Graph 2.
Another significant question was “What is your reason for visiting?” Six choices of answers were possible. For this question, 169 people responded. The responses to this question enable us to have a brief idea of why most visitors come to Granville Island. The results obtained are shown as follows:
Graph 3.
2. PUBLIC MARKET
The public market contained several shops where the number of customers and range of prices differed greatly. In an attempt to identify any possible correlations between the x-value (number of customers per day) and the y-value (prices of items in Canadian dollar), I translated the numbers into this scatter graph which allows an easier interpretation.
Graph 4.
The following is a comparison of stores from Granville Island (centre column) and Metrotown (right column).
Table 1.
The following four graphs represent the three trials and the total of people entering and exiting the public market. (10 minute intervals)
Graph 5.
3. MARITIME MARKET
At the maritime market, the group gathered pamphlets and observed the area. They recorded prices for whale watching, ferry-fares, sightseeing, rentals, passes and courses.
- Whale Watching
Table 2.
2. False Creek Ferry Fares
Table 3.
3. Sightseeing (on ferry)
Table 4.
4. Kayak Rentals
Table 5.
5. Season Passes
Table 6.
6. Sailing Courses
Table 7.
Since there are various services offered at the Maritime Market, the group decided to make a tally of how many customers used each of the services available, and I have taken the tally numbers and transformed it into a graph which is visually easier to see:
Graph 6.
4. TRANSPORTATION
There are various methods of transportation used by visitors arriving at and departing from Granville Island. The group studying the transportation aspect of the area examined how visitors travel around. You can see that the following scattered graph shows five trials done by the group. Each trial contains the number of each of the seven methods of transportation used.
Graph 7.
Below is a map of Granville Island. I have indicated significant points regarding transportation including: parking areas, no marking areas (tow away zones), direction of traffic flow, and all streets and roads (major and minor).
Map 1.
5. ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
With the numerous interesting areas to visit within the arts and entertainment region, we could not possibly visit all of them in a few hours; therefore, the group aimed to collect as much data as possible, of which it is shown below. First of all, the arts aspect:
Table 8.
Table 9.
Table 10.
The group also collected data in regard to the entertainment division, of which it is shown below.
Table 11.
A more miscellaneous view of the Arts and Entertainment segment:
Table 12.
The divided pie graph below provides an idea of the distribution of different facilities on Granville Island regarding the Arts and Entertainment sector:
Graph 8.
- FOOD
As well, I looked at the data provided by the group who focused on food, and decided to classify the shops by its sizes (large restaurants, medium-sized cafés, and small shops).
Graph 9.
By taking the primary data given by the group who investigated the foods on Granville Island, I compared and contrasted differences and similarities between the food on Granville Island and the food at the Metrotown Food Court. See below:
Table 13.
Table 14.
- MISCELLANEOUS
1. Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
Table 15.
Table 16.
Table 17.
2. Granville Island Hotel
- total of 85 rooms (2 penthouses, 6 executive suites, 54 deluxe rooms)
- sold out everyday
- off season (70% corporate and 30% tourists)
- features exercise room and conference room
Table 18.
COMPARISON CHART: (prices and star-ratings of Granville Island and other hotels in the Vancouver.)
Table 19.
3. False Creek Community Centre (I have decided to compare False Creek Community Centre on Granville Island with Killarney Community Centre in East Vancouver.)
Table 20.
PART D: INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
[Due to the word limit, I will focus on certain areas within the 2 of the 7 areas: surveyors and the arts and entertainment, but I will just briefly evaluate the other five.]
As stated in my hypothesis, I wished to use evidence to show that Granville Island is a higher order central place based on 2 reasons.
- It is a settlement which provides goods and services rarely found elsewhere.
By observing the arts and entertainment data, we can see why this assumption is valid.
