4. The CBD will have higher vehicle flows than the rods around the CBD.
I predict that the CBD will have the higher vehicle flow because it has the highest number of function so all the customers going to work and shopping will pass through the CBD. The supplier trucks for all the businesses in the CBD will also be coming in to delivering the supplies and the thus more vehicles will pass through the CBD. I also think that site 1 will have the highest vehicle flow because it is closer to the CBD compared to the other nine sites.
Methodology- Data collection and Recording
Ground floor land use mapping and transect mapping
Hypothesis 1
We were in a group of four doing the Tervuren study, so for this task two of us walked along the right-hand side of the Brusselssesteenweg road and the other two walked on the left-hand side of the road. Using a booking sheet, for each building we recorded the width in ‘double paces’ of the building and then we recorded its ground floor land-use. After that, we used a key to colour in the land- uses along the Brusselssesteenweg. For example shops were coloured orange and residential areas were coloured light brown. I chose this method because it is the best way to get good results considering that we focused mainly on the Brusselssesteenweg which was the main road in the town centre. This enabled us to identify the CBD using the functions along the Brusselssesteenweg. The limitations of the data are it was only conducted on the ground floors, and not the first and second floors (see figure 5). Below is an example of the booking sheet we used:
When we were colouring in the land use map we used a different colour for each criteria.
Below is a table showing the key:
Hypothesis 2:
Street quality index
For the street quality index (SQI) we were given 10 sites, so we had to visit the sites and grade the buildings. The grades ranged from 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best). We divided ourselves into two’s and each pair did 5 sites and then we recorded results. For each site we had to grade it on the following: Buildings- architectural quality, Buildings-states of repair, Roads/pavements state of repair, Pollution-Dirty and/or weathered buildings, Pollutions-road congestion, Land-use-vacant and/or derelict buildings. After grading all 10
sites we calculated the SQI by adding all the grades. Below is a table showing the results we got:
Hypothesis 3:
Pedestrian count
For this hypothesis, we counted the number of pedestrians coming into the town and those leaving the town in a period of 5mins at the 10 sites. We did this study on a Friday when it was market day so this could affect the results we get because their will be more people coming into the town centre on this day compared to other days of the week. This will also help to identify the distinct CBD, because there are generally more pedestrians and vehicles towards the centre of a town. The limitation of the data is that this study was conducted on a market day so the number of pedestrians might be much more than an ordinary day like on a Tuesday. Below is a table to show the results we got:
Below is a diagram showing how we did the study. The four of us spilt into 2 and each couple stood on either side of the road recording which way the pedestrians were heading.
Left side
………………………………………………………………………
BRUSSELSSESTEENWEG
……………………………………………………………………… right side
Hypothesis 4:
Vehicle count
We did the same thing for the vehicles count as we did for the pedestrian count. We counted the number of vehicles coming in and the number of vehicles leaving the town for a period of 5mins at the 10 sites. We did this study on a Friday when it was market day so this could affect the results we get because their will be more vehicles coming into the town centre on this day compared to other days of the week. All forms of transport that had two or more wheels and an engine or motor were classified as a vehicle. The limitation of the data is that this study was conducted on a market day so a lot of cars will not be allowed in the centre of town so this might limit the number the cars. Below is a table showing the results we got.
Data Analysis and presentation
Hypothesis 1
The town centre has a distinct CBD, identified by the ground floor land-uses of each building.
Figure 13 shows ground floor land use map of the whole of Tervuren and figure 14 Transect of the Brusselssesteenweg.
Analysis
The ground floor land use map (see figure 13) shows all the functions of the CBD and were exactly the CBD lays. The detailed transect map of the Brusselssesteenweg showed me which were the most common functions in the CBD. As can be seen in figure 15 the land uses are based mainly near the centre of the town. The CBD has the shape of an upside-down V-shape. The Brusselssesteenweg had almost all the functions of the CBD. As I mentioned earlier in the Burgess Concentric Model (see figure 2), the CBD of Tervuren is located on the centre of the town near the market and it is also the most accessible area in the whole town with roads linking to the inner city.
Hypothesis 2
The Street Quality index (SQI) will be higher in the CBD than in the surrounding housing areas. Figure 16 shows the SQI of Tervuren.
Analysis
Figure 16 shows the SQI of Tervuren presented as choropleth map with superimposed bar chart on each of the ten sites. This method was used because it visibly shows which areas around the town have the highest scores, this is also supported by the spearman’s rank study I did, shown on the next page. The spearman’s rank study was to show if there was a relationship between the distance of the site from the centre of town and it’s SQI. As I had predicted earlier, and this is supported by the spearman’s rank I conducted, the SQI highest SGI of 51 was found at site 1 which is the site closets to the town centre. The lowest SQI of 33 was found at site 5. The graph bar graph below also shows that site one had the highest SQI. This is because the owners of the surrounding houses will not spend as much money to make their houses look attractive as the town mayor/counselor would do to attract potential workers and business opportunities. This also proves that the Street Quality index (SQI) is higher in the CBD than in the surrounding housing areas.
