Today the group visited areas of Stonehouse, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
We focussed in the Southern area, near Stonehouse Pool and the Army Barracks. (We also quested through areas of Union Street.)
The streets where we mainly collected data were: Cremyll Street and Durnford Street.
We then continued South to North heading up to Union Street through Edgecumbe Street.
Whilst we collected the data, we specifically took photos of certain street objects and buildings to find contrasts and temperatures between the different areas.
Some of the ideas we focussed on collected data from were:
- Bins
- Walls
- Pavements
- Protected Areas (Such as garages, compounds)
- Population Density (Numbers of pedestrians spotted)
- Segregated Areas (Posh Buildings covered with trees and fences)
- Open Areas (Fields, Playgrounds, Car Parks)
- Building Quality
- Noise
- Pollution (Litter, Traffic)
- Graffiti
- Refurbishing
- Shipping (In Stonehouse Pool)
We found that going to the coastal end of Stonehouse was very diverse in quality of buildings and pavements. There are view points set up for local people and tourists to visit the area to take in the glorious views of Plymouth Sound. Turns out that within these view points there are benches, so everyone can relax and enjoy the view. However, the quality was very poor.
It seems that the area is out of control, especially when alot of criminal activity occurs at night. You can basically see last nights aftermath thrown all into the place. Graffiti, Blood Stains, Rubbish, Burnt Plastic.. Even human fowl......
Not all of this area has gone to waste. The pavements seem to be untouched from the nights of 'criminal activity' and Fortress Walls have kept their strong shape over the years. It shows that the Plymouth City Councils funds are going to a good cause.
On the other hand, the view points need to be cleaned up and renovated to attract higher numbers of people during the day, and how about some security down there during the night. I swear theres a hobo living down there at nights.
Cremyll Street was a very interesting place to visit because it had a strong contrast of social circumstances and building quality. As we were travelling from south to north of the street we noticed that the south was very well developed and looked after, building quality was much higher and well maintained and the pavements looked like they have never been touched before. The bus stops were made from glass, which made it look posh and superior compared to the bus stops north of the street. Theres a roundabout situated south of the street, covered in greenery with fancy stone and marble. Near this roundabout was a huge building, facing the coast with a brilliant view. The building was very symmetric and looked after very well. I'm guessing that it was built way before the war, untouched by the Blitz and refurbished to keep it in shape.
Beyond the roundabout at Cremyll Street.. The group started to notice discrepencies between well maintained and run down buildings, quality started to decrease dramatically as pavements were crumbling and graffiti on garage doors started to pop up frequently. It seems that the City Council hasn't been able to keep the north of this street free from crime and grime. However, some parts of the northern area of the street weren't too bad. Some garages were built in segregated compounds, well run and the build quality was kept up to date with repainting and structural work which may have happened recently. In conclusion to this I feel that the north of this street has been freckled and mixed with rich and poor living together in a social contrast. This may conclude with conflicts which is evident with graffiti and damaged garage doors but may not escalate higher than this.
Durnford Street is a very posh area. Very well maintained and built up perfectly for richer citizens to live in. The houses are beautiful and thriving with colour just like in the southern areas in Cremyll Street; it's perfect building quality and maintenance with help from the Plymouth City Council has really helped this street thrive. (Bins were also clean and maintained, even the Postal Boxes looked brand new!). The main reason it is more attractive than Cremyll is because the area is situated next to the Royal Marine Barracks. The main Barracks has been standing since 1867 (originally established in 1781) and has held an important part in Plymouth's long standing history. Both military, social and political factors have swayed the usage of the Barracks and has been on the balance of keeping the place maintained. To this day the building is well maintained and is the 'poshest' building in the street, despite being drab with colour compared to the homes south to it. The Plymouth City Council takes good care of this building and makes sure it is in top shape and will continue doing so for many years to come.. But this really affects the homes around the area which are going to waste.
Going down Durnford Street was like taking a trip to a residential estate in old London (but better!), the houses are dated before the War, seemingly untouched by warfare, and the colours are dazzling and different compared to 21st century brick houses. It looks very well looked after mainly by the rich population that lives there. Today I noticed alot of scaffolding on a couple of buildings and small road works going on. This shows that the street is improving day by day, becoming a high class residential area. On the other hand there were one or two houses that looked a bit drab still, lower class citizens cannot afford to renovate the fronts of these homes and normally focus on the inside, fooling the beauty on the outside. It seems again that in this area, the upper and lower classes are forced to coincide with each other and live side by side. It seems to be common like this in places like Plymouth and London. Examples of this could be something like the dockyard, the upper class maybe the managers whilst the lower class could be the workers living by one-another to make it easier to get to work everyday.
When walking through Cremyll Street; I noticed that the houses with garage compounds belonged to the people of Durnford Street. This shows how close these two different classes of citizens coincide with each other in daily life, they could be allies or enemies.. who knows what happens in this part of Stonehouse. I wouldn't want to risk it at night.
