Fieldwork Human Flashcards
Title
Does Poole need urban regeneration
Location
Clearly defined high Street with large shopping centre, major settlement in the region, decline in demand for services
Theory
Presence of commuters will likely to lead to decline services
Hypothesis
Poole’s city centre is in need of regeneration
Data collection
At each site:
- take photo of shopping area
- Carry out pedestrian count recording numbers passing spot in one minute period. Done three times in each location to then work out an average
- Record on goad map type of retail and unoccupied shops
- Record evidence area is in need of regeneration or has recently experienced regeneration
- complete environmental quality grid by recording scores against set criteria
Sampling method
Systematic: five sites at regular intervals along the High Street
Risks and control measures
Getting lost: Map given in advance with main areas highlighted and staff distributed along High Street with mobile numbers for lost people to contact
Unsavoury confrontation with the public: in groups of at least three for safety and only collecting data in very public areas for example just along High Street
Data presentation methods
Annotated photos
Isoline of pedestrian counts
Pie chart of shop/retail types for each site
Scatter graph of environmental quality and distance from Dolphin shopping centre
Description of results
Isoline: Number of pedestrians was significantly higher nearer the Dolphin shopping centre
Pie: occupancy was lowest immediately outside the Dolphin and then increased with distance. Low order goods were found further from Dolphin
Scatter: there was little difference in environmental quality along transect
Explanation of results
Isoline: Dolphin provides a focal point not just for shops with higher levels of shop occupancy but also it is main transport hub with car park, bus station and train station.
Pie: shops outside Dolphin have higher rents but the small shop spaces makes it difficult for high order shops to locate there - successful spaces like the Thompson travel agent have merged multiple shopfronts but independent retailers cannot do this. The low order goods further down the High Street support local residents.
Scatter: buildings near Dolphin look like built in 1960s so look in state of poor repair high Street pedestrianised so traffic has little impact, very little greenery, high levels of litter as a result of night economy which is dominated by large numbers of drunk and homeless people staying out on street
Conclusion
Poole would benefit from re-generation to attract more visitors which would increase shop occupancy. Reducing rents near Dolphin would help increase occupancy. Improving environmental quality might help encourage visitors
Evaluation of methods
Pedestrian count distorted near Dolphin due to level Crossing which held people up and affected, environmental quality scores were very subjective, despite criteria set it was difficult to always quantify differences in state buildings
Improvements to methods
Individuals could group score environmental quality separately and establish an average, return at different times of day to complete pedestrian count to avoid impact of level Crossing
Evaluation of results
Would benefit from doing it on different days throughout the year and compare week days and weekends to take into account weekly commuters