Below is a divided bar graph showing SQI of the sites:
Spearman’s rank
Spearman's Rank Correlation is a technique used to test the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables. In other words, it’s a device to show whether anyone set of numbers has an effect on another set of numbers. A positive relationship is made when as one variable increases the other increases too. Below is an example of a spearman’s rank graph with a positive relationship.
Below is the spearmen’s rank study I conducted on the SQI.
d - Difference in rank
d²- Difference square
n - Number of items
r = 1- 6*85
990
= -378
990
= 1 – 0.381818181
Street Quality Index = 0.484848484
Graph shows that there is a positive weak relationship, this is because the results do not flow a consistent pattern i.e. as one variable increases the other increases too. I think if the sites were ranked in better order then there is a possibility that we will see a consistent pattern in the results we have already collected.
Hypothesis 3
The CBD will have higher pedestrian counts than the roads around the CBD. Figure 20 shows a map of pedestrian counts of Tervuren
Analysis
Figure 20 shows the pedestrian counts of Tervuren presented as choropleth map with superimposed bar chart on each of the ten sites. This method was used because it visibly shows which areas around the town have the highest pedestrian flows. I have also drawn a bar chart to show the relationship between the site’s distance from the CBD and its pedestrian count.
The graph shows that site 1 has the highest pedestrian count, and site 1 is located in the CBD area so this shows that the CBD has a higher pedestrian count than the surrounding roads.
Hypothesis 4
The CBD will have higher vehicle count than the roads around the CBD. Figure 22 shows the vehicle count of Tervuren
Analysis
Figure 22 shows the vehicle counts of Tervuren presented as choropleth map with superimposed bar chart on each of the ten sites. This method was used because it visibly shows which areas around the town have the highest vehicle flows. I have also drawn a bar chart to show the relationship between the site’s distance from the CBD and its vehicle count.
The graph shows that site 1 has the highest vehicle count, and site 1 is located in the CBD area so this shows that the CBD has a higher vehicle count than the surrounding roads. This can be justified because all the vehicles delivering supplies to the shops will all pass through the centre of town so this will mean that the CBD will have higher vehicle flows than the surrounding roads outside town.
Conclusions and Evaluation
To conclude my coursework I am going to evaluate each of my hypotheses individually.
1. The town centre has a distinct CBD, identified by the ground floor land-uses of each building.
After investigating this hypothesis I found out that the town centre does indeed have a distinct CBD identified by the ground floor land uses of each building and this is supports the prediction I made earlier. This theory is also supported by the burgess concentric model (see figure 2) which states that each city is divided into a set of concentric circles expanding from the downtown to the suburbs.
2. The Street Quality Index (SQI) will be higher in the CBD than in the surrounding housing areas.
When I was conducting this study everything went well. My results also support my prediction (see figure 6). The SQI was higher in the CBD because it is the part of town that has all the shops and business centre so the town mayor/counselor will do everything possible to make it as attractive and modern as possible, in order to get the attention of potential business opportunities and to make a good impression on people visiting the town.
3. The CBD will have higher pedestrian counts than the roads around the CBD.
When conducting this study we faced a couple of problems but we managed to over come them successfully. The results I got supported my prediction and this is because the CBD it is the center of all the shops, businesses and entertainment. Everyone from all over the town will be coming into the CBD when going to work, shopping or just having fun.
4. The CBD will have higher vehicle flows than the roads around the CBD.
Again when we were conducting this study we faced a few minor problems but they were fixed in the end. We had problem identifying weather to classify some modes of transport as vehicles or not but we came to a sensible answer in the end. The results we obtained supported my prediction and this is also supported by text book theory which states that the CBD will have the higher vehicle flow because it has the highest number of function so all the customers going to work and shopping will pass through the CBD (see page 11).
Evaluation
Over all I think the whole coursework went pretty well, I didn’t have any major difficulties getting it done and I achieved results that helped support my predictions. I think that the while excercise has given me a more clear view of what Human geography is all about and I think it is very interesting and involves a lot. I now know exactly why that the CBD is the most important an influential area of the town and the appearance of it is a very important. If I had more time to do the coursework I would have maybe done the study on two different towns and then compare the two sets of results to get a better overview.
Bibliography
1.
2. Wider world- geography textbook
ICT
I used ICT through my coursework to do the write up. This is because typing it out on the computer is more effective and less time consuming and you can add and edit things very easily. I also used a scanner to scan in some pictures but unfortunately due to the size of the pictures I found it very difficult to place them into my coursework so I had to print them out and cut and paste them using my hands. I also created all my tables in Microsoft word. On the whole I think using the computer to present my work made very easy to add a lot of features to it to make it more presentable.