Drawing_on_What_You_Have_Learned_About_City_Road,_Outline_Some_of_the_Inequalities_on_a_Street_That_You_Know

Amanda. Kenny. Student Number B6339081. DD131. TMA01. Drawing on what you have learned about City Road, outline some of the inequalities on a street that you know For this first assessment I am going to compare similarities, differences and inequalities on City Road and St James Street, Burnley. Burnley is not a big town and has a population of approximately 74,000 and St James Street has been the 'main street' for centuries. St James Street is very wide which allows the centre of it to be used for seating areas, decorative items and a bandstand which is used regularly for promotional purposes. Both sides of the street are lined with a variety of shops, banks and eating establishments and a large car park nearby means it is always a busy area of the town centre. One of the biggest changes to the street was when most of it was pedestrianized in 1961 and for this assignment I will be concentrating on this area. I will be looking at how it being pedestrianized affects the way people act and how the recent closure of one of the biggest shops affected the town. Although St James Street is pedestrianized vehicles are allowed to enter to do deliveries, generally this is done before trading commences but occasionally a vehicle enters during trading. This happened while I was studying the street for this assignment and I saw an example of one of the questions Simon Bromley suggests we think about 'How is society made and repaired' I watched how people reacted to a vehicle being in the area and it is surprisingly different to how they would normally react. A young couple pushing a pram were walking in the direct path of the vehicle, they could quite easily of moved to allow it to pass but they just continued walking and talking. They acted as though it was completely normal to have a vehicle crawling along behind and the driver just slowly followed until he reached his destination. Similarly on City Road, June the lollipop lady makes a car reverse when it stops on a pedestrian crossing and the driver does it without question ('ordered lives', DVD 2009 scene 1) . Both of these show how our environment can change how we as people react to situations and shows that societies can be made by us. In January 2009 a store that dominated a prime area on the street and had done for over forty years closed down. Woolworths was the biggest shop in Burnley, housed in a 16,000sq foot unit and employing forty nine people. Christine from Burnley said when she first heard it was closing she was 'devastated' but after talking more I found she didn’t feel this way because of the loss of the store or the job losses but because there was nowhere else she would be able to get 'good bargains' in Burnley and she didn’t drive so couldn’t travel too far to shop. After six weeks the unit was still empty and starting to cause concern for local traders and shoppers, just like the petrol station in City Road (material lives, DVD 2009 scene 3). Councillor David Heginbotham from Burnley council told the Lancashire Telegraph 'The decline of the shopping facilities in Burnley are causing concern to many people' The unit stayed empty for six months and although the council did fill the windows with local art many shops close by said trade was extremely slow compared to normal during this time. At the other end of the street the traders said business was 'about the same as normal' and on looking closer I could see that the area around the unit was mainly discount high street stores like ShoeZone and The Works, whereas at the other end of the street we have the higher end high street stores like Marks and Spencer. So we can see that even on reasonably short street like St James we can have a divide and see inequalities. In March 2011 the unit was separated into two and was taken over by Peacocks and The 99p Store, both are discount stores and watching I can see they are both busy and fit in well with the surrounding shops. Local traders have noticed a 'substantial increase' in business already and shoppers are certainly impressed with the two new stores, Christine said 'It’s even better than Woolworths!' When we look at St James Street there is many inequalities but I would say the biggest one is because of the pedestrianized area. On this street people seem to see themselves as more important than vehicles, they don’t even show courtesy to the drivers who also seem to see themselves as being unimportant compared to pedestrians. It is an example of how society can be made. Word Count 776 Simon Bromley 2009, Introducing The Social Sciences, Learning Companion 1, p.15 Milton Keynes, The Open University. 'Ordered Lives' Making Social Lives DVD 2009, Milton Keynes, The Open University. 'Material Lives' Making Social Lives DVD 2009, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Reporter Chris Hopper, Lancashire Telegraph, 2009.