What is Castle wards situation?
East of the river soar and is mainly located towards the south of the CBD.
What is Castle wards situation like?
On the floodplain of the river soar.
Less than 100m above sea level.
4km X 1.5km
What is Castle wards relief like?
Flat so able to expand with slopes facing away from the original city to towards the south.
What is drainage like?
On the drainage basin of the river soar which also flows through Castle Ward.
What is the predominant land use?
Mostly a built up urban area, with several urban parks. Has a large residential area to the south.
What was useful about the OS map in showing characteristics of Castle Ward?
- Was useful for showing the general shape and accessibility of the area, also clearly outlines major roads and important areas of land use.
- Shows the physical geography of the land such as relief but does not show demographics or specifics such as land use or infrastructure.
What was useful about the street map in showing characteristics of Castle Ward?
- Useful as it shows major arms of interest such as dominant land use and small side streets which were not shown on the OS map.
- More useful when wanting to look at a small area in greater detail and was also much easier to read and comprehend.
- Does not show physical geography such as relief or drainage.
What was useful about the historical map in showing how the character of Castle Ward has changed?
- In the past 180 years has expanded to well out from the city centre, mainly towards the south towards areas such as South Wigston.
- There is now an increased number of connecting roads as well as a much larger residential area.
- Map does not show how land use or the demographics of the area have changed.
How have endogenous factors shaped the character of Castle ward?
- Creation of new walk meant that suburbs were connected to the city and it became much more accessible for those living outside the centre. Allowed people to move further out.
- Trams within the city meant that it became even more accessible so people were able to live further out, potentially started counter-urbanisation.
- Creation of urban parks, made it a more pleasant place to live so started the expansion of areas such as Clarendon Park. May attract new people to the area.
How have exogenous factors shaped the character of Castle Ward?
- The creation of the railways meant that it was more accessible to people and businesses outside the area. Allowed for links to other cities and industrial growth as it became possible to ship goods to elsewhere and vice versa, in turn created more jobs.
How have past processes of development influenced the social and economic characteristics of Castle Ward?
- Building of New Walk in 1785 meant the city was more accessible for those living outside in the suburbs, meant that people potentially moved out of the city.(Social)
- Residential area built in 1877 meant that people could live within close proximity of factories in the CBD. (Social)
- Train station and trams made the city more accessible to not only those living within it but also people and businesses from else where. This brought flows of both money and people.
- Expansion of Leicester university saw an influx of students from across the globe, led to studentification within the area, now potentially known as a student area.
How have present processes of development influenced the social and economic characteristics of Castle Ward?
- Further studentification due to rising popularity of the university, has brought bars and shops to the area to cater for their needs, also not only changed social aspect of Clarendon park but also boosts the local economy.
- Richard 3rd being found led to the rebranding as a ‘historic city’ which has further created a ‘tourist hotspot’.
Lead to an influx in tourists which means that services are needed to cater for them such as hotels, restaurants and shops, this boosts the local economy and creates jobs etc. Has PME.
How is Castle Ward represented by the media?
- Book of Adrian Mole shows how it was in the past and how it has changed, covers the dark side of the past such as denindusliarisation and the high levels of unemployment also touches upon migration an the racial tension in the area.
- Leaflets were made to attract people and businesses to the area so only show best parts of the city, not entirely representative. Show an artsy and historic city.
- Street art of LCFC mural portrays a song sense of community spirt and sense of pride although may only be representative of a short time period and to certain people.
- TV/Film shows a huge sense of pride and community spirit as it seems the city comes together in both happiness and sadness, although not regular occurrences so do not necessarily entirely representative of the whole city. Shows the people are potentially empathetic.
- Guardian newspaper paints a positive picture of Leicester showing its good transport links and schools. Does mention the lack of cultural diversity within Clarendon park compared to the rest of Leicester. Is from an insiders perspective so many be slightly bias.
Castle Wards demographic characteristics (statistics)?
30% - White British
50% - Born in the uk
Castle Wards social characteristics (statistics)?
12%- Professional qualifications
35%- Degrees
6-20%- With no qualifications
Castle Wards economic characteristics?
65%- economically active
20-73%- economically inactive
Castle Wards age structure (2011 census)?
16-24- 50%
25-65- 40%
Mean age- 28
Castle wards tenure (2011 census)?
Owned outright- 9.6%
Owned with mortgage- 11%
Privately rented- 55%
What were the most common crimes in Castle ward between August 2017- July 2018?
- Violent and sexual offences- 2159 (22%)
- Anti-social behaviour- 1613 (16%)
- Shoplifting- 1235 (12%)
Evaluation of data collection sites (statistics)
- CDRC was useful if wanting to look at a particular road or selection of roads however when trying to look at the area as a whole it became more difficult as you have to calculate an average based off of all the data.
- The census website was really useful for looking at the whole area as they were detailed and specific.
However last census in 2011, may be outdated. - Police website was simple and easy to use and allowed me to look at exactly what crimes had been committed and where. Also had a feature which allowed me to draw the exact section i wanted to look at.
What is the sense of place and lived experience of the past of Castle Ward for individuals?
- Pensioner describes how Clarendon park has changed in since the 1940s.
Queens road had all shops needed to do full weekly shop, area full of industry, freeman’s common prev all allotments changed to retail in 1970s used to go trainspotting there. Centre of Leicester was all roads not pedestrianised, used to be large hotels (now haymarket), used to travel by trams.
Before the ring road was built in 1960s there was a huge influx in traffic. Claim the two biggest influences were the bombings during the war and an increase in post war migration.
What is the sense of place and lived experience of the present of Castle Ward for individuals?
- Student at Leicester uni, say its a student area with a convenient central location, has a nice friendly feel. Students can be inconsiderate to neighbours. Has a positive perception of place. Say that the biggest influence has been students. May be bias as they are contributing to the problem.
- WQE student, has a positive experience of place but sometimes feel unsafe as due to lack of light and high crime, culturally diverse area, activities run by community has a strong community feel.
How has Castle Ward been shaped by flows of people?
- 2004 entrants of new countries to EU saw influx of eastern Europeans, set up services to cater for their needs e.g.mini supermarkets, changes cultural characteristics, boosts economy. (Global)
- British nationality act allowed all commonwealth citizens the right to move to Britain, saw Indian’s, Muslims, Sikhs migrating to the city centre, also saw Afro Caribbean migrants. Helped to rebuild after the war and worked in factories, boosted economy and changed social characteristics. (Global)
- Received more than 20,000 East African Asians due to expelling of Uganda’s Asian population. Live to the north of Castle Ward but now mostly all moved to surrounding areas. (Global)
- Studentification due to expansion of uni, brought services tailored to their needs, boosted local economy. (National)
How has Castle Ward been shaped by shifting flows of money, resources, investment and ideas?
- Hammersons redeveloped Highcross, created 140 retail outlets, apartments. Footfall of 17.5m per year, created jobs, people spend elsewhere which encourages more businesses to move to the area = PME. Conflict created as upper class so some feel like they don’t fit in.
- Mattioli Woods set up new £25m mixed land use development (offices, retail and apartments), employ highly skilled individuals but very few jobs for low skilled, creates conflict? PME as regenerates area and potentially attracts more TNC’s to the area.
- Local Enterprise Partnerships fund, funded by Government, EU and private investors, £20.3m aimed to create jobs and create growth, developed Haymarket bus station, pedestrianisation, Richard 3rd visitor centre. A global and local scale as changes local but investment global. Has created jobs and had PME. Conflict caused as difficult for people who are visually impaired to navigate, created more traffic, claim they have not spent enough on.
