Dd101_Tma01City_Road

TMA 01 In light of what you have learned about City Road, describe some of the inequalities on a street which you know. The focus of this essay is to compare the changes in City Road to a small, historic town and show how inequalities in society can be made and remade over time. Similarly it will endeavour to explain how the use of space, the time of day and identity of people or places can make and remake those inequalities. City Road has grown from a small country lane into a bustling city street full of traffic, businesses and people. Similarly, Broseley High Street was once a small settlement of squatter’s cottages for workers of local industries. During the Industrial Revolution and construction of the famous Ironbridge linking Broseley to Coalbrookdale in 1779 it became a permanent town with houses, shops, churches and a town hall. Blakeley et al explain ‘People and things use and compete for space differently…and sometimes there are attempts to change things in favour of one group or use rather than another’ (2009, p.28). The demolition of the High Street’s Town Hall in 1963 made way for the construction of a mini-mart which now houses the Spar Supermarket. Just like the newsagent on City Road ('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, scene 3) family run businesses on the High Street continue to trade alongside the Spar, they have yet to be threatened by large stores like Tesco that are currently based ten to fifteen miles away in Telford. The layout and use of space on the High Street seems to lend it to smaller traditional shops, it was only the demolition of the Town Hall that made space for the Spar. Within a short distance a similar situation was avoided with the proposed demolition of the Victoria Hall in 1965. Developers wanted to knock it down to make way for a modern development of shops and a civic centre. Thankfully local residents and business owners protested and it is now used to host local events for various community groups. As Blakeley et al suggest: ‘People don’t just use things to live their social lives…they invest those things with meanings’ (2009, p.26) The recent down turn in the national economy brought about the closure of the Post Office. This would have created an inequality for people without transport as they would have been forced to travel to larger Post Offices elsewhere. ‘Our changing material lives also have consequences for who benefits and who loses out.’ (Blakeley et al, 2009, p.28) After several public meetings a Post Office Counter was located within the Spar, drawing additional customers into the supermarket but also causing disruption to shoppers by creating long queues in the aisles. The former Post Office has got planning permission to be converted into a takeaway, a pattern familiar with City Road that has seen the loss of car dealerships and a large occupation of takeaways and restaurants due to the influx of immigrants and students to the area, ('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, scene 1) The only evidence of any racial diversity in Broseley is the staff of the existing takeaways, the majority of residents are Caucasian suggesting less migration has taken place and there is very little to attract them to the area, unlike the specialist ethnic shops we can observe on City Road, like the lady selling goods from her native Africa or the Sari shop ('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, Scene 2/Scene 6). It would be hard to envisage the need for so many takeaways in such a small town even with the loss of a fish and chip shop following a gas explosion last year. However, the High Street changes during licensing hours with a good number of pubs that attract younger drinkers particularly at night. The smoking ban has made this more visual by forcing drinkers out on the streets to smoke, in the case of The Albion pub this may prevent some people from drinking there as it seems to attract mainly rowdy young men. The introduction of satellite channels like Sky Sports screening live football matches has done nothing to dismiss these inequalities, “the making of society produces inequalities and differences among people” (Blakeley et al, 2009, p.17). In this snapshot of contemporary Britain inequalities can be seen to exist whether it is a busy street in Cardiff or a rural town in Shropshire, both form a section of our modern society that has been made and remade over time and will continue to do so as our material lives change and develop. Word Count: 747 References Blakeley, G et al (2009) DD101 Learning Companion 1, Milton Keynes: The Open University 'Making social lives on City Road' (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Broseley Local History Society 2010 “Broseley’s History” available from http://www.broseley.org.uk/index.html (accessed 29th October 2010) Self Reflection What I found interesting about this assignment: Looking beyond the things we take for granted and thinking about the reasons why things are as they are. What I found difficult about this assignment: Condensing everything into such a short essay!