With reference to what you have learnt about City Road, outline some of the differences across time and space on a street that you know.

Introduction

In this piece of work I am going to describe Lark Lane I aim to compare not only the differences of this lane to City Road but also some similarities as well.

Some differences and similarities I will be comparing will be for instance, the kinds of shops, what people live and work on the Lane and City Road and also how they both compare to each other not just through the day but also in the night.

Lark Lane

Lark Lane can be described as a quaint, Victorian street ,It is a mixture of new and established bars, restaurants, cafes and Boutiques which makes it a very popular place that attracts a mix of young, old, professionals, bohemians and students. There are many people to be found on Lark Lane that have lived there all their lives, that still go the same public house they went to forty years ago.

The infrastructure to Lark Lane is very different to City Road. For instance the length of Lark Lane is approximately 500 metres in length; it is used throughout the day as a through road to the park as it links up one major road to another. Which like City Road does become very busy and congested this is especially so during the night time when people are visiting the restaurants and pubs. People Double Park along the lane which can make it difficult to drive along, it has no road markings or traffic signals this can be seen as having no real order. Again this is unlike City road as it is a ‘main road’ and is well managed and well controlled with traffic lights, bollards and road markings.

Lark Lane there is a feeling of safety whilst walking along at night. We all need order to help things run smoothly as seen in (‘Ordered lives’ 2009 scene 5) bouncers play a key role whilst at night along Lark Lane as well as police patrolling throughout the night. Unlike what was said on (‘making social lives on city road’ 2009 scene 5), the elderly gentleman felt he couldn’t walk along City Road at night due to feeling unsafe and again in scene 8 even the teenagers felt it was not a safe place to go at night as it was seen as ‘rough’ even though they had not seen any violence.

There are vast arrays of cultures that have opened restaurants, indeed this is similar to City Road but you will only find two or three fast food shops whereas City Road you could find dozens. Along the Lane there is a Tai restaurant and next door to that we have a Greek restaurant, opposite to that we have an Indian restaurant and a number of English Public houses. Further up the Lane there is a Mexican restaurant, a Jamaican restaurant and more English restaurants. Many of these restaurants being run by immigrants that have moved to Britain. This is similar to two people (‘connected lives’ 2009 scene 2 and 5) Nof and Tamara who were from Iraq and Russia who had come to Britain. ‘Society is made partly by the multiple connections between people, and between people and places’ (Blakeley et al, 2009, p.37).

The Lane caters for the young and old and it has a big student population living within the area.

Changes have occurred with different use of the buildings along the Lane, with Tesco opening across the road many local greengrocers and butchers have closed down and this has made way for more bars and restaurants to open. A police station was once along the lane, now it is used as a community centre and houses craft fairs of a weekend and throughout the week it is used as an after school kids club. This was seen in City Road when the Private estate was transformed into a tennis club which then becomes a farmers market during the weekend. You could say that this is an example of how material objects contribute to the repairing of social lives- an unused building is given a new use and a new lease of life. (Blakeley et al, 2009, p.30)

Conclusion

No two streets are the same, each is unique, and the people that work, live or visit it are going to have different views about the street. But ultimately to know how society is made up we need to look at not just the people but also the surroundings.

References

• Blakeley, G., Bromley, S., Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E. And Taylor, s. (2009) learning companion 1, Introducing the Social Sciences, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

• ‘Connected lives’ (2009) Making Social lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

• ‘Making Social lives on City Road’ (2009) Making Social lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

• ‘Ordered Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Word count: 743

Self reflection

I didn’t really like this module at first, but the more I have read and completing this TMA I have found it interesting.

I found it difficult only to the point of having personal problems and not being able to complete the TMA on time