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Unlock This CourseA rural environment is the countryside: land outside towns and cities, where there are fewer buildings and fewer people, and much of the land is open. Fields, woods, moors, hills and small villages are all part of it.
Rural areas are not all the same. A farming village on a flat plain, a sheep-farming valley in the hills and a remote mountain community all count as rural, but they look and feel very different. The Edexcel spec says rural environments have contrasting physical, social and economic characteristics. To describe any rural area you need a method. That is what this lesson gives you.
Key terms:
The spec lists eight things to know. Learn them as a checklist. Two are mostly physical (landscape and climate), five are mostly human (settlement, population, land use, employment and accessibility), and management is about the decisions made for the area.
Physical characteristics
The shape and look of the land: flat plains, rolling hills, steep valleys or high mountains. It also covers what covers the land, such as grassland, woodland, heath or farmland. Landscape affects what people can do there. Steep land is hard to plough, but it can be good for grazing sheep.
The typical weather over many years: temperature, rainfall and sunshine. Climate decides which crops will grow and which animals can live outdoors. Cold, wet uplands suit grass and livestock. Warm, dry lowlands can suit crops such as wheat.
Social characteristics
Where and how people live. Rural settlements are usually small: isolated farms, hamlets and villages. Some are nucleated (houses grouped close together), and some are dispersed (houses spread far apart).
How many people live there and what they are like. Rural areas have a low population density, so there is plenty of space per person. The age structure can differ from towns. In many rural areas of developed countries there are fewer young adults, because many leave for study and work.
Economic characteristics
What the land is used for. Farming usually covers the most land. Other uses include forestry, tourism and recreation, small villages, and land set aside for nature.
The jobs people do. Many rural jobs are in farming and other primary work, plus tourism, small shops and services. There are often fewer jobs overall than in a city.
How easy it is to reach services, shops and jobs. Remote places may have narrow roads, few buses and slow internet. Places near a motorway or railway station are much easier to reach.
Management
Management means the decisions made about what happens to the area. The spec gives two aims, development or conservation.
The two can clash. A new holiday park may bring jobs but spoil a quiet landscape. Many rural areas try to balance both.
Use the first letters to remember all eight: Landscape, Climate, Settlement, Population, Land use, Employment, Accessibility, Management. Or make up your own silly sentence from the letters.
The same checklist shows how two rural areas can differ. Here is an imaginary comparison.
Area A, a lowland farming plain: flat landscape; mild, fairly dry climate; large villages; steady population; arable farming; many farm jobs; flat roads close to a town; managed for farming.
Area B, a remote upland valley: steep landscape; cool, wet climate; scattered farms; very low population; sheep grazing and some tourism; few jobs; one narrow road and little public transport; managed mainly for conservation.
Notice that physical features (landscape and climate) lead to the human ones. The steep, wet valley cannot grow many crops, so there are fewer farm jobs, fewer people and poorer access. This kind of link is what examiners reward.
When a question shows a photo, map or text of a rural area and asks you to describe it, go down the checklist.
Study a photograph of a remote upland valley with scattered farms, steep slopes covered in grass and a single narrow road.
(a) Describe two characteristics of this rural environment. [2 marks]
(b) Explain one reason why accessibility may be a problem in this area. [2 marks]
(c) Explain why some people want to conserve this landscape while others want development. [4 marks]
(a) The landscape is steep and hilly (1). The settlement is scattered, with isolated farms (1).
(b) The area is remote with only one narrow road (1), so it is hard for people to reach shops, hospitals and jobs, or for services to reach them (1).
(c) Some people want conservation because the landscape and wildlife could be damaged by new building (1), and the scenery attracts visitors (1). Others want development because it could bring jobs and money for local people (1), and may help to stop young people leaving (1).
On a describe question, name the characteristic and then add a detail from the photo, such as "steep slopes" or "narrow road". Do not just copy the question wording.