Frugeo Geography Research Initiative

This morning I went for a little walk in Shrewsbury town centre. I wanted to take a few photos of the flooded River Severn. Frankwell car park was still partially flooded, but overall, it was not looking that bad.
~ Laszlo
#frugeo #shrewsbury #shropshire #riversevern

We were on fieldwork in South Wales last weekend. You know that I like wind turbines, so we had to stop to check this one out. First, we thought it was originally damaged (maybe by wind), but the closer look revealed that it was actually waiting to be installed. Cool stuff! ~ #frugeo

Just dropped dead! Academic research nowadays may involve a lot of people. When it comes to scientific papers, you often see that a-few-page article has lots of authors and you do not really know why. When you see this, in many cases it just simply means that lots of people participated in one particular research and not in the article writing itself. But in a lot of more cases, a few-page article is pulled together by, for example, seventy writers where each contributes abo...ut a sentence or two. Believe me, in many cases, this is the reality. The times when one single author or duo authorship was able to write a long paper has long gone. But where is the quality now? I have just come across this article on Academia.edu and I have literally died. I understand that the authors are only students, but was that article really, but I mean really required the participation of five high-class writers? My trust in science and research has been fading away for a while...
~ Laszlo
Click here to see this masterpiece: https://www.academia.edu/30826163/Smart_V illage_System
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Yesterday the Second Shrewsbury Growing Forward forum and workshop took place at the Shrewsbury University Centre. Mark Barrow's presentation was actually quite good and interesting, and there was some proper engagement there from the audience. A few things to note:
1) Shrewsbury wants to become a 'Smart town'. This is a fantastic goal to achieve and there are some plans in place to make it real. However, nobody talks much about the energy/energy resources. To be a smart town..., it is inevitable to support ideas that reduce import energy dependence and makes it possible to grow forward from locally sourced energy (you know, the sustainability factor). It would be nice to see what energetic improvements are in place to make Shrewsbury smarter than other places. (Although, this should not be too difficult, because there are not too many smart towns around!)
2) Shrewsbury wants moderate growth, but at the same time, it also wants more money to come into town through, for example, tourism. It is very middle-class thinking. Fewer things to do, bring more money in. I think Shrewsbury needs more coffee shops too, it is never enough. Economic growth also requires more energy.
3) The majority of the plans are way too ambitious, which is good (!), but how would you do major improvements when you cannot even get the Pride Hill area repaved without issues and delays? It is not even the recycling bin collection works well here. Just look at Wolverhampton for example. During the last ten years, it has improved significantly! Shrewsbury has not changed a bit in the last ten years. To become a smart town, a lot of works will need to take place in a very short time. The majority of improvement works, however, are planned to be carried out in the next 20 years or more.
4) This forum/workshop definitely was attended by fewer people than last time, but mostly the same people come to these events. I always note it and it tells a lot that I, with my 37 years of age, seem to be the youngest and the age gap between me and the average of the majority is easily 30 years. Where are the younger generations? These decisions made today will eventually affect them and not these people who create these things!
Well, I am sure I could make more remarks, but hey! Check out yourself. Local people should visit these events and would have a better understanding of what is happening in their town.
What I, however, liked was one of Mark's slides. It looks like some of my own energy-related models that also corresponds to Christaller's central place theory. I think the bases of the Christaller model could be a useful thing in town planning.
~ Laszlo
#frugeo #shrewsbury #shrewsburygrowingforward #shrewsburycivicsociety #shropshire
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This was yesterday. Solar farm exploration in Shropshire/Telford & Wrekin.

Happy new year, folks!
It has all begun and I have finally got on the bike to push the pedals and prepare myself for the great Prudential Ride London 2019 challenge which will be in August. If you would like to donate to this great cause, please follow this link >>> https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Laszlo.B okor
So, I have officially started the preparation and today I rode up to Haughmond Hill and it is very likely you will meet me there more often in the future. Anyway, wh...at I meant to point out is that when I got to the famous outlook point, the first things I saw were those coffee cups. You have an incredible view and then you have the people who most likely drive up to the car park, buy their takeaway coffees in disposable cups from the local café and then they leave their rubbish all around the place. Well, not only that these cups will not grow legs and walk into the nearest bin by themselves, but in fact, if somebody else does not take them back to the car park area, they will be hanging around for a long long time. Great, isn't it?
~ Laszlo
Have you read 'Results of a coffee survey taken in Shrewsbury town centre' yet? Here you have the chance now. Follow the link >>> https://www.frugeo.co.uk/doublegreenlines .html
#frugeo #haughmondhill #coffeecups #doublegreenlines
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Life is hectic at the moment, so I have not been able to do much posting recently. This week I have been in Birmingham twice and spent some quality time in the super awesome city library. If you do research on Earth and Environmental Sciences, they have a pretty decent selection of resources. And they have a Shakespeare's room with lots of old books. The building is just great, many floors and rooms to explore. The building is also a good outlook point with little shrubs and apple trees planted on it. Here are some photos.
~ Laszlo #frugeo

I am still looking folks!
If you know any households or cohousing communities in Shropshire, North Wales or in the West Midlands conurbation that are technically self-sufficient energy producers, please get in touch with me. Many thanks!
Laszlo