We encountered a little street named Strand Street. This place was very similar to Cremyll Street but mainly drabbed in building quality. It was slap bang next to the harbour/marina. It had a local Newsagents and Cafe which seemed to be maintained well (due to private funding) but the local pub had looked like it had been bombed just last night. I noticed again another contrast between both directions of the street. The west end of the street towards the harbour/marina was very run down, no efforts of renovation or refurbishment has ever been made in many years there. However as the group was travelling through to the east end I noticed quality of buildings, pavement and scenery began to improve. Concluding that upper class citizens maybe situated closer at this end compared to the lower classes living to the west. However the east end of Strand St. is very close to the Royal Marine Barracks in Durnford Street. Hence the high quality in buildings, pavements, walls and scenery.
Travelling up to Union Street was very daunting. The area contrasted instantly to the mixed upper and lower social classes to just the lower classes living in the area. Council flat, upon Council flat can basically be seen running throughout the whole area of Union Street. The majority of this is very run down, pavements broken and crumbled and overused; graffiti covering walls, garage doors, council flat walls and road signs. Union Street could be described as hectic? Traffic flowing through from one end to the other is on the constant, noise combined with this makes it an unhospitable place to be in for long periods of time. The place is falling to pieces in my opinion. Even the group felt that the place needs to be renovated and needs heavy concentration of Plymouth City Council funds to try and turn the place around...
From West to East I can see another contrast in social and building quality aspects. In the West we have all of the council homes and flats, all bundled in a cluster. The majority of them built seem to have been standing for more than 20-30 years. With the occasional spotting of modernised multi-story flats and neighbourhoods (such as Kings Street as we went towards the centre of the street). I also noticed that there is alot of Ethnic mixing in the area, many foreigners such as Polish workers can be spotted living in this area. Finding a living in this area must be very hard for them and rough to live in. There maybe conflicts during nights with the local Plymothians and this is were social conflicts begin (or have been going for some time). This leads to vandalism, graffiti, damage to property, smashed windows and structural damage to many buildings. The Council may say that they are trying to improve these areas.. but where are the improvements?
As the group travelled to the East of Union Street, there was still alot of traffic, alot of noise and activity on the roads. But on the paths, it was a quiet scenery. This area is renouned for its social night scenes, clubbing and social businesses have set up in these areas so locals from Union Street and the surrounding areas of Plymouth come together for a pint and a dance. During the day the place seems like a ghost street. The clubs and bars seem to be well maintained and looked after (normally private schemes to keep building quality perfect). The pavements are run down due to the constant night activities and lack of Council attention towards this area. Graffiti can be found on back doors to these buildings and areas can be dark and creepy. Other than that, this area seems more organised than its western counterpart. There is one building of interest that gets the group going. It's the Dance Academy.
The Dance Academy, Union Street is one of the greatest structurally built icons in Plymouth. It's classic symmetrical style with pillars, posh arch windows and art paintings really makes this an historical building in Plymouth. There is so much history that made this building a listed building which is protected from being knocked down. The building is privately owned, but problems with its re-opening hasn't been clear and may remain closed for a while. In this time, the building is starting to loose it's colour. It used to be a proper theatre (even my mother remembers this and she used to tap dance there for competitions) until it was converted into a disco club. Since then it was still thriving until present issues with private owning and a drugs raid has made the building cease to thrive again. I really hope this building gets renovated and re-opened soon. The building is incredible and can't be left to waste, slowly being dissolved by environmental conditions.
Overall, I feel that the condition of Union Street is worsening. The place hasn't been focussed on with projects to improve the quality of buildings and living in the area. Whenever the council puts money into areas like this, the area stays the same and never improves to a certain degree. West Union Street continues to become a dump, full of crime, grime and time seems to stop in this place. The area hasn't been improved in many years and rebuilding and refurbishing projects seem to finish half way or not even exist. The colour of the area is dying, if not already dead.
Social and Political factors are preventing progress to Union Street and some of the surrounding areas, which is ruining it for the majority of the city that is still evolving. Plymouth may be 20 years behind in building quality and design compared to other cities in the United Kingdom, but the Council tries it's best to maintain the city with the available funds it has. Maybe the Council isn't spending enough to accommodate the needs of the social classes? I know for sure that Social factors are spoiling the evolution of the Stonehouse area. Vandalism is really ruining everything. I keep noticing that quality of buildings and scenery decrease as the population density increases in certain areas and that is really seen in Union Street and the surrounding areas with Council flats. With vandalism on the increase, the costs of maintaining buildings with value and streets such as pavements are becoming not only more expensive, but harder to notice. I feel that the Council is being put off helping these areas because whenever they establish something like a post box, the next minute it's either gone, or damaged. It's a drain of resources at the end of the day. It's a never ending cycle for Stonehouse. The Council wants to improve it but is too afraid that the people of Stonehouse will abuse it to a level that its beyond repair...
More info on the Stonehouse trip coming soon!
