winchester

How and why have the demographic and cultural characteristics of Winchester city center changed

• 2/3 christian population, 13% lower than 2001, % of no religion increased by 71.5%

• % of over 65 increased by 18% since 2001

• large decline in young adults (25-29) from 19.5% to 16.6%

• population of roughly 45,000

• voted best place to live in britain in 2006

• expensive and affluent

• 91.9% born in the UK, 3.6% EU born and similar culture to UK. 5.3% from religions with strongly contrasting views

• increasing older and wealthier population as expensive prices and houses mean that young people and first time buyers cannot afford to live in the area and struggle to buy in the area so look for cheaper alternative areas

How has the character of Winchester city center been shaped by shifting flows of people at different scales?

• Built by romans 70 AD. Romans left in 407AD and town life broke down. Winchester left abandoned for the most part. 

  • 676 Bishop of Wessex moved seat to Winchester, transforming the Old Minster into a cathedral.

• Middle ages: industry (tailors, weavers, dyers, drapers) expanded as more people moved in.

  •  1500 industry fell off, causing people to move out, population dropped to around 4000. 

  • 19th Century: Rail links were built into the city, allowing more tourists to come to the city, along with more industry.

• Overall, Winchester hasn’t been shaped by moving populations, rather the developments within the city have pulled in new residents. This growth has increased exponentially in recent history, the population has grown to almost 125,000, from just 10% of that (13,000) ~150 years ago

How has the character of Winchester city center been shaped by shifting flows of resources, money and investment at different scales?

Local:

• investment from the cathedral in areas such as the cathedral grounds or the christmas market which brings in a large cash flow each year

• winchester city council, proposed lots of redevelopment such as the silver hill regeneration project (yet to be undertaken)

• out commuters from areas such as southampton, eastleigh, london buy houses in winchester for lots of money

• in commuters bring skills in from areas such as eastleigh, southampton and fareham

Global:

• Glocalisation, adaptation of global chains to fit winchesters sense of place e.g. The Ivy in a historical building.

• tourists coming on for events such as christmas market / to see the historical elements, big groups coming in on tour buses bring lots of benefits to winchesters economy

How has Winchester city center been shaped by past and present connections regionally/nationally/globally

• began as Roman town (built 70 AD) streets still laid out in grid like pattern

• 5th century- bishop of wessex moved seat to Winchester and old minister became the cathedral affected current demographic of culture (2/3 christians)

• industrial revolution (18th and 19th century) railway built reaching winchester (1840) encouraged tourists and industry → populations grew 6000 to 17,000

• voted best place to live in britain (2006) encouraged people to move in also increasing house prices- least affordable UK city to buy a home in → Halifax bank 2021

• silver hill regeneration scheme- winchester city council agreement with thornhill properties (2003/2009) to improve quality of retail, residential and public space, still in action

• 2007 → christmas market opened as rebranding scheme

How has the character of winchester city center been impacted by external force of multi national corporations / government policy?

Case study - Silver Hill regeneration:

• International key players: Thornfield Properties (then Henderson Global Investments), JTP architects

(put forward original plans to include 287 residential units, ‘35% being affordable’, 150,000 sq ft of retail space), with expected cost of £150 million with 10% profit

• National key players: NHS, Stagecoach, YMCA (some would-be users of area), UK Government, (who influence…) Winchester City Council

• Local Key players: Winchester Deserves better, (including…) Cllr Kim Gottlieb

How do humans perceive, engage with and form attachments to Winchester city center?

• Humans- insider Frank Turner - local singer-songwriter shows his attachement to winchester city center through his songs. descibes his “home” and the fond memories he has of his childhood growing up in winchester. his song mentions specific winchester places, namely Buttercross, Cathedral grounds and the King Arthur statue

• Outsider Winchester homeless - negative attachments, left feeling isolated

How do they present and represent Winchester City center to others

• media- BBC news- “least affordable city to buy a home in” - this is providing a negative representaion of winchester

• Hampshire Chronicle- “Named Sunday Times Best Place to Live 2021”- very positive representation which mentions “schools, air quality, transport etc”

How are different external agencies attempting to influence or create specific place meanings and shape the actions and behaviours of others (Winchester)?