Hi folks,
I am looking for households, cohousing communities or maybe even villages that are able to produce all or most of their energy (both electricity and heat) independently, thus off the national grid from local resources. Most preferably from areas here at the Midlands, Shropshire, or North Wales. If you are one or you know someone, I would like to speak with you. I collect specific information for my doctoral dissertation, therefore it would be a great help if you co...uld get in touch with me. Many thanks!
~ Laszlo (laszlo.bokor@frugeo.co.uk)
#wales #westmidlands #shropshire #cohousing #ecovillage #energyresources
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A hundred years to the day since the guns fell silent, marking the end of World War I. ~ #11november2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHYRfukHT oc

There are several reasons why I really love local charity shops. They are right here in town, they have noble missions, they do things for us here, and they normally sell stuff very cheap. The best way to reuse things.
During the last decade, I have kept an eye on books that interest me the most, so I have grown a pretty nice collection of atlases simply buying them from charity shops. I love atlases, they are fantastic. And these used ones have their own stories too. This on...e is from North Shrewsbury Friendly Neighbours charity shop which is at the Riverside Shopping Centre. It would have been for £1, but the lovely old people said "it's too tatty", so I got it for 50p. To be honest, it is not worth more than that if you think of money, but it is priceless for me to have it in my collection.
Support local shops and sellers! We are the only ones who can push localisation forward.
~ Laszlo #frugeo
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We checked this out tonight, it was fine - escaped from the discussion though. The only thing that bothers me - again as this was not my first time here in this room, I made a comment on it in April when the sustainability day was on - that there was hardly anyone from the 'younger' generation (youngest in the room was a baby). I am 37 and looked pretty young there and this says a lot! Weird that a university cannot motivate their students to join but surprise, suprise - students don't like to do anything. I am glad this was organised though.
~ Laszlo

We wanted to do an experiment which in the end turned into a lovely walk. The idea for us was to go to Rea Brook Valley and we wanted to see how many single-use cups we could find there. So we walked from Asda to the small Sainsbury's on Whitecroft road and we were impressed by how clean the entire section was. Not immaculate but clean! We didn't find any cups as a litter which is a great thing but there is a simple explanation for this: it is a nature reserve, no coffee shop...s here, so people who come here don't bring takeaway drinks with them. So we didn't see takeaway cups, but we saw takeaway packaging material, lots of metal cans and plastic bottles. At one point, we will organise a little clean-up session here and will pick up everything we can.
On the way back to town centre, we predicted the rise of cups thrown away in the streets which we were right about. If it's a place where people cannot actually see the rubbish, like a small area by the English Bridge, people just fling the stuff over the wall and think it's fine. Here we already found a few cups and other bits and pieces. We saw one cup in the bin which is better than letting them rot in the grass, but bare in mind, this one will most likely end up in landfill, so it is still better if you put it in the recycling box.
~ Laszlo
#frugeo #doublegreenlines #shrewsbury #raebrookvalley #shropshire
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I have just had a little walk in Shrewsbury town centre and within a few minutes, I have spotted three takeaway cups just lying around. To be honest, it does not bother me if I see them on the ground as littering is just a universal habit of an urban society (I am not saying it is a good habit) and there will always be someone who will pick them up in the end, put them in the bin, so they can be taken to landfill where they will rot for two times longer than a normal human be...ing's natural lifespan lasts. What it bothers me though that these single-use cups exist and that the society has developed this pointless takeaway culture. Do you want to do a little to make your life more environmentally conscious? Stop doing takeaway, at least in a single-use, non-reusable, hardly recyclable cup!
Katie and I are doing a little experiment tomorrow. We are wondering how many cups we can pick during a longer walk in Shrewsbury. It will be interesting!
~ Laszlo
#frugeo #doublegreenlines #shrewsbury #environment
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I have got a few old maps for from the Shropshire Cat Rescue charity shop in Shrewsbury town centre. They are very nice (both the maps and the people in the shop)! Thank you!
~ Laszlo
#frugeo #shrewsbury #shropshirecatrescue

Buy local and support your farm shop so your contribution will keep local businesses and their great quality produces alive.

>>> PUBLICATION ALERT! <<<
A journey of an article: - We crafted the original research idea back in 2008. - In early 2009, we pulled together a mini-conference (India Day) at the University of Pécs and presented our findings to a great audience.... - After the event, we tried to create a publication which was eventually not successful for external reasons. The entire research was then put in the draw to be forgotten... - In 2016, however, an opportunity arose, thus we swept the dust off the article and updated the data. The findings were then presented at the 10th Political Geography Conference in Budapest by our highly talented research fellow, Viktória Nemes. - At the end of 2016, we submitted the article. - October 2018: the publication has finally been released.
I am very proud to announce that our latest/newest/longest-run research paper entitled "Reflections on the development of the Indian diaspora in the 'Old World'", written in English by László Bokor, Zoltán Wilhelm and Viktória Nemes is now available via Academia >>> https://www.academia.edu/…/Reflections_ on_the_development_o…
#frugeo #indiandiaspora #migrationstudies
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The Geographical Locality Studies, or shortly GLS, is a great and diverse project and journal which gives an overview on today’s global, environmental, social problems through the writings of scholars and young researchers. For the latter ones it also offers a great opportunity to publish and practice.

Laszlo is very helpful and knowledgable, very useful for A-Level preparation!

The Geographical Locality Studies, or shortly GLS, is a great and diverse project and journal which gives an overview on today’s global, environmental, social problems through the writings of scholars and young researchers. For the latter ones it also offers a great opportunity to publish and practice.

Laszlo is very helpful and knowledgable, very useful for A-Level preparation!