- Courtland Road
- Katherine Road
- Spencer Road
- Caledon Road
- Caufield Road
- Skeffington Road
- Kempton Road
- Lathom Road
- Lawrence Road
- Burges Road
Total Population in Newham: 243,891
NEWHAM MAP
Planning Of The Study
In order to plan and carry out my survey, the first thing I did was to discuss the environment in class. We discussed about what factors affect the environment. I made not of these ideas by brainstorming them to help me. We also talked about the serious problems that are now occurring like Global Warming and its effects, which have recently happened; heat waves and polar ice caps melting.
We looked at what makes an environment attractive or disgusting and what are good and bad points we find about roads we see daily. We were then able to come up with 10 factors to judge when doing out surveys on roads.
The class then designed a survey, which was easy to read, and simple to use. We talked about how to lay out the survey and how to conduct it.
My coursework links into my Geography Syllabus because of the topic I have studied i.e. urbanisation. It links in with the road surveys as I am conducting in how urban areas are affected by different factors. I learned that urban areas have a large population and a vast amount of cultures, this is the same case for Newham and this also affects our environment. I have understood terms such as Brownfield Sites. There are both Greenfield and Brownfield Sites in Newham and when doing my survey I may be able to find out more about these places.
I constructed my survey by plotting a marking score; 6(Excellent) to 0(Disgrace). I also considered my 10 factors and put them next to the scores. As I do the survey for each factor I gave a score ranging from 0-6 and work out a total and percentage. The environmental factors I scored are:
- Pavement Quality
- Litter
- Building Condition
- Street Furniture
- Traffic Moving
- Traffic Parked
- Noise
- Graffiti
- Vandalism
- Greenery
I decided on the 10 areas to survey by selecting areas that were close to my home and roads where one of my friends or family live, this made life easier and it was safer because I knew my way around. The roads I selected were:
- Katherine Road
- Spencer Road
- Caledon Road
- Caufield Road
- Skeffington Road
- Kempton Road
- Lathom Road
- Lawrence Road
- Burges Road
The equipment I used were a pen, pencil, rubber and a digital camera.
Additional information I used, as extra research was to make an image profile for each site. This involved taking factors similar to the one I used to judge the roads and gave each a score. The scoring was from 1-5, the scoring involved placing a cross on the dash you thought was appropriate and at the end join all the crosses together.
Flow diagram to show a Plan of the Study
Method Of Study
In order to carry out my survey, I had to design a survey sheet to find out the quality of the environment in Newham. I used the 10 different factors to judge the quality as mentioned earlier in the plan.
To record the information on the survey sheet, I used a scoring system. This system involves the 10 different factors being judged on how it is a disgrace which is 0 points or how it was excellent which is 6 points. I did this by putting a tick in the box.
I also considered the following information at each site: weather, date and time. I gathered this data because they are limiting factors. They affect how I surveyed the road.
For a fair test, I surveyed all the roads at the same time, although the weather was very dull and grey when I went to survey the 10 roads. I did this so that I would not change the interpretation of the road if I went at different times with different types of weather’s.
I took two photos at each road to provide a visual image of the road. I annotated the photos to highlight the good and bad points about the roads.
As I went to each road, I completed the image profile. The image profile is 14 factors about the road. I filled this in by marking a cross on the dashed line, which represented great tom poor. I then joined up all the crosses with a ruler to provide a positive or negative view about the road.
I did not encounter any problems during the survey, which helped my results be consistent.
With the data gathered from the survey I decided to create some graphs. I did a bar chart for each road and the rating I gave it each road for all the characteristics.
RESULTS
PICTURE PHOTO FOR COURTLAND RD
GRAPH FOR COURTLAND RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR COURTLAND RD
PHOTO FOR KATHERINE RD
GRAPH FOR KATHERINE RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR KATHERINE RD
PHOTO FOR SPENCER RD
GRAPH FOR SPENCER RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR SPENCER RD
PHOTO FOR CALEDON RD
GRAPH FOR CALEDON RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR CALEDON RD
PHOTO FOR CAUFIELD RD
GRAPH FOR CAUFIELD RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR CAUFIELD RD
PHOTO FOR SKEFFINGTON RD
GRAPH FOR SKEFFINGTON RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR SKEFFINGTON RD
PHOTO FOR KEMPTON RD
GRAPH FOR KEMPTON RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR KEMPTON RD
PHOTO FOR LATHOM RD
GRAPH FOR LATHOM RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR LATHOM RD
PHOTO FOR LAWRENCE RD
GRAPH FOR LAWRENCE RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR LAWRENCE RD
PHOTO FOR BURGES RD
GRAPH FOR BURGES RD
EACH ROAD SURVEY FOR BURGES RD
Justification Of Graphs
I have chosen to use bar graphs to show my results because it is the easiest to read. So if I needed to get information from my graph then I could find what I am looking for very easily. It is also easy to create/draw up.
