The outer city is basically 1960s onwards. It plays host to many new houses most of which are detached and have garages. Most have big gardens and have lots of space around them. The outer city is also home to many leisure facilities and huge shopping centres. This is the newest area of Northampton.
Obviously to compare how housing differs across Northampton I need to do a number of different surveys in different areas of the town. I will do a traffic survey, a people count and an environmental survey, I will then analyse these. The different areas being compared are the city centre, Far Cotton, Far Cotton Renewal and East Hunsbury. The reasons I choose these areas are as follows:
For my Coursework I am going to collect data, analyse it and hopefully answer my question.......’How does Housing Differ across Northampton?’
Hypothesis
I predict that in all three of the surveys I carry out East Hunsbury will be the most desirable residential area in which to live. This is because it is in the outer city and therefore is the most recent to be built. This means that time and thought has been given to the planning and development of the area. I predict that it will have the most pleasant environment and that it will have the least people and traffic.
I predict that the least desirable residential area will be Far Cotton. I predict this because it is an inner city area and therefore had little thought put in to its development due to the haste to build housing for the factory workers. I think that this area will be cramped and untidy.
I think that East Hunsbury will have the most expensive house prices and that Far Cotton will have the least expensive ones. I think that Far Cotton renewal will be the second and the City Centre will be the third most desirable residential areas in which to live. The reasons for this lie in the age of the areas and from what has been learnt from past development.
Data Collection Charts
Primary Data Collection Chart
Secondary Data Collection Chart
From the four areas that I am going to survey in Northampton; East Hunsbury, Far Cotton, Far Cotton Renewal and the city centre I will collect a number of different data types. These can be split into two groups; primary and secondary data. Primary data is data that I have collected and Secondary data is data that other people have collected. The primary data will include a traffic survey, a people count, photos and an Environmental survey. The secondary data will include an analysed 1991 census, House prices, maps and the internet.
Data Presentation
People Count
The People count was carried out in all four areas; East Hunsbury, Far Cotton, Far Cotton Renewal and the City Centre. Its purpose was to show me the number of people that were in the area I was surveying at the time I surveyed the area. As there were no people around during the survey period I didn’t manage to record and data in Far Cotton Renewal therefore there will be no graph for Far Cotton Renewal (See Data Analysis)
Far Cotton
East Hunsbury
City Centre
Traffic Survey
Again, the traffic survey was carried out in all four areas; East Hunsbury, Far Cotton, Far Cotton Renewal and the City Centre. Its purpose was to show me the state of the traffic in the area I was surveying at the time of the survey. With the traffic survey I managed to record data in only the City Centre and Far Cotton, in the other two areas there was no traffic during the survey period therefore I will only present the data I collected.
Far Cotton
City Centre
Environmental Survey
The environmental survey was carried out in all four areas; East Hunsbury, Far Cotton, Far Cotton Renewal and the City Centre. Its purpose was to show what the state of the environment was where I did the survey. I used the following categories to survey the environment; vandalism, litter, road crossings car parking, gardens, open space, other features, house maintenance, building materials and housing layout and design. A score of 1 is good and 5 is bad.
Far Cotton
East Hunsbury
Far Cotton Renewal
City Centre
Photographs
I took photographs in all 4 areas. The photographs were taken so that I could clearly show evidence to my conclusions in pictures.
East Hunsbury
Far Cotton
Far Cotton Renewal
City Centre
House Prices
The following data came from www.proviser.com
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Census Data
Population Structure
Composition of households
Tenure of houses
Household amenities
Analysis
People Count
The following analysis refers to figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.
The people count was a success as it showed me the busiest place in terms of pedestrians that I surveyed. In this case the busiest was the city centre. I recorded 12 children, 11 teenagers, 112 middle age and 21 senior citizens. This is understandable because Northampton’s population and tourists would be going into the city centre as this is where all of Northampton’s major shops and places to eat are. The high number of middle aged people will be because at the time I did the survey it was lunch break for a lot of workers. The second highest number of people was recorded in Far cotton. This was 2 middle age and 1 senior citizen. The third highest recorded number of people was in East Hunsbury. This was 2 senior citizens. I think the results I recorded were so low in most areas because of the time of day I did the survey. It was done mid morning when most people were at work. I think that this is the reason that I didn’t get any results for Far Cotton Renewal.
Traffic Survey
The following analysis refers to figures 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10
The data I collected shows that the closer you get to the CBD the greater the levels of traffic become. However, I cannot confirm this because I only managed to record results in two out of the four areas. The city centre once again scored the highest with 2 lorries, 2 vans, 29 cars, 1 bicycle and 1 other. The city centre was followed by Far Cotton with 4 cars and 2 bicycles. The increase in traffic between the Inner city and the city centre was a significant one. This is because as stated above in the people count analysis, the City Centre is the attraction for most of Northampton’s population and tourists and it would have been lunch break for many workers. The reason I didn’t manage to get any results in Far Cotton Renewal and East Hunsbury is because most people were at work and not at home.
