fieldwork reading town

• The aim of this investigation is to collect primary and secondary data in Reading to show the changes in land use and environmental quality with distance from the central business district
• Describe the location of Reading in no more than 50 words
• Why is the internet such a useful resource to Geographers for selecting maps?
• Reasons for choice of study area

  • Close to school so easy and cheap to access
  • Study area is a suitable size to be able to study in one day
  • Close by so can revisit to collect further data if necessary
  • Reading is a good example of a typical UK town with all the patterns and processes of modern urban areas making it suitable for our study
  • Reading has a series of transects from the CBD that can be studied to observe the changes in land-use and environmental quality with distance from the CBD
• Burgess Model


  A model that shows changes in land use across the urban form
• Zones in the Burgess Model

  • Central business district (CBD)
  • Factories and industry
  • Low class housing
  • Medium class housing
  • High class housing
• Prediction (refer to traffic, litter, sound and land use)
• Primary data


  Data that I have collected myself e.g. land use
• Secondary data


  Data that has been collected by someone else e.g. land use maps or newspaper articles
• Sampling


  An important component of any piece of research that means data is collected fairly and is a short cut that can be used to enable you to investigate an entire population and to base hypotheses upon the data collected
• Sampling techniques


  • Stratified sampling
  • Random sampling
  • Systematic sampling
• Transect


  A line following a route along which a survey or observations are made
• Environmental Quality Index


  1. Stratified sampling to choose 8 sites along the transect

  2. Stopped to record environmental quality at each location

  3. Graded each feature using a score from +2 to -2
• Evaluation of Environmental Quality Index method
• Land use survey


  1. Stratified sampling to choose 8 sites along the transect

  2. Stopped to record land use at each site using the RICEPOTS system
• Evaluation of Land use survey method

  
• Traffic count


  1. Stratified sampling to choose 8 sites along the transect

  2. Recorded the amount of traffic that passed by for 2 minutes and recorded it in a tally chart
• We carried this out at regular intervals
• Traffic count


  1. Stratified sampling

  2. Recorded traffic passing by for 2 minutes

  3. Recorded in tally chart
• Geographical information systems


  1. Downloaded map onto Word document

  2. Recorded additional information on environmental quality at 8 sites along transect
• Questionnaire


  1. Carried out pilot study

  2. Asked 5 people at CBD and end of transect

  3. Asked closed questions
• Limitations of looking at only one transect
• Health and safety risks

  • Stranger danger
  • Being hit by car
  • Muggings
  • Blisters/twisted ankles
• Solutions to health and safety risks
• Secondary data


  Looked at online neighbourhood statistics on housing tenure
• Other secondary sources that could be used
• Quantitative data


  Information about quantities that can be measured and written down with numbers
• Qualitative data


  Information about qualities that can't be measured, opinion-based
• How a wordle can assess environmental quality
• Benefits of using mean, mode, and median
• Hypothesis: Environmental quality will decrease with distance from the CBD
• An investigation of the changing environmental quality in the central/ inner urban landscapes of Reading.
• Proportional circles


  • To show traffic survey data across the transect in Reading
• Stacked bar chart


  • To show people's opinions on environmental quality at the start and the end of the transect
• Environmental quality decreases with distance from the CBD.
• Environmental quality in the CBD site 1 and 2

  • High. This is because this area is an important retail area in Reading. Street furniture, litter etc are all carefully managed in order to attract as many people to the centre as possible and to promote spending in Reading. Furthermore the area was pedestrianised and therefore there was limited no noise/ pollution created by the traffic.
• Site 3


  • Commercial area close to the station. Environmental quality was high as industry wants to attract customers and promote business. However, there was a fall in EQ as this was now outside the pedestrian zone and levels of traffic in and around the station were increased.
• As distance from the CBD increased

  Traffic levels increased which led to a significant decline in EQ due to noise and pollution levels created by the traffic.
• Sites 7 and 8

  • Lowest levels of EQ as this was now well away from the areas of retail and commerce. These areas were the inner city. The function here is largely residential with some light industry evident. The housing here is high density and low quality terraced housing. Much of the housing here is rented and sometimes multi occupancy. Furthermore, these locations were on a busy main road leading out of Reading which again led to a reduction in the EQ in this area.
• The flood plains have been left open and green with expensive modern apartments nearby. The green spaces around the River Thames are also used extensively for leisure and recreation e.g. Kings Meadow, Caversham.