Analysis
I decided to do different graphs to show the variety of ways to present my results, as it would give me a wider perspective in how to evaluate and conclude my data, as some graphs are better than others at showing certain information.
Courtland Road
As you can see from my graph, Courtland Road’s highest points were:
- Traffic Moving
- Noise
- Graffiti
You can also see on my picture that I took that there is not a lot of traffic moving on the road, this may be due to the fact that I went on my survey on a day when there was no school or work, therefore people were at home. Noise level was very low but like I have already said, this may be due to the fact that I went to do my survey on a quiet day when no one was out and about. There was no graffiti on Courtland Road this gives us the idea that this road is safe because most of the time it is troublemakers that do graffiti. You can also see in my image profile that Courtland Road is very positive. Vandalism is however the negative point of that road. However most of the vandalism was on the other road but it sort of carried on because all the vandalism was towards the flats that are on Courtland Road and Malvern Road (the road adjoining to Courtland Rd). Litter was a problem because when I asked one of the residents why the road was messy and untidy they replied that people hardly ever came to clean the road. They would come once every two weeks and even when they do come they only do one end of the road and leave the other end.
Katherine Road
As you can see there were no high points for Katherine Road. This shows us that Katherine Road is really not up to standard. The Pavement Quality was all right but there were still some cracks in the pavement. However Building Condition, Traffic Moving and Noise was a real big problem on Katherine Road. The amount of noise was unbearable, there were so many cars driving past, and there was noise caused by the pedestrians. As you can see from my picture there was a lot of traffic moving, this is because this is one of the main roads. This road links Barking Road all the way to Romford Road so as you can probably work out a lot people will be using this road. The building condition is very bad; the buildings have cracks in them and bits crumbling of them. As you can see from my image profile this road is way on the negative side.
Spencer Road
As you can see from my graphs Spencer Road was pretty good. The highest points were:
The traffic moving was very good, there were hardly any cars driving through that road. One of the reasons that this is because of is probably that the road was incredibly narrow and it is two-way traffic so drivers do not like getting stuck on that road so they avoid it. The noise was very low mainly because it was not busy at all so this was one of the positive factors of this road. However there was a lot of litter in corners and behind bins, as you can see in my picture. From my image profile you can tell that this road was not excellent but it was not terrible, it was somewhere in the middle.
Caufield Road
As you can see Caufield Road is another negative road, the worst characteristic was Building condition. The building condition was awful; there were no front walls for most of the houses on that road, as you can see in my picture. Out of 60 marks Caufield Road only got 20 marks. This shows us that this road was really bad. As you can see from my image profile, most of my points lie on the negative side. In most of my graphs from page 42 onwards you can see that Caufield Road turned out to be the worst out of them all in all the negative areas.
Caledon Road
As you can see from my image profile Caledon Road is another road, which is neither in the negative or the positive, it is round about in the middle. The negative points about this road are that it had a lot of traffic parked. This may be due to the factor that people were at home because I went on my survey on a day when there was no school and most people were not working on that day. There was a lot of litter. I asked one of the residents why this was and he replied this is because people were dumping rubbish on the pavement, so I asked him don’t the people that live on this road care about their road, why don’t they use the bins the government provide and he replied that the bin disposal unit only come every two or three weeks, so when the bins were full, people started dumping their rubbish on the pavement. You can see this in my picture.
Skeffington Road
As you can see in my graph Skeffington Road was especially good. This road got highest points in:
- Traffic Moving
- Graffiti
- Vandalism
Traffic moving was excellent. While I was standing there and doing my survey, which took approximately three minutes, I saw not even one car drive past that road. It was really quiet. However the downside was that the road had so many cars parked, as you can see in my picture. This is probably because many people were at home as there was no school or work. There was no graffiti on the walls, which suggests it is a safe road, another reason it is probably a safe road is that it had no vandalism. Out of sixty marks Skeffington Road received forty-five marks. This also makes it a positive road. You can also see in my image profile that most of the points lie on the positive side. Also if you look at ma different types of graphs you can see that Skeffington Road tops most of the other roads for all the positive factors.