House Prices
The following analysis refers to figures 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10
Although the house prices can’t be worked out exactly from the bar chart as it doesn’t state the four areas, it is possible to estimate them. Most houses in East Hunsbury are semi-detached or detached. Most houses in Far cotton and the city centre are terraced and most houses in Far Cotton Renewal are flats. As the house price bar chart is labelled by house type it can be worked out roughly. The detached houses are the most expensive averaging around 206,839. This followed by the semi detached at 120,771, then the terraced at 104,432 and finally the flats at 91.471. This shows that East Hunsbury is the most expensive followed by Far Cotton and the City Centre and then Far Cotton Renewal. This is because most houses in Far Cotton and Far Cotton Renewal are council houses which mean they are aimed at the lower budgets.
Environmental Survey
The following analysis refers to figures 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14
The environmental survey was definitely a huge success. From this you can clearly see where the environment is pleasant and where it isn’t. Here is a table to illustrate the scores I gave the four areas.
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It can be seen from the above table that East Hunsbury has the better environment. I worked this out by adding up the scores I gave the four areas. As the lowest number is the better East Hunsbury won with just 17. It was closely followed by Far Cotton Renewal with 19, and then there is a huge increase to 32 which is the city centre, closely followed by Far Cotton at 42. This shows that the closer to the CBD you get the worse the environment gets. This is also backed up in the averages. East Hunsbury got 1.4, Far Cotton Renewal got 1.5, the City got 2.5 and Far Cotton got 3.4. This is because the closer you get to the CBD the older the buildings and environment get. This means that things like building materials, gardens, car parking, open space and housing layout and design will all score very badly.
So that I had proof as to why I gave the scores I did I took a series of photos. To refer to these go to figures 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21, 3.22.
Census Data
The following analysis refers to figures 3.124, 3.25, 3.26 and 3.27
The census data is from 1991 and so does not give a 100% accurate picture of what Northampton is like at the moment in 2003
Unfortunately I was not possible to get hold of the census information for 2001 or all the four areas I surveyed therefore, I only have it for East Hunsbury and Far Cotton. The first graph the census data shows is showing what the population structure is like. It shows that the population is much greater in Far Cotton than in East Hunsbury. It also shows that the percentage of 16 to 59/64 in East Hunsbury is much greater than that in Far Cotton. This tells me that because the houses cost more in East Hunsbury people must generally have more money. The second graph shows the composition of houses. It shows that in East Hunsbury there is more couples and families living there. This is because the more people there are in a house the more space is required and in Far Cotton there isn’t enough space in each house for a medium sized family. The third graph shows the Tenure of the houses. It shows that there are more owner occupied and privately rented houses in East Hunsbury than there are in Far Cotton. The third graph shows the amenities of the houses. It shows that the figures for overcrowded living space and households with no cars are very similar but that the number of houses without central heating is almost half in East Hunsbury of what it is in Far Cotton. It also shows that the number of households with 2 or more cars is significantly higher in East Hunsbury.
Conclusion
The best site was East Hunsbury. It scored as best in the environmental survey, had no traffic and had very little people. According to all the secondary data it was also the most desirable residential area and had the most expensive houses. The second best place was Far Cotton Renewal. It had very similar results to East Hunsbury. The only thing that needs to be improved here is the space. The third best site was the city centre. However, it scored very poorly in the environmental survey partly because of its age. The worst site was Far Cotton. It scored the worst in the environmental survey. This is because of litter, age, layout, parking, lack of open space and appearance. According to the secondary data in most cases it was also the worst.
My results agree with my geographical theory contained in my introduction and my hypothesis as I said that the inner city area will have the most cramped environment and oldest buildings. I also said that the outer city will have the nicest environment.
I think that I have answered my question.......”How does housing differ across Northampton.” I have found that the further you get away from the CBD the more pleasant and desirable the residential areas become and in turn the nicer the housing becomes.
Evaluation
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It can be seen from the table above that I have a serious concern over how much my results were affected by the time of the day my survey was carried out. I feel that in future surveys like this one more thought should be put into the time of day and the actual day of the week (weekday as compared to a weekend)
However, I feel that the results I recorded are suitable enough to confirm my prediction that the further you get away from the CBD the more pleasant and desirable the residential areas become and in turn the nicer the housing becomes.
Figure Table
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Bibliography
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