- I expect that as you move from South to the North of Brent the houses will be further apart from each other. This is because there should be more space in the North because it further away from the City centre furthermore housing plots will be cheaper as they are further away from the CBD.
- I expect as you move from South to North Brent the streets will become less grid like.
- I expect that as you move from the South to the North of Brent the environment will be much cleaner and will be much quieter because there will be less demand for transport.
- I expect that as you move from the South to the North of prices of houses will decrease because the further away from the CBD you are, the less competition there is for land and property.
Method:
I choose to investigate 5 different site of Brent which have been chosen to give wide and average results for Brent as a whole.
Going from the south to north:
- Kilburn
- Willesden Green
- Stonebridge
- Preston
- Kenton
Also to back up my results I also used secondary data from the census results of 2001 in Brent, this is because the data is released every 10 years therefore I had to use it because the next census will be available in 2011 which is 4 years from now. I am to use the results to see which type of housing is more popular in Brent so we can compare and hopefully back up my results with the census results.
Results; from south to north:
Kilburn
I have carried out environmental surveys which are labeled -2 to 2. -2 being poor and 2 being excellent.
I have also looked at over head shots and street maps to look at the range of idea in the areas I’ve chosen.
Kilburn; Exeter Road had large houses. There were many more terraced houses than semi detached in this road as shown in the table below.
This supports my hypotheses that there will be more semi detached and detached housing in the North of Brent rather than the southern part.
Census data for Kilburn
This census data roughly corresponds with my results from St Cuthbert’s Road showing there are more terraced housing than detached. However, there are many more maisonettes than terraced housing. This could be due to the fact that Kilburn is only two miles away from the CBD, so more accommodation needed to be built. These were mainly maisonettes (Maisonettes are usually homes converted to flats from a terraced building). Therefore it shows there was general - redevelopment in Kilburn because of its location from the CBD.
Kilburn mainly consisted of terraced housing.
This house isn’t detached. Also the house has three floors, no front garden and no garage. This shows it is definitely not a typical interwar type house but this is expected as you go closer to the CBD.
Kilburn is not grid like to an extent which goes against my hypothesis of there being more grid-like areas in the south of Brent.
The environmental survey showed how the area is like.
Environmental Survey
In my hypotheses it states as you move from the north to south of Brent the traffic will be more congested. This is shown in this survey as traffic free got a score of 1. This shows that Kilburn is a very busy area.
Willesden Green; St Paul’s Avenue consisted of only a few terraced houses with flats owning the majority of the road this goes against my hypotheses of the fact that there will be more terraced houses in the south of Brent. This anomaly may have occurred because more living space was required from this area.
This yet again proves my hypotheses to be correct as it shows there are not any semi detached or detached houses on this particular road.
This matches with my data from St Cuthbert’s Road that there would be more terraced houses than detached. However, there are more maisonettes showing again; the closer to the city the more housing is needed to accommodate people.
However it does not have a drive way, this is not typical for a house nearer to the city centre.
As you can see from this overhead photo Willesden Green is fairly grid like as expected as you go further south of Brent as my hypotheses states.
The environmental survey
This shows there is less traffic here than in Kilburn showing that as you go further away from the city centre the less traffic there seems to be.
Stonebridge; Aldbury Avenue had many more semidetached houses than in any road more southern than this one.
Census data
The census shows there are less flats and maisonettes compared to Kilburn and Willesden Green which could show that the further away you move from the city; the less housing is in demand.
Stonebridge is further North of Willesden Green and contains more houses which look like interwar style houses.
Stonebridge looks like a typical interwar period house as it consists of the elements which are labeled above. The only thing is, it does not have is a garage.
The traffic is not very congested but there is still some. This could be due to the fact that Stonebridge is still not completely away from the city traffic and the fact that it is very close to a main road which is a route people use to enter the city centre.
Preston; Carlton Avenue East; was more or less the same as Aldbury Avenue in Stonebridge in the sense of the types of housing.
This yet again showing my hypotheses to be fairly correct as there are more semi detached and detached housing being seen as you move further north of Brent.
Census data
The graph shows the link between Carlton Avenue East to the rest of Preston. It states that there are more detached and semi detached housing than terraced in Preston. This links with my hypotheses of, as you move further north of Brent the more detached and semi detached housing there will be.
As you can see, back gardens are more common as you go further north of Brent which is typical for an interwar period house. The houses are spread more apart showing a low density of houses. However, it is still quite grid like, contradicting my hypothesis.
The traffic is less congested but it is still a factor of the noise. This road is fairly quiet and doesn’t seem to be very busy at any time of the day.