Although there are five store locations of Opus Framing and Art Supplies in British Columbia, only one is in Vancouver, and it happens to be on Granville Island. The products sold in this store are seldom found elsewhere in the city. Since my father works in the arts field, I know where he usually purchases his supplies, and art supplies certainly do not appear everywhere. For instance, the Logan Frame Shop in a Box costs $623.40 and consists of tools to create professional-quality picture frames. But how many people (who do not work in the art industry) would actually spend the large amount of money and time to construct their own frames? Instead, it is much more likely that they would go to a store to buy ready-made frames which are much cheaper too. Also, how often do we see these kits being sold? Apparently, besides the big art supply stores in the USA, these kits are only sold in one location in the entire city—Opus Framing and Art Supplies on Granville Island. By this, Granville Island would be considered a higher order central place because such unique art supplies are surely not easy to find. Depending on how one looks at the term “art supplies”, the result can be very different. Pencil crayons are also art supplies, but they are found even in Superstore and the Dollar Store. In this case, an anomaly is presented because it opposes the general idea that the arts and entertainment on Granville Island provides goods and services rarely found elsewhere.
As well, the busker business at Granville Island is different from that of other places because it is organized and requires registration. The buskers at Skytrain stations are not obliged to sign up in order to perform. According to Ambrose (the busker we met at Granville Island), being late for performances and going beyond the time limit would result in a penalty, and three warnings would result in removal from the business. This shows that the busker business works under a system which does not exist elsewhere in the city, which can therefore be seen as a higher order structure of service.
The amphitheatre, a public grass area overlooking the water off Cartwright Street between Performance Works and The Granville Island Hotel, can be used for ceremonies such as weddings, often free of charge. Usually, there are administration fees for these events, but this may be a way to attract tourists. Again, this can be regarded as a higher order service as it requires a large threshold population to be profitable.
By using Christaller’s k = 3 arrangement, I will attempt to explain the patterns of service and trade regarding arts and entertainment on Granville Island. As suggested above, arts and entertainment is a more specialized service and requires a larger threshold. Christaller’s marketing principle maximizes the number of central places and brings the supply of higher-order goods and services as close as possible to all the dependent settlements and inhabitants of the trade area. The assumption is that one-third of the settlements will travel to the nearest higher-order settlement (in this case, Granville Island). The following diagram illustrates the theory:
In addition, the agglomeration of the art and entertainment business on Granville Island stands out from the rest of the city because art galleries and theatres in Vancouver are dispersed and hardly ever found in a cluster. (Refer to the map in Appendix B for a view of arts and entertainment businesses in Vancouver.) Yet an anomaly is near the intersection of South Granville Street and Broadway, where there are around 20 art galleries. But still, this cannot compare to the other businesses, such as malls, where hundreds of clothing stores are found under the same roof.
- Visitors are willing to travel a relatively long distance (cost is a function of distance between home and higher order place).
When observing data from the surveyors, one can confirm that the guess is reasonable.
From graph 1, we can see that 66 of 159 people (41.5%) traveled to Granville Island by car: one reason being that it is the most convenient and time-efficient, as compared to waiting for a bus or ferry, or walking. Another reason may be great distance of travel, which would cancel out methods of transportation such as walking and biking (too exhausting when traveling far). 46 of 153 people (30%) estimated a traveling distance of “greater than 10km” and 13 of 153 people (9%) estimated a traveling time of “greater than 1 hour” to reach Granville Island. Also, the main reason for visit was “recreation” (as seen in graph 3). One may ask, “Why would people travel for such a long time and distance for recreational purposes?” This partially reflects how Granville Island is a higher order central place: people are willing to travel a long distance, because at some point, the need for the good outweighs the cost or inconvenience. Places like the False Creek Recreation Centre and the Granville Island Hotel (both mentioned in the miscellaneous data section) serve as recreational locations for both the local population as well as foreign visitors. According to the hotel manager, Granville Island Hotel sells out everyday and 30% of its customers are tourists, which shows that as a higher order place, people are willing to travel a long distance to obtain the good or service and that the need for the good certainly outweighs the cost and inconvenience. I will try to demonstrate the idea with an example:
Cost of travel: $3 (for gas)
Time and method of travel: 60 minutes due to traffic congestion (car)
Distance of travel: 40 kilometers
Benefits of obtaining the good\service: improved health by working out in the gym at the recreation centre
From this, it is reasonable that the need for the good outweighs the cost\inconvenience.
