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What is the Built Environment?

Learning objectives

Students will develop:

  • awareness of what the built environment encompasses
  • awareness of how the built environment affects their quality of life
  • knowledge and understanding of the importance of the built environment in everyday life.

Process

  • Write the following discussion question on the board or overhead projector: “What is the built environment? List as many things as you can that are part of the built environment.” Divide students into small groups to brainstorm.
  • Allow students 5 to 10 minutes to respond to the question and produce lists.
  • Ask each group to contribute responses and create a class list on the board or overhead projector.
  • Teachers will need to help students understand that the built environment includes all types of buildings, such as the house you live in, the school you attend, the office, factory or shop you work in, and the gym, cafĂ© or theatre you socialise in. It also includes the connecting spaces between these places, such as transport networks and public parks.
  • Ask students to list 10 things that contribute to a good quality of life, for example, food, water, clothing, safety and health. Ask students to rank each thing in order of importance. Create a class list on the board of the top two things from each student’s list.
  • As a class, discuss how the built environment impacts on your quality of life and provides for each of the things that contribute to a good quality of life, for example, supermarkets provide food, hospitals provide places for sick people to recover, schools provide places for people to get an education, churches provide places for people to express their religion.
  • Ask students to design a poster illustrating four to five places or parts of the built environment that are important to them, for example their home, their school, or their favourite park.

Additional activities

As a class discuss ways of improving people’s quality of life.

Resource needed

You will need the following resources:

  • paper and pens.

More information

Visit our website: www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/urban/ or contact the Ministry for the Environment’s Urban Group by emailing urban.design@mfe.govt.nz or phoning (04) 439 7400.