An article in The Guardian on Mongolia provided interesting reading.
It describes the growth of a large squatter settlement on the edges of Ulan Bator, where the previously nomadic population have been persuaded / forced / chosen ?? to settle rather than carry on with their gers and lifestyle of camping on the huge open seas of grass that make up the majority of the country - a lifestyle which was featured in the BBC's Human Planet series to great impact.
Further texture to this possible context for learning was provided by a later tweet from @urbanphoto_blog on Twitter which lead me to this Daily Mail article... There are some amazing pictures of the city of Ordos, which has a wonderful central square with some bronze horse statues....
The article also introduced me to the term "tofu projects" or "tofu-dreg" projects: this refers to the rather rapid, poorly constructed buildings that are apparently being built in many locations in China. One person who opposes this is the (in)famous Chinese artist Ai WeiWei. I also remember a lecture by Iain Stewart where he highlighted the number of schools which collapsed during recent earthquakes in China, compared to other buildings...
It describes the growth of a large squatter settlement on the edges of Ulan Bator, where the previously nomadic population have been persuaded / forced / chosen ?? to settle rather than carry on with their gers and lifestyle of camping on the huge open seas of grass that make up the majority of the country - a lifestyle which was featured in the BBC's Human Planet series to great impact.
Further texture to this possible context for learning was provided by a later tweet from @urbanphoto_blog on Twitter which lead me to this Daily Mail article... There are some amazing pictures of the city of Ordos, which has a wonderful central square with some bronze horse statues....
The article also introduced me to the term "tofu projects" or "tofu-dreg" projects: this refers to the rather rapid, poorly constructed buildings that are apparently being built in many locations in China. One person who opposes this is the (in)famous Chinese artist Ai WeiWei. I also remember a lecture by Iain Stewart where he highlighted the number of schools which collapsed during recent earthquakes in China, compared to other buildings...
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