Kenton; Allonby Gardens- was more or less the same as Preston.
Overall my prediction was correct because as you move from South to North of Brent you can see that terraced housing disappears and more and more semi detached and detached houses are present.
Census data
The census data is similar to my investigation on Allonby Gardens. This is because semi detached housing was dominant in this area. This is just like my hypotheses stated. The further north you of Brent you go the more semi detached housing you will find.
Kenton is the furthest Northern area I have researched and consists of the typical features of an interwar house.
This house proves my hypothesis of there being more semi-detached and detached housing in the northern areas of Brent. This is mainly because housing is less in demand the further you get away from the CBD.
Houses are more spread out and back gardens are present and cover a much wider area than we had seen before however it is still grid like to an extent.
This shows that it is regularly traffic free therefore it is fairly quiet. This all links in with my hypotheses that as you move north the traffic will be less congested meaning that the area will be quieter.
There is a big contrast between Kenton and Kilburn.
- The traffic is less in Kenton.
- There is more semi-detached housing in Kenton.
- There are more open spaces in Kenton.
General Results
As I walked up the road I was investigating in each area I counted in 140 paces (which is roughly 100 metres) how many house doors I passed to see how spread out they are.
From South to North
Kilburn – 17 houses
Willesden Green – 41 houses/flats
Stonebridge – 33 houses/flats
Preston – 23 houses
Kenton – 18 houses
This shows that Kilburn had a larger space between houses and had larger houses. This goes against my hypothesis but I think that this is because Kilburn is nearer to the CBD and therefore is a richer area. However the rest of the area does fit in with my hypothesis of there being more space between front doors of houses as you go further North of Brent.
Housing prices
I have researched the prices of some of the houses in the different areas. It showed that the further South you go the more the prices increase.
Average Property Selling Prices in Kilburn (£000's)
Average Property Selling Prices in Preston (£000's)
Average Property Selling Prices in kenton (£000's)
The graphs clearly show that house prices are far more expensive in the south of Brent (Kilburn) than the north (Preston). This is because land becomes more expensive as you move closer to the CBD. This proves my prediction correct.
Conclusion
From the data I collected during this investigation I’ve found that Brent appears to fit into the Burgess model as predicted. As you move from the South to North of Brent you can see the changes. As you move south of Brent you can see that areas start to become very congested with traffic. However, this maybe because the south of Brent is close to the city so that the traffic tails into areas like Kilburn. I feel that the North of Brent is in the middleclass interwar section of the Burgess model. However, as you move further South of Brent you begin to enter the Lower-class residential area. This would be like in places such as Willesden Green, where there is only terraced housing. But the most Southern area in Brent is Kilburn and that is in the Twilight zone. This is why Kilburn has big houses and is very congested with traffic because it is closest to the CBD.
My hypotheses were:
- I expect that as you move from South to North Brent; there will be more semi-detached and detached houses.
This was fairly correct as can be seen through the graphs in the analysis.
- I expect as you move from South to North Brent there will be less traffic.
This is fairly correct as you can be seen in the environmental survey. This is because of the South of Brent is nearer to the City so there will naturally be more traffic.
- I expect that as you move from South to North Brent the houses will be further apart from each other.
This is somewhat true. However, this was not the case for Kilburn. This is because it is a rich area because it is so close to the CBD that many rich businessmen may like to live there so big houses are needed.
- I expect as you move from South to North Brent the area will be less grid like.
This is true as there were more grid-like areas in Kilburn and Willesden Green as it gets more crowded and the housing density is higher in the lower parts of Brent.
- I expect as you move from the South to the North of Brent the environment will be much cleaner and will be much quieter because there will be less people passing by.
This is true to the extent that this was usually the case. This due to the fact that as you went further south the area was either more crowded and congested or just a lower standard of living.
- I expect that as you move from the South to the North of prices of houses will decrease.
This was fairly true and this is because the South of Brent is closer to the CBD, therefore the competition for property is healthier.
To what extent does Brent fit the Burgess Model?
I feel that as my investigation went on; you could see the change in Brent, for example, the difference in traffic and open space. There was more open space in the north of Brent. I feel that Kilburn looked a very rich area but that was jus a certain part of Kilburn that I researched. The North of Brent appears to be in the medium class of the Burgess model. This is because it contains more interwar type housing. The centre and more southern parts of Brent appear to be in the ‘inner city’ zone because the area seems to only consist of terraced housing.
I feel that this investigation is quite fair as I have investigated 5 different areas in Brent to see the change in environment and housing as you move from the North to South of Brent.
Appendix
Census Data:
Street maps
Urban model information
Brent history information
house prices information