The example above shows the person to take 60 minutes to travel 40 kilometers where usually it would be 50km/hr. An important factor is traffic congestion, especially since there is ongoing construction at several points in the city due to the preparation of the 2010 Winter Olympics. At these construction points, traffic is increased greatly. For instance, three lanes of traffic may be reduced to one lane, causing serious delays. Since traffic plays a role in determining the distance and time taken depending on which route the person chooses to take, results are affected. In addition, the respondents of the survey only estimated their time and distance of travel, which cannot be claimed as accurate. The combined factors of traffic and mere estimations cannot portray precise results, yet it provides a good general idea of the situation.
Christaller’s theory comes into play once again. His k = 7 arrangement of service and trade demonstrates the administrative principle, which allows for efficient organization and control of several places. Altogether, this theory suggests customers from the six smaller settlements go to the central place. In other words, one location will serve seven central places (6 others; including itself). The diagram below illustrates this theory:
Very brief evaluations of the 5 other areas and how they contribute to Granville Island being a higher-order central place:
1. Public Market: supports hypothesis 1 – goods and services not found elsewhere; therefore, customers must come to Granville Island to obtain it
[Refer to graphs 4-5; table 1 for visual diagrams and charts]
2. Maritime Market: supports hypothesis 1 – kayak rentals and sailing courses are rarely found in Vancouver even though Vancouver is near the sea (Vancouver Island is far more abundant in terms of these facilities)
[Refer to graph 6; tables 2-7 for visual diagrams and charts]
3. Transportation: supports hypothesis 2 – visitors willing to go through trouble of taking the ferry across the water in order to obtain goods\services (some arrive every 30 minutes depending on factors like weather)
[Refer to graph 7 and map 1 for visual diagrams]
4. Food: supports hypothesis 1 – these stores are ‘one and only’, unlike McDonalds which is a chain restaurant and found around the world, meaning that customers must come to Granville Island if they wish to obtain the good or service
[Refer to graph 9 and tables 13-14 for visual diagrams and charts]
5. Miscellaneous: supports hypothesis 1 – facilities such as the Emily Carr Institute are located in distinctive places unlike UBC and SFU (on large campuses). Also, it is one of the only colleges focusing only on art.
Supports hypothesis 2 – facilities such as Granville Island Hotel several foreign tourists who are willing to travel long distances
[Refer to graph 15-20 for further information]
PART E: CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION
The question “Is Granville Island a higher order central place?” was the focal point of this urban studies topic. This field study was triggered by my two hypotheses: Granville Island is a higher order central place because first, it is a settlement that provides goods and services rarely found elsewhere, and second, visitors are willing to travel a long distance in order to obtain the good or service on Granville Island. The data that I have presented lead me to accept my hypothesis.
Much of the data supports Granville Island as being a higher-order central place because it complies with the hypotheses. For all the seven areas, the methods of data collection were reliable and constructive because it contained mainly primary data (information from shopkeepers and other workers, brochures. pamphlets, maps, and data collected by other groups), with reference to some secondary data (websites). The data consisted of both qualitative and quantitative measures.
Since objectivity vs. subjectivity in my research was an important consideration, I tried my best not to include personal biases and opinions and to give both sides fair consideration. One weak point of the data collection process was that the surveyors targeted mothers and students (due to their friendliness). When doing research, it is important not to take advantage of easy-to-access groups of people simply because they are easy to access. I find it better to choose the subjects based on what would most benefit the research. However, a strong point was that the surveyors created an unbiased survey, which allowed them to get unbiased (or less biased) results.
Improvements I can make:
1. To remember that I can find general patterns or trends, but should never assume that what I have found is what exists or what will always exist. In fact, it is hard to make concrete generalizations about any occurrence that relates to people because people themselves are dynamic and situations are always changing.
2. To keep in mind that just because two results have a relationship between them, it does not necessarily mean that one causes another to occur. For example, although video games and violent behaviors are shown to have a link, it has not been proven that video games cause violent behavior (instead, it could be that individuals who are predisposed toward violent activity are drawn to violent video games).
I may also wish to slightly modify (add to) my hypotheses:
In the first hypothesis, specify that I am focusing only within the city of Vancouver when I refer to “elsewhere”. In the second hypothesis, set a limit to what I mean by “relatively long distance” as the interpretation of such a term is quite subjective.