Rural Settlement
- To what extent did rural settlements grow during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Why did some communities expand whilst others contracted?
- How did periods of economic depression affect rural communities?
- How did agricultural practices change over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- What can we discover about the processes by which agriculture was mechanised?
- What can we discover about animal husbandry during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- How did industrialisation affect rural communities?
- How did ideas of improvement affect rural communities during the modern period?
- How did the design of rural dwellings alter in the centuries after 1800?
- What can we learn about the homes of labourers and the rural poor?
- To what extent did planned villages differ from other rural communities of the same period?
- To what extent were rural communities able to acquire consumer goods? How did patterns of consumption change during the modern period?
- What can we discover about facilities in rural communities (e.g. post offices, schools, village halls)?
- How did the provision of utilities (e.g. drinking water, drainage, electricity) change in rural areas during the modern period?
- What was the nature of the connections between rural communities and the wider world?
- What can we learn about the experiences of travelling communities in South-East Scotland (e.g. Romani Gypsies, Scottish Travellers, and Showmen)?
Urban Settlement
- What can we learn about migration to and from towns during the modern period? How did immigration affect towns in South-East Scotland during the modern period?
- How did growing industrialisation impact towns in South-East Scotland?
- To what extent did the nineteenth and twentieth centuries see a growing separation between workplaces and homes?
- How have perceptions and realities of social class affected town planning in the region? To what extent did different socio-economic groups become more spatially separated during the modern period?
- What can we learn about the development of suburbs? To what extent was suburban development planned?
- How did life in small towns compare to life in major urban centres? What distinctive trends and experiences can we find in small towns?
- What can we learn about the provision of utilities (e.g. gas, water, sewage management)?
- How did street furniture change over the modern period?
- How much variety was there in living standards in urban areas?
- What can we discover about vernacular architecture in urban communities?
- What can we learn about tenements and other forms of communal dwellings?
- What can we learn about the development and design of social housing over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- What can we discover about the so-called ‘slum clearances’? How did patterns of clearance and redevelopment change over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- What can we discover about waste and derelict properties in towns? What factors lead to dereliction during the modern period?
- How did gardens and green spaces within and immediately adjacent to urban areas change during the modern period?
- What can we learn about the development of allotments in the region?
- How did the design of educational establishments change during the modern period?
- What can we learn about the changing use and design of libraries?
- What can we discover about the development of civic buildings during the modern period?
- What can we learn about public monuments? How has their design and purpose changed over the modern period?
- What can we learn about crime and punishment?
- What can we learn about fires, floods and other crises? What safety measures were put in place to prevent fires? How did these change over the modern period?
High-Status Residences
- To what extent did the design of elite dwellings in South-East Scotland follow national and international fashions?
- How did the design and use of elite gardens and parks evolve during the modern period?
- To what extent were post-1800 designed landscapes shaped by earlier forms of land use?
- What can we learn about agriculture and industry on elite estates and the structures associated with these activities?
- What can we learn about the lives of servants and estate workers? How did their experiences change over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- When were new means of lighting and power adopted on rural estates? What can we learn about plumbing, lighting, heating, and other utilities?
- Were great estates hubs of innovation or bastions of tradition in South-East Scotland?
- Did newly monied landowners manage their properties in different ways from established gentry families?
- What were the homes and lands of the minor gentry like? How did they compare to wealthier aristocratic houses and estates?
- What factors led some estates to decline / fail?
- What impact did the world wars have on great houses and estates in South-East Scotland?
Health and Diet
- How was food preserved and stored? Were there significant differences between urban and rural approaches to food storage?
- Can we discover more about patterns of spoilage / waste of food?
- How was food prepared and served?
- What can we discover about the relationship between food and social status?
- How did industrialisation affect health and diet?
- How did globalisation influence diets in South-East Scotland?
- To what extent did the amount of locally produced food decline during the modern period? When were the major periods of change in the consumption of local versus imported foods?
- Can we see the impact of the world wars on diets in the region?
- How much evidence is there for malnutrition in South-East Scotland during the modern period?
- To what extent did diets improve during the modern period?
- What can we discover about changing patterns of personal hygiene in South-East Scotland during the modern period?
- What can we learn about the impact of different occupations on health?
- What can we learn about the experience and management of epidemics during the modern period?
- What can we discover about the work of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists during the modern period?
- How did the design of hospitals, asylums, convalescent homes, and other health-related institutions evolve over the modern period?
- What can we learn about the treatment of the mentally ill during the modern period?
- To what extent did the residents of South-East Scotland become healthier during the modern period?
Leisure and Entertainment
- How did mass tourism affect South-East Scotland during the modern period?
- What can we learn about historic hotels in the region?
- How did the design, location, and significance of inns and pubs change during the modern period?
- How did the design of theatres, dance halls, cinemas, and other places of entertainment evolve during the modern period?
- What can we learn about musical instruments and performance spaces?
- How did public parks and gardens change during the modern period? What can we learn about their facilities (e.g. bandstands, playgrounds, bowling greens, ponds)?
- How does the design and purpose of botanical gardens change during the modern period?
- What can we discover about sports played in South-East Scotland during the modern period? How did sporting facilities and equipment develop over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
- How did the use and design of venues for spectator sports evolve during the modern period?
- What can we learn about swimming (both in open water and in purpose-built pools)? What infrastructure was associated with swimming / bathing? How did this change over time?
- What can we learn about piers, promenades, shelters, and other recreational structures by the sea?
- What can we find out about the development of recreational rowing, sailing, and other water sports in the region?
- What can we discover about curling, skating, and other winter sports in the region?
- What can we discover about the evolution of menageries and zoos in the region?
- How did the treatment of pets change during the modern period? What types of animals were kept as pets and in what conditions?
- What can we learn about cockfighting in South-East Scotland during the nineteenth century?
- What can we discover about hunting, shooting, fishing, and other bloodsports in the region? What impact have these sports had on the environment? How have they affected surrounding communities?
- How did men’s and women’s recreational activities compare? To what extent was recreation segregated by gender?
- What can we discover about children’s play and how it changed over the modern period?
Clothing and Dress
- How far did clothing in South-East Scotland align with national and international fashions?
- What can we discover about tailors, seamstresses, and milliners and the places where they worked?
- How did the rise in the mass-production of goods affect costume in South-East Scotland?
- To what extent were clothing and accessories locally produced during the modern period?
- What can we discover about the mending and repairing of clothing and accessories?
- What can we learn about laundries and the cleaning of clothes?