Discuss Some of the Ways Differences and Inequalities Are Made on the Streets in the Uk
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Discuss some of the ways differences and inequalities are made on streets in the UK.
Many of us believe that our street is unique, a perception derived from daily personal experience. However, many of the things we observe: different activities; different and competing uses of the street space; and, different uses and perceptions of place, create differences and inequalities in a pattern that we could recognise on any street in the UK. This essay explores these patterns by reference to: City Road; Elgar Crescent; and, Countisbury Avenue.
City Road is a busy thoroughfare hosting a range of small businesses, cafes, takeaways and restaurants. It bears witness to an ever changing mixture of activity and interactions, where we see some businesses such as the Taste Buds café serving a dual purpose providing not only the traditional and expected café service, but also an indirect and less expected community service. In the same scene, we see local poet and artist Lloyd Robson discussing with Colin Butwell, the proprietor of a small general store, the difference made by bigger retailers such as Tescos and Spar opening in City Road and their impact on smaller businesses. It was interesting to note that whilst the local newspaper shop closed with the arrival of Spar, his business was little affected compared to the impact he now recognises as a result of Tescos arrival (Making Social Lives on City Road’- 2009).
In Countisbury Avenue, a similarly busy thoroughfare, but fewer shops, the takeover of the local Somerfield petrol station by the Co-operative Group and subsequent expansion into a larger retail/petrol outlet led to the closure of the local Londis grocery store. The site is now occupied by a high-end bicycle shop. As Blakely observes ‘some people gain from this reshaping of society….other people lose… It creates new inequalities and differences and it might reinforce existing inequalities and differences’ (Making Social Lives on City Road’, 2009,...
Many of us believe that our street is unique, a perception derived from daily personal experience. However, many of the things we observe: different activities; different and competing uses of the street space; and, different uses and perceptions of place, create differences and inequalities in a pattern that we could recognise on any street in the UK. This essay explores these patterns by reference to: City Road; Elgar Crescent; and, Countisbury Avenue.
City Road is a busy thoroughfare hosting a range of small businesses, cafes, takeaways and restaurants. It bears witness to an ever changing mixture of activity and interactions, where we see some businesses such as the Taste Buds café serving a dual purpose providing not only the traditional and expected café service, but also an indirect and less expected community service. In the same scene, we see local poet and artist Lloyd Robson discussing with Colin Butwell, the proprietor of a small general store, the difference made by bigger retailers such as Tescos and Spar opening in City Road and their impact on smaller businesses. It was interesting to note that whilst the local newspaper shop closed with the arrival of Spar, his business was little affected compared to the impact he now recognises as a result of Tescos arrival (Making Social Lives on City Road’- 2009).
In Countisbury Avenue, a similarly busy thoroughfare, but fewer shops, the takeover of the local Somerfield petrol station by the Co-operative Group and subsequent expansion into a larger retail/petrol outlet led to the closure of the local Londis grocery store. The site is now occupied by a high-end bicycle shop. As Blakely observes ‘some people gain from this reshaping of society….other people lose… It creates new inequalities and differences and it might reinforce existing inequalities and differences’ (Making Social Lives on City Road’, 2009,...