The UK Landscape Challenge
The UK has landscapes worth protecting, but people also need homes, farms and to stay safe from floods. Explore how National Parks and flood defences try to balance nature and people.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
Protecting the view
The UK has beautiful landscapes worth protecting, yet people also want to live, farm, build and stay safe from flooding in the same places. Balancing nature and people is a real challenge. This module is about National Parks and how the UK manages the risk of flooding.
National Park words
Four ideas run through this topic:
Why a National Park?
What is a National Park mainly for?
- Protecting a beautiful landscape while people can enjoy it
- Building as many factories as possible
- Banning all people from ever entering
- Leaving the land completely unmanaged
Two ways to hold back water
Flood risk can be managed in two very different ways.
Hard or soft?
- A concrete sea wall
- A dam and reservoir
- Planting trees upstream
- Managed retreat
- Hard engineering that blocks the waves
- Hard engineering that stores flood water
- Soft engineering that slows the run-off
- Soft engineering that gives land to the sea
Nature versus people
A National Park protects the landscape, but people also want to live, farm, build homes and visit as tourists. This is a conservation-versus-development conflict. Planners balance it with rules, zoning, and by managing where tourists go and where building is allowed.
Which are hard engineering?
Which THREE of these are hard engineering methods?
- A sea wall
- A dam
- Concrete flood walls
- Planting trees upstream
- Managed retreat
Approach and effect
- Hard engineering
- Soft engineering
- Conservation
- Development
- Strong protection but expensive
- Cheaper and greener but slower
- Protects the landscape and wildlife
- Brings homes, jobs and visitors
Making the decision
Put the steps of managing a flood-risk decision in a sensible order.
- Assess how great the flood risk is
- Weigh the hard and soft engineering options
- Consider the cost and the environment
- Choose the best approach
- Review how well it works
Complete the idea
A National Park protects a beautiful landscape, but people also want to build and visit, causing a _____. Flood risk can be managed with _____ engineering, such as sea walls, or _____ engineering, such as planting trees. Soft methods are usually cheaper and more _____, while hard methods give stronger _____.
True or not?
Tap the TWO statements that are TRUE.
- Hard engineering gives strong protection but can be expensive.
- Soft engineering works with nature and is usually cheaper.
- National Parks ban all human activity completely.
- Soft engineering means building the biggest possible sea wall.
- Flooding can never be managed in any way.
The catch
What is one drawback of hard engineering?
- It is expensive and can look ugly or shift the problem
- It is always completely free
- It gives no protection at all
- It is the greenest possible option
Defend the coast
A coastal town faces flooding and wants to protect its seafront. Choose the best option each time.
- For strong, immediate protection of the seafront, which method?
- For a cheaper, greener long-term option, which method?
- The town lies in a National Park. What must planners also weigh?
Evaluate it
Evaluate the use of hard and soft engineering to manage flood risk in the UK.
- Describe one hard engineering method and its benefits
- Describe one soft engineering method and its benefits
- Explain a drawback of each
- Give a supported judgement on which is better