Describe How Material Things Help to Create Winners and Losers on a Street Which You Know

Drawing on what you have learned about City Road from Making Social Lives DVD and Learning Companion 1, describe how material things help to create winners and losers on a street which you know.

This essay looks at City Road and Austin Crescent. Austin Crescent, like City Road, is also a conduit for traffic. It benefits from a shop, school, hairdressers and car showroom. Whilst examining winners and losers created by our material world, this essay will concentrate on the street furniture, the consumer population and the inclusion of an educational establishment.

(Material Lives, 2009, scene 1) demonstrates the importance of street furniture in the functioning of City Road. The magnitude makes it an obvious starting point when looking at our material lives from street level. Observations taken from the DVD show it fades into the background yet performs a vital role aiding the safety of both pedestrians and traