City

Victoria Bell B9719807 TMA 01 With reference to what you have learnt about City Road, outline some differences across time and space on a street that you know. With reference to what I have learnt about City Road, I have chosen to outline some of the differences across time and space on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. Sauchiehall Street is one of the longest and busiest streets within Glasgow City Centre, similar to that of City road, 'The busiest road in Cardiff, over a mile long'. ('The Street', 2009, scene2). It is home to many high street stores, independent stores, restaurants, pubs and clubs. Also, Sauchiehall Street houses many local residents of several different ethnic origins. The differences across time and space on Sauchiehall Street that I will be looking at are : The use of Sauchiehall Street during the day and during the night. Different groups of people using facilities for different activities. The changes on Sauchiehall Street through history. The material infrastructures of the roads and pavements. Sauchiehall Street is significantly different during the day as it is at night. During the day you are more than likely to find people making their way to work or having a cup of coffee in one of the coffee shops. Just like City Road. 'The women who have their coffee in Taste Buds Cafe during the day'. (Blakeley et al , 2009, p19). In the evenings, all the workers are making their way home and the young students begin to fill the street on their way to one of the clubs or pubs and visit one of the local takeaways and restaurants. This is also the case on City Road. 'Younger people visiting the takeaways at night'. (Blakeley et al. , 2009, p19). During the day the street consists of parked cars and vans or lorry’s loading merchandise into the shops, cafes, restaurants, pubs and clubs. After the morning rush hour, although the street is filled with parked cars it still seems extremely quiet. However, at night, Sauchiehall Street consists mainly of the famous Black Cabs and private hire taxis awaiting the young customers up until the small hours of the morning. Until, it returns to its daily schedule of the hustle and bustle of workers and afternoon shoppers. Victoria Bell B9719807 TMA 01 Different groups of people using different facilities for different uses is more apparent to be the case of the pubs and clubs. Business men and women can be seen to use pubs for meetings instead of using them for their sole purpose of purchasing alcohol. A popular night club on Sauchiehall Street known as 'ABC' holds Irish dancing classes during the day for children under eighteen years of age. These are examples of 'dual function'. ( 'The Street' , 2009, Scene 3). Several more of the clubs on Sauchiehall Street are predominantly clubs but are also used as venues for up and coming music artists and venues for more established artists to perform. However, There are many inequalities here as the local businesses struggle to survive as the larger stores such as 'Tesco', begin to thrive. For example; Colin the Newsagents, his business has been affected by Tesco’s moving into City Road, (Making Social Lives 2009, Scene 3) this inequality of competition has also been noted on Sauchiehall street. Large chain stores that in most local areas such as Greggs, are now open till four in the morning on Sauchiehall Street to accommodate the demand from the lively night life and the small local businesses just do not have the many resources to compete with this. There have been several changes on Sauchiehall Street through history, from buildings and transport to iconic public figures that will always be remembered. With reference to City Road, it was mentioned that many Catholic priests were executed at “Death Junction” where the cities gallows resided, for practising their beliefs. ( 'The Street' , 2009, Scene 1). Today there are plaques on City Road to remember what happened then. On Sauchiehall Street is where Edward William Pritchard resided. He was a doctor who was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law by poisoning. Edward William Pritchard was the last man to be publically hanged in Glasgow. The infrastructures of roads and pavements on Sauchiehall Street are that Sauchiehall Street has no parking facilities only limited on street parking and the roads are designed as a one-way system, as most of the streets in Glasgow seem to be becoming to try and help the flow of traffic passing through and also for the safety of the vast amount of pedestrians walking along the street. Sauchiehall Street links onto many other well known streets in Glasgow such as; Buchanan Street, Bath Street and Charing Cross. Victoria Bell B9719807 TMA 01 With reference to what I have learnt On City Road, I have explored some of the differences across space and time on Sauchiehall Street. I have came to the conclusion that there is a great deal of similarities in regards to the inequalities faced by the local independent businesses to the larger franchise stores and how these pressures create such a great divide amongst the community on Sauchiehall Street. References Blakeley, G., Bromley, S., Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E. and Taylor, S. (2009) Introducing the Social Sciences, Part One: Learning Companion 1, Milton Keynes, The Open University. 'The Street' (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Word Count: 842. Victoria Bell B9719807 TMA 01 Self Reflection I have enjoyed starting this module with an essay as I have not written an essay in quite sometime. It has definitely been an experience getting comfortable using various learning materials. Such as the DVD, Learning Outcome and assignment notes and creating an essay with these tools. The main difficulty I had with this assignment was trying to get back into writing again and making plans before attempting the essay, although once I felt I was comfortable I began to enjoy the learning experience and began to recognise and learn things about a street that I knew and did not notice in day to day passing.