Kempton Road
As you can see from my image profile Kempton Road is another road that is in the middle. There are both strong and weak points about Kempton Road. Some of the weak points were Traffic parked and Noise. As it leads on to the High Street, which is a busy road, there are a lot of cars driving past and also so many cars parked on the side of the road. This caused a lot of rubbish because there are so many people going on to the High Street. This road got twenty-seven marks out of sixty, which is pretty good. As you can see from my different types of graphs that it is along with the middle ones.
Lathom Road
As you can see from my graphs, Lathom Road is not one of the top roads; it is actually in the middle. It is noisy because of a shop, which sells fruit and vegetables. This attracts a lot of customers, which means there is a lot of noise. Not only does it mean a lot of noise but it also means a lot of litter. The shop owners just dump their rubbish by the tree; people see this and start dumping their rubbish there as well, as you can see in my picture. The building condition is very bad as well. The walls are broken down, as you can see in my other picture, there are cracked walls, and it is really unsafe because there is a school on Lathom Road. As you can see from my image profile Lathom Road is in the middle. There is a lot of street furniture lying by the trees and lampposts. This is because residents leave their sofas, beds, broken TV sets lying there for someone else to clear away after them.
Lawrence Road
As you can see Lawrence Road is one of the top roads. It received thirty-three marks out of sixty. This is good compared to the rest. The noise on the road is so low because there are not many cars driving on that road, however there many cars parked on that road, as you can see in my photo. The factor that spoils this road is the graffiti on the walls; you can see this in my photo. This spoils the road. If you look at my different types of graphs you can see that Lawrence Road is among the top out of the ten roads I surveyed. As you can see in my image profile most of the points lie on the positive side.
Burges Road
As you can see in my graph this is one of the worst roads I surveyed. The highest mark it received was three for Building Condition. This is disgraceful. Burges Road got zero for four of the factors, they were:
- Traffic Moving
- Traffic Parked
- Noise
- Greenery
Burges Road connects Barking Road/A406 to the High Street, so you see how busy this road would be. There is constant traffic jams, there are so many cars parked on the side (as you can see in my photograph) as well as driving down the road. The Pavement Quality is really bad for a main road, as you can see in my other photograph. The noise is unbearable, due to the constant moving of cars. There is hardly any greenery on that road, as you can see in the picture, there is a maximum of three trees on that road. If you look at my image profile you can see most of the points lie on the negative end. Burges Road received thirteen marks out of sixty. Which is disgraceful. If you look at my different types of graphs you can see that compared to the other roads it is appalling.
Conclusion
Hypothesis
That the environmental quality of different residential areas in an urban area such as East London will vary greatly and will depend on a number of factors including location.
- The greater the distance from London’s Central Business District the better the environmental conditions become.
- The environmental quality of different residential areas in urban locations such as East London will vary greatly and will depend on a number of factors including location.
The hypothesis is true because there are a number of factors, which affect the environment. The environmental quality of different residential areas will firstly depend on location. This is because if the location were a poor location then people would not like to live because they know there will be no good facilities for them. Whereas if the location were a rich location, then people would want to live there as they know it would have good facilities. The other environmental factors are:
- Pavement Quality
- Litter
- Building Condition
- Street Furniture
- Traffic Moving
- Traffic Parked
- Noise
- Graffiti
- Vandalism
- Greenery
As you can see from my analysis, these factors did affect each road drastically. If we take Burges Road as an example, if some of the factors had improved such as, traffic moving, traffic parked, noise and greenery, then it would not be so appalling. Courtland Road is friendly and quiet; people will obviously want to live in this kind of environment. An example of a bad location is Katherine Road due to the fact that it had the worst score out of sixty. This is because it is a busy road with people trying to get from Barking Road to Romford Road or vice versa. Therefore from the amount of cars we can tell there will be a lot of congestion and also it will be highly populated. To add to this problem there are many shops on the sides which also contribute to the noise and litter. In all the roads the environmental quality was judged mainly on the ten factors and location.
- Pavement Quality
- Litter
- Building Condition
- Street Furniture
- Traffic Moving
- Traffic Parked
- Noise
- Graffiti
- Vandalism
- Greenery
Improvements
Next time if I was to do this survey I will choose roads that are quite far away from each other. I will choose one from the CBD (central business district) aswell.