Human fieldwork

Enquiry question

Has urban regeneration in Boscombe been successful? 

location of the study area

Located in the south west of England in the county of Dorset in the suburbs of Bournemouth.

Why was this a suitable site for your investigation?

It had recently undergone regeneration and is still undergoing. It is accessible, there was parking and facilities: you’re able to walk around in a short amount of time.

Justify one primary data collection method used in relation to the aim(s) of your human geography enquiry

We walked along a transect from Churchill Gardens across the ward of Boscombe towards the beach carrying out a bi-polar environmental quality survey. The environmental quality survey was useful as the results would help us to prove or disprove our hypothesis that the regeneration of Boscombe had been successful. This was a very useful method as we considered a number of different aspects of land use and the built environment, giving us a greater overview of the environment and whether it had, in our opinion, improved as a result of regeneration

Justify the use of maps or photographs or field sketches in your human geographical enquiry

We used a map of our study area to define the different places we planned to carry out our land use and bi-polar environmental quality survey at. The base map was created using the Dorset Explorer website. Using a map from a trusted source Dorset County Council, we could be sure that it was to scale and so it helped us to undertake a systematic sampling approach, stopping every 100 metres.

Suggest one reason why risk assessment was important when planning your enquiry

Risk assessment is essential when planning an enquiry to ensure that everyone helping to collect data, within a group, understands the range of hazards they could face and takes steps to reduce the likelihood of them occurring. For example, if participants know where busy roads are in advance, they would be more likely to consult the map or look around to ensure they find the safest place to cross. 

Assess the effectiveness of your data collection methods - Environmental Quality

conducted an environmental quality assessment along the transect and whether they showed opportunities for regeneration, we used a bipolar scale, -2 to +2,  and used the scores to identify poorer areas of Boscombe.

Assess the effectiveness of your data collection methods - Environmental Quality - effectiveness

Method was effective because it’s quantitative data with systematic samplings; we collected data at 12 sites along a transect to be able to identify trends and compare data in areas to see if regeneration at the coast has been successful.

Assess the effectiveness of your data collection methods - Land use/HMO

conducted a land use map to see what land uses existed and whether these showed opportunities for regeneration, we also counted the number of HMOs to identify poorer areas of Boscombe. 

Assess the effectiveness of your data collection methods - Land use/HMO - effectiveness

Method was effective because it’s quantitative data with systematic samplings; we collected data at 12 sites along a transect to be able to identify trends and compare data in areas to see if regeneration at the coast has been successful.

data presentation method: Radar graph of bi-polar environmental quality survey

Presented it on a radar graph using a bipolar scale ranging from -2 to +2. We used four axes to show the four different pieces of data and their score in the four sectors: LGV (Litter,Grafiti, Vandalism), Greenery/open space, Building quality, safety if alone. To help visually show our results effectively we only presented four of our twelve sites evenly split so we can see a pattern of data across our transect. For each site I used a different colour.

data presentation method: Radar graph of bi-polar environmental quality survey - strengths

Easily compare the result from four different sites - used different colours so it's easily to visually compare. Easier to compare the characteristics of the sites and their scores. Visually it looks good and it’s easier to analyse my results.

data presentation method: Radar graph of bi-polar environmental quality survey - weakness

If sites overlap it can become hard to read. It’s not as accurate as we only use four sites - by only presenting four we miss anomalies.

data presentation method: Land use map using DorsetExplorer.com basemap

 used a simple colour-coded land use map, to present my findings about the dominant land use - my work was presented on the same base map from Dorset Explorer that I used to record data in the field. Colour can be a good way of presenting or interrogating a spatial pattern, and we hoped to see a pattern of change as we walked south towards the sea.

data presentation method: Land use map using DorsetExplorer.com basemap - strengths

The key could be used to decipher the colours and was presented on the map

data presentation method: Land use map using DorsetExplorer.com basemap - weaknesses

The key was too big - we might have simplified it down to 4 or 5 categories to ensure the pattern was more obvious