Connected Lives

Material Lives
Narration Everyday objects often taken for granted shape our behaviour and the kind of society we live in. In this film we’ll explore the roll that objects play in our lives and how the material and human worlds interconnect on City Road. Two Open University lecturers Elizabeth Silva and Simon Bromley have come to Cardiff to see for themselves how the material world here impacts on people’s lives. Street furniture is something many of us scarcely notice but it affects all of us. Dr Elizabeth Silva It’s interesting that the bins are all painted blue, is that the same over all or just in this region? Rodney Berman That’s just in City Road because there was a major exercise to improve the street environment in City Road, which took place in 2001, and the idea was to have a specific colour scheme that all the street furniture would then be er produced in. And in terms of er choosing the colours there were some consultation with local residents but we also thought about how it might affect people who are partially sighted and that’s why, for instance, we have the white stripe on the bollards, which makes them stand out more for people who have poor vision. So they can see the bollards and don’t walk into them. Dr Elizabeth Silva Why do you have so many and why are they at this height, which is quite high? Rodney Berman Essentially it’s to stop er motorists from driving their cars onto the pavement and parking onto the pavement. That makes it difficult for pedestrians, it makes it very difficult for people in wheelchairs or mothers with pushchairs. So we have to look at where that’s been a problem and we’ve put in the bollards er to stop it in those areas. Dr Elizabeth Silva And you have in the centre of the street, you have that island with the two concrete posts…. Rodney Berman Yeah Dr Elizabeth Silva ……there. What is the purpose of that? Rodney Berman The purpose of that is to make it easier for people to cross the road. Er we have crossing points at...