Question

Do the following activity in class with your teacher.

1) Obtain a map of your city or village. You can also use Google Earth and select an image of your area. Alternatively, you can also make a map of your college and surrounding area.

2) The map should include your school and nearby streets.

3) On a Xerox machine, enlarge the area on the map that surrounds your school/college.

4) Take a short walk around the area that is represented on the map with your teacher. Mark the areas according to the key with a specific colour given below.

Land use in my city/village	Suggested colour scheme
Parks/open spaces	Green
Houses/apartments	Dark Red
Shops/stores/commercial establishments/malls	Light blue
Public buildings/offices/schools/colleges/bus station/railway station	Light Red
Agricultural	Yellow
Water bodies/rivers/	Dark blue
Transportation (roads/railways, highways, etc.)	Black

5) You may add more descriptions if required by using more colours.

6) This will help you to get an idea of what type of buildings and land use exists around the neighbourhood.

7) After coming back to the class, discuss which land use occupies more land than the others.

Answer 1

I obtained a map of my locality and observed the area around my school/college. Different types of land use were marked using the suggested colours.

After observing the locality, I found that residential land use occupies the largest area. Commercial activities are mainly found along important roads. Schools, offices and other public buildings occupy smaller areas. Parks and open spaces are limited, while roads connect different parts of the locality.

The land around the locality is used mainly for residential purposes, followed by commercial, transportation and public-use activities. The pattern of land use depends on population, transport facilities and the development of the area.