Robert Mosley, student at Monmouth School, reviews GA talk on ethnic migration

On the 12th of November the sixth form geographers at Monmouth attended a talk given by Dr Richard Harris in Bristol University. This was a greatly anticipated talk and it was aimed at people studying A-level geography along with those with an eye on studying Geography at university. The talk was focused on urban migration in London, challenging the concept of modern day segregation within cities. The talk challenged our thoughts on whether segregation in the city of London exists and the different ethnic enclaves in the boroughs of the city, due to the perceived ‘white flight’ happening across the city many of whom to the edges of greater London. Dr Harris used technology to explain the sometimes complex statistics used to show London’s changing demographic. He then showed us how, over time, the ethnic diversity of London was affected by events such as the building of Heathrow airport and also the highly successful Olympics. The lecture touched on parts of the AS topics such as redevelopment of the Isle of Dogs with the development of Canary Wharf, which had the opposite effect of the white flight and actually encouraged in-migration. The lecture concluded with a very engaging and well conducted question and answer session and we look forward to the next talk with anticipation.