Alice Coleman was a prominent British geographer who conducted influential land use surveys in the UK during the 1960s. She began her career as a secondary teacher before becoming a professor of geography. Coleman directed the Second Land Utilisation Survey of Britain, which involved 3000 volunteers surveying 90% of England and Wales. Although only 115 map sheets were published from the survey, they provide a valuable historic record of land use and remain a useful educational resource. Coleman questioned contemporary planning approaches and advocated for the importance of visual literacy in geography education.

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The Geographical Association magazine summer 2023 no. 54
Alice Coleman was born one hundred years
ago on 8 June 1923. She began her
career as a secondary teacher before
taking up a post as lecturer in
geography at King’s College,
University of London. She retired
aged 73 as Professor Emerita in
honour of her achievements.
Professor Coleman’s work influenced
urban housing policy, rural and urban
planning. She was an advocate for the
importance of graphicacy in education,
especially in relation to maps (with
geographer William Balchin). This article
will, for reasons that shall become obvious,
focus on her leadership of the Second Land
Utilisation Survey (LUS) of Britain (1960s) and its
enduring legacy as a resource for learning.
Professor Coleman has a long history of involvement
with the GA. Educated at Clarendon House Grammar
School, Ramsgate, her roots were in East Kent. This
led her, with others, to create the Isle of Thanet GA
Branch in 1956 (she was a President). This provided
impetus for a revival of the LUS (the First LUS was
undertaken during the 1930s under the Directorship
of Geographer Sir L Dudley Stamp – resulting in
national map coverage at 1:63 360). Noting that
significant change had occurred in East Kent since the
First LUS, Alice Coleman and Ken Maggs, proposed a
new survey covering about five hundred square miles
(c.1300 km2
). With the aid of other members, the
survey was completed by mid-1959; Coleman
presented the findings to the GA National Conference
in 1960. From this local study, a new national survey
under her directorship evolved, involving some 3000
volunteers surveying about 90% of England and
Wales – a significant early example of ‘citizen science’.
Sadly, unlike Stamp’s survey, it did not result in
complete map coverage – only 115 Sheets (1:25
000 scale) were published. These maps continue to
offer a rich learning resource and insight into the past.
As I write I have laid out six maps, covering London
and the Thames from Barnes to Gravesend. The City
of London sheet (TQ 28/38) is fascinating; for such a
populous city the large amount of green space
(parks, recreation grounds and cemeteries), is
immediately obvious, but perhaps more surprising is
substantial land shown as ‘Heath, Moorland, Rough
Land’ normally associated with semi-wilderness; this
included Hampstead Heath, the marshland of the Lee
Valley (see extract), as well as smaller patches of
encapsulated countryside. A very visible category is
‘Transport’, particularly large swathes of land
dedicated to rail services (works and sidings).
These maps remain a fantastic resource for field
teaching, providing a snapshot that can be compared
with the present. I have used the sheet covering part
of East Kent (TR 25/35) for a field exercise mapping
change three decades after Coleman’s survey. Some
findings were counter intuitive. Apple
production in the UK had been in decline
for some time due in part to adverse
weather (e.g. frost damage in 1997
resulting in the worst crop since
1934), and overseas competition.
Despite this, my field area bucked
the trend, with a significant increase
in the area dedicated to apple
production since the 1960s, with
farmers adopting rows of low-growing,
closely planted trees designed to take
advantage of mechanisation.
Professor Coleman’s experience of land use
mapping led her to question contemporary
planning approaches, especially those that led to
friction in the fringes between ‘environmental
territories’, e.g. problems of urban sprawl at the
‘rurban fringe’ (rural-urban interface). Her ‘Scapes and
Fringes’ concept provides a useful starting point for
investigation of processes leading to change and
potential land use conflicts using map and field
inquiry in teaching. Used in conjunction with the first
LUS maps and contemporary data (e.g. online aerial
photos and maps) change-mapping provides an
opportunity for students to explore how planning and
agricultural policy, and changing economics have led
to significant land use change.
Professor Coleman also contributed to a significant
GA series in the 1960s – British Landscapes through
Maps – consistent with her advocacy of graphicacy as
a key element in learning about the world. Each guide
was written by a prominent geographer with expertise
in a specific location, focusing on a single OS map
sheet. Coleman, with Dr Clare Lukehurst, another
Thanet GA member, chose the East Kent Sheet 173.
These guides are still held in public libraries and
remain valuable insights into local geography.
Peter Vujakovic is Emeritus Professor of Geography,
Canterbury Christ Church University.
Further reading
Coleman, A. (1961) ‘The
second land-use survey:
Progress and prospect’,
Geographical Journal,
127, 2, pp. 68–186.
Coleman, A. (1976) ‘Is
Planning really
necessary?’,
Geographical Journal,
142, 3, pp. 411–430.
Isle of Thanet Geographical
Association (2016) The
first Six Decades
available at
https://geography.org.uk
/wp-content/uploads/
2023/05/GA_IOT_Histor
y_booklet.pdf
Jacobs, J., and Lees, L.
(2013) ‘Defensible
Space on the Move:
Revisiting the Urban
Geography of Alice
Coleman’, International
Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, 37,
5, pp. 1559–83.
Peter Vujakovic
outlines Alice Coleman’s
work in land use
mapping and her
contribution to urban
planning.
Alice Coleman – a celebration