Birmingham Rural-Urban Fringe Developments

In recent years (since the 1970s - increasing affluence, car ownership) the rural-urban fringe has become increasingly under pressure from development.  These developments are contributing to the blurring of the rural and urban landscapes as 'urban' functions (manufacturing, housing, transport, retailing, business parks and recreation) gradually shift their location towards the rural areas at the edge of the city.

You need to be able to evaluate the impact of these developments on the rural-urban fringe of Birmingham and Solihull, using specific examples.

For each of the following developments, produce a brief factsheet using the guidelines given below.  There are links to the websites where you can find the information, but you will need to THINK and INTERPRET as you do your research.  You can use other websites too.

The contents of each factsheet (one page of A4) should be:-

1. A Title (!)
2. A description of the location of the development using geographical ideas (distances, directions, even an annotated map?).
3. A photo of the development with comments explaining the location and development - why is it located where it is? Why was/is it needed? 
4. Facts and Figures relating to the development (costs, dates, jobs, population, usage, revenue, size).
5. An evaluation of the impacts  (both positive and negative) on the society (people), economy (money) and environment (scenery, wildlife) of the rural-urban fringe.  You could do this as a table to make your work easier to revise from.

Impacts	Positive	Negative
Society
Economy
Environment

Exam Question

Return to Human Geography Main Page

Evaluate the impacts of the development of Business Parks in the rural-urban fringe.  [10 marks]