trends and related concepts such as suburbanisation and green belts, there is a detailed examination of part of the south-west sector of London’s rural-urban fringe with a particular focus on land use change in the Epsom Hospital Cluster.

Antarctic shelf ‘hangs by thread’

A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate

Team Briggs runs in Bath Half!

Can you spot Paisley, Briggs, Pridham and Will Rushgrove????

How the myth of food miles hurts the planet

Ethical shopping just got more complicated. The idea that only local produce is good is under attack. There is growing evidence to suggest that some air-freighted food is greener than food produced in the UK. Robin McKie and Caroline Davies report on how the concept of food miles became oversimplified – and is damaging the planet in the process        

Planet Earth: The Executive Summary

A few years ago a group of educators from BC, Canada set out to try to get an objective look at the state of the world. We wanted The Big Picture, not just this or that issue, but the most essential points of every important issue. The Executive Summary of the state of the planet.

This web site is the result of that search. The site (and the accompanying wall chart) are here to show you – in as clear, objective, and accessible a format as possible – the condition of the world — both its natural and human elements.

Shut that door!

Britain’s shops waste hundreds of millions on fuel – and emit vast quantities of CO2 – by leaving their doors open. But shoppers are now demanding they change their ways - this couls be good for Ralph Allen too!

Storm hits US and Caribbean

An Atlantic storm has killed at least 13 people in the US and swept ten metre high waves through the Caribbean.

The sustainable city VIDEO

As the urbanisation of the planet intensifies and natural resources diminish, the way we build is increasingly being questioned.

City planners, architects and engineers are all looking for innovative solutions for the way we design a city, create a public space or private house, and for the way in which we create the building materials themselves.

Focusing on exemplary buildings, key projects and interviews with some of the greatest names in today’s architecture: Norman Foster and Will Alsop in the UK, Francois Tirot and Laurent-Marc Fisher in France, Werner Sobek and Stefan Benish in Germany and the Netherlands

US city plans moat to keep out migrants

The latest initiative by the US to seal its increasingly porous border with Mexico harks back to one of the oldest approaches: dig a moat.

Satellite view of Rochina Shanty in Rio de Janeiro

Great satellite image from Google is here. An article on Rocinha