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Stage 2: Fieldwork

To get the general 'feel' of an area think about the following

	Qualitative	Quantitative
Social	Types of cars; clothing worn etc (general photographic evidence)	Level of disposable incomes / purchasing power; typical shopping basket of local shops
Economic	General feel of the area, e.g. photos which illustrate changes	Amount of unemployment / range and type of employment
Environmental	General 'feel' of area, less threatening, cleaner, safer etc	Litter surveys; biodiversity; street cleanliness

Use the criteria in the table to compare contrasting areas urban that have been selected. How and why are there differences?

Bi-polar analysis

Bi-polar analysis allows you to gather quantitative data in each contrasting area. Choose 10 criteria - the table below shows some examples.

LOW QUALITY	Rurality score					HIGH QUALITY
	-2	-1	0	1	2
Traffic congestion						Pedestrianised
Low evel of housing repair						High level of housing repair
No greenery						Plentiful greenery
Litter						No litter
Graffiti						No graffiti
Dog fouling						No dog fouling
Street parking						Off-road parking
Pedestrians unsafe						Pedestrians safe
Pollution (smell)						Pleasant/neutral smell
Ugly						Attractive

Alternatively, you could divide up information into categories, e.g.

• Repair of buildings and gardens - broken windows, condition of paintwork, condition of roof, size of garden, tidiness of garden, parking off-road, broken pipes / gutters, condition of brickwork
• Vandalism - broken glass, amount (coverage) of graffiti, size of graffiti, old accumulations of litter, size of litter items, dog fouling, vandalism of street furniture (e.g. phone boxes, roadsigns), vandalism of buildings, evidence of fire damage

Similar criteria could be constructed for visual pollution, shopping quality and safety (from traffic and crime). Instead of scoring from -2 to +2, you could use a scale of 0, +, ++ and +++ instead.

To improve your bi-polar survey, aim to be as objective as you can. Surveys carried out by more than one person will give you a variety of opinions. Be aware that most criteria are not perfect indicators of deprivation. The pattern of on-street parking may denote deprivation, for example, or it may just reflect the distribution of pre 20th century housing.

A written description and/or photographs may help you be consistent in giving scores. One way you could do for scoring 'litter' this is shown below

• 0 = no litter visible
• + = no more than 10 small items visible, all recent
• ++ = large amount of recent litter items
• +++ = accumulation of large items, some items have clearly be in situ for monts

Accessibility surveys

Construct a survey to help you collect data on how easy it is for people with limited mobility (e.g. wheelchair users / elderly people / the visually impaired) to move around the built environment. The example below was designed to be used for 10 sites at regular intervals along a single street. At each sample site, record the condition of the pavement on one side of the street and the condition of the five nearest doorways.

Sample point	Score	Example: Site 1: Post Office
Is the pavement wide enough for a wheelchair?
- the road is pedestrianised	+2	2
- Yes	+1
- No	0
How smooth is the ground surface?
- Very smooth (no broken slabs or drain covers)	+2
- Some broken slabs or drain covers	0	0
- Rough (e.g. broken slabs, puddles)	-1
Is there tactile paving?
-Yes	+1
- No	0	0
Are the signs easy to read?
- Yes (low, large symbols)	+1	1
- No	0
Is the kerb dropped at crossings?
- Yes	+2	2
- No	0
How many obstructions are there (e.g. scaffolding, bollards)?
- Few or none	+1	1
- Many	0
Are most doorways wide enough for wheelchairs?
- Yes	+2
- No	0	0
Do most doors open easily?
- Yes	+1
- No	0	0
Do most doorways have hand rails?
- Yes	+1	1
- No	0
Are most doors painted in contrasting colours?
- Yes	+1
- No	0	0
Can most doorbells be reached easily?
- Yes	+1	1
- No	0
TOTAL		8

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