•Henderson global investments- part of the silver hill regeneration scheme that took over Thornfield properties after the company lost its funding from the banks, this therefore allowed the scheme to go ahead, however they changed the scheme, no affordable housing on the site and fewer, larger units 

•Thornfield properties- they were first appointed to construct a regeneration scheme for the Silver hill area that had become run down and not up to the standard that Winchester desires.  They aimed to regenerate the Silver hill area with:

287 residential units, 35% being affordable

Nearly 100,000 square feet of new retail space 

New bus stop

New public car park 

•JTP architects were appointed by the council to produce a new development scheme called ‘ Central Winchester Regeneration ‘  that aims to preserve its ‘winchesterness’ with it aiming for a pedestrian friendly quarter that is distinctly Winchester  and supports a vibrant retail area and will incorporate the imaginative reuse of existing buildings. 

• Kim Gottlieb launched the ‘winchester deserves better’ campaign that claimed the plans for the silver hill area was out of date, has too much retail space which would undermine the high street and it failed to account the increase of online shopping. These criticisms were supported by some existing retailers

How and why have the demographic and cultural characteristics of Winchester city center changed?

• Since 2001 - 2011, percentage of population over 65 increased by 18.4%

• Also a large decline in young adults by 2.9%

• Between 2011 and 2021 population increased by 9.3% - due to transport accessibility, history, economic opportunities etc

• Average age is 43 - 1 year increase from 2011 - not very appealing for younger people, events e.g. xmas market is directed towards older people

• Average house price increasing - 2021 average price was £630,400 - due to higher income residents and location proximity to london, southampton etc

• 2021: 48.6% christian, a 14.6% decrease despite winchester’s history being linked to christianity, cathedral etc

• 59.3% had british only identity, 5.6% had non UK only identity

• Increasing percentage of ethnic groups like asian/asian british

How is Winchester represented by different forms of media?

Advertising: Winchester Uni (outsiders)

Media: phil spence (outsider)

Sunday times (outsider)

BBC News (outsider) NEUTRAL

Poet: Jane Austen (insider)

Singer: Frank Turner (insider)

Night Shelter / homeless (outsider)

How does the media give contrasting images to that presented formally or statistically

• Census Data: Increasing population (9.3% 2011-2021), low population density, high average median age (43), ageing population (13.4% increase 50-64 4.4% decrease 35-49), rise in private renting, 42% no religion, 48% christian, 54% very good health, 94% white, very low level crime 16.07%

• Clone Town: Placeless, homogenised, lacking, deprived, boring, unattractive 

what are the past processes of development in Winchester city center?

• 70-400 AD → winchester was built in about 70AD by the Romans and was called Venta Belgar

• 5th015th→ 871 century 21 year old King Alfred became King of Wessex and made Winchester the capital city

• 16th-17th century→ plague continued to break out in winchester in 1603, 1625 and 1665/66

• industrial revolution- guildhall rebuilt in 1711. royal hampshire county hospital opened in 1736

• 20th and 21st century- 1901 King Alfred statue build, 1950s and 60s town center redeveloped

How have they influenced the social and economic characteristics of Winchester city center and therefore its present meaning

• These past processes have shaped Winchester’s unique sense of place due to its medieval history and its old infrastructure such as the cathedral and King Alfred’s Statue 

• Winchester has millions of tourists every year and they are all attracted by Winchester’s history for being a capital of sussex in the past

What are the present processes of development in Winchester city center?

• 1914→ first cinema opened 1920s council house estate was built in stanmore. by 1939 council had built 1200 new houses

• 1974 → high street was pedestrianized

• 1991 → brooks center opened

• 2003 → winchester city council entered into agreement with Thornfield properties to promote a comprehensive redevelopment

How are they influencing the social and economic characteristics of Winchester city center and therefore its present meaning?

• Winchester is now known for being a cathedral city which is very conveniently located 60 miles south-west of London and 14 miles north of Southampton

• It is also known for its great schools and their grades which are better than the national average