Covent Garden
Introduction
Aims:
- Land use in Covent Garden is characterised by commercial retail and office functions. We will be looking at how buildings are used vertically what functions are present on each floor of every building. This will help us distinguish fact from fiction about land use in Covent Garden
- It is possible to identify distinct vertical land use zones in Covent Garden. How easy is it to tell how levels are being used in Covent Garden?
- The CBD suffers high levels of traffic congestion. This can be investigated by doing a traffic survey. We will monitor traffic on different streets for 10 minutes each and the record the information and compare it to other streets.
- The CBD is the most accessible part of the city. This is shown by high pedestrian densities. Like the traffic survey people counts will help us judge how densely populated Covent Garden really is with pedestrians.
Background / History of Covent Garden:
In the 1630s land formerly owned by Westminster Abbey was redeveloped by the 4th Earl of Bedford. He commissioned Architect Inigo Jones to design a piazza (a square). The piazza was designed with arcaded houses to the north and east (These are now all gone). This piazza was a public one. But this approach lead to its social downfall. The distinguished people who occupied the houses around the square soon began to get agitated by the lack of privacy. This set off the trend of people leaving Covent Garden. The Covent Garden began in a very small way in 1649 but expanded quite a lot when the Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed other markets in the City. In the 1760s, the market occupied much of the piazza. The market, the nearby theatres in Drury Lane and Bow Street and the many public houses, Covent Garden acquired an extremely dubious reputation, though it was still popular.
