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The Isle of Purbeck is made up of many small villages, ideal for rural studies. These come in both nucleated form (e.g. Corfe Castle, spreading out from the original castle) and linear, such as Langton Matravers whose origin lies in quarrying. Many of the villages and towns are within easy reach of each other, making an ideal day for comparing and contrasting the differences, their services and resident needs and how this has gone on to affect the future development of the area.
Swanage itself is a former fishing village, which then made its fortune from Purbeck stone and later from tourism. There are two aspects to urban studies in Swanage which can be applied separately or as part of a package: town morphology and tourism study. Concentrating on central Swanage the students can study the service provision in the town and see for themselves the effects of tourism. Students can explore the impacts of tourism on the social, environmental and economic sustainability of Swanage and propose solutions for some of the problems they have identified. It is possible to study the variety of impacts on this seaside resort, especially how the age demographics are catered for, and differing opinions regarding the tourist versus local services debate. |
There are plenty of locations for investigating a variety of coastal management schemes. The highly defended town of Swanage can be compared with Lulworth where management dictates no sea defences. Good comparisons can be made with the management strategies at Lulworth Cove and Knoll Beach, Studland; two sites managing high numbers of visitors from a variety of user groups. Both sites provide excellent opportunities for data collection when looking at the impacts of footpath erosion on the local area causing visual scars and disturbance of habitats.
Practise field techniques such as: visitor surveys, mapping, bi-polar analysis and landscape evaluation. |