Information

Created By: Gareth Clay

Currently Used By: Gareth Clay

Location: Keswick town centre

Instructions

Aims To explore ideas of wilderness and whether we can find the 'wild' in urban landscapes.

Structure

Coach transfer to Keswick
Briefing at Theatre by the Lake (if good weather, do the briefing in the field opposite the Theatre - good views to stimulate ideas of nature, wilderness, etc.)
Fieldwork in Keswick, observing and documenting information on the maps
Debrief at Theatre by the Lake (again, stay outside if the weather is good!)

Briefing - topics to discuss

In previous years I have let the conversation develop organically, but usually cover the following topics:

What do we think of when we here the word 'wilderness' or 'wild'? Get the students to think about the factors that make a place a wilderness. Typical answers include: wide open spaces; lack of humans or human activity; remote; rare species, high biodiversity, apex predators or other photogenic animals (e.g. elephants, tigers, polar bears); scary or intimidating; bleak; etc. Explore the physical attributes as well as emotional responses.
Get each student to give example of a global wilderness. Examples usually include: Arctic/Antarctic; big deserts (e.g. Sahara); mountain areas (e.g. Himalayas, Andes); Australian outback; boreal forests (e.g. Canada); Siberia; American great plains or prairies; etc. It gets more challenging as you go around the group and the easy pickings disappear (e.g. Arctic, Sahara)! You could ask students if they have visited any of these landscapes on holiday or previous fieldwork.
Pivot the conversation to urban landscapes. Note that all the previous examples given by students are likely to be in remote rural areas.
Highlight ideas around urban areas and nature - where do we find nature in cities

Each student should have:

Staff require: