Inequalities_of_a_Street_I_Know

Drawing on what you have learned about City Road, outline some of the inequalities on a street that you know. The street that I am going to compare to City Road is from my home village Bishopbriggs, north of Glasgow where I grew up. The village has seen similar changes to that of City Road. In this paper I hope to draw comparisons and outline inequalities in three areas, the changing of society through consumption, disposal and production in relation to the shops in Bishopbriggs, the effect on society by the changing of material infrastructure and finally the impact on people. In the Making Social Lives DVD, Georgina Blakely points out that through the constant reshaping of society this reshaping creates some winners and losers creating new inequalities and differences (‘Making Social Lives on City Road’ 2009, Scene 3). An example of this being the newsagent Colin Buttwell who has seen a strain placed on his business as a result of the larger Tesco and Spar shops moving into the same street. In the village where I grew up, the main street was a hive of activity with shops for all the villagers’ needs. However, through the move to the bigger supermarket type shops where people can get everything they need under one roof the majority of these local shops have all ceased trading as a result of the change in shopping habits. The old shops have since seen regeneration now being reused as Pubs, Restaurants and Fast Food locations. Whilst this is also an example of how society consumes, disposes and produces the material objects around us it is exactly what has happened in City Road. The changing infrastructure that we see in City Road can also be compared to the main street in my village. The DVD introduces us to the many types of street furniture that can be found on City Road which is similar in some aspects to what has happened on the main street in my village (‘Material Lives’ 2009, Scene 1). These days the main street is simply a conduit for traffic to flow through and by the use of multiple non overt signs it encourages traffic to pass through with minimal disruption. This can be evidenced through the use of traffic lights to control flow, double yellow lines preventing vehicles from stopping anywhere, red tarmac surrounding pedestrian crossing places in the middle of the road and the bus stops that are made of red mono blocking. In each of these examples the colours of the signs inform vehicle users when they can proceed or when they have to stop and the areas of the road that they are not allowed to enter. The visible traffic wardens assist with the order of the traffic flow by ensuring compliance with the communication signs that we see in Bishopbriggs. So in this instance we see how material lives can make winners and losers with regards to street users and motorists but at the same time bring order to ensure the differing user groups can co-exist safely. This is similar with City Road in what they have attempted to do as described by the local council official (‘Material Lives’ 2009, Scene 1). The DVD introduces us to the members of the Municipal Club who, as Georgina Blakely points out, appear to be longing and holding some nostalgia for the past (‘Making Social Lives in City Road’ 2009, Scene 5). Whilst this point can be subjective to each individual I can compare this to the current opinions of my family who still live in Bishopbriggs. The view of the street in current time as held by my parents is that it is an unwelcoming place, too much traffic with nowhere to park and certainly not as it used to be in years gone by which is a similar undertone we get from the interview with the men in the Municipal Club. As a result of this, my parents choose not to use the main street where possible, instead travelling further afield to shop or carry out their daily tasks. My parents, despite having a long standing connection to the village appear to be demonstrating signs of disconnection which is what we can determine from the Municipal Club members through their thoughts and comments. There are many inequalities comparisons on my street to what we learn of City Road so far. The examples above are my understanding of the inequalities seen in Bishopbriggs as a result of the constant reshaping of society that I have learned about through the introduction to City Road. Word Count: 744 References: ‘Making Social Lives on City Road’ (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University ‘Material Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University Self Reflection • What I found interesting about this assignment • What I found difficult about the assignment I found the subject matter extremely interesting and it’s enabled me to test my writing skills from my day job. I struggled initially with content mainly due to my interpretation of inequalities, housing, income, healthcare as examples. This became easier once I focussed on winners and losers as the inequalities. Word Count: 50