Monday 28th January
The Geographical Society was very fortunate to host Dr. Karl Kropf as our speaker. With his years of experience in chartered surveying and a qualification in architecture we were set to have a good evening.
We were not let down. Dr. Kropf spoke at length about the system used to assess urban development, highlighting the fact that a layer system is adopted, layering factors such as topography, traffic congestion, pollution and more. Using the town of Leighton Bassett as a case study we saw how his methods could be put into practice. These ideas were then transferred onto the C Block Geography trip to Oxford, talking specifically about why Oxford is such as congested place. To finish the talk, Dr. Kropf spoke on how we may remove the problem of parked cars on streets. He utilised his architecture background to argue that house and neighborhood design have always been the same and have not embraced the idea of cars and the need to accommodate them as perhaps they should have done. As a result, we have cars parked on streets, blocking the road making them a safety risk. This leaves us with the possibilities of either having parking areas at the back of homes, or expanding the size of land given to people, to fit their cars in. This in turn would mean we would encroach on the countryside.
Dr. Kropf finished his talk with a few questions which he answered in depth giving boys and others that were present a real inside into his overall knowledge and ability as a speaker.
Finn Nugent (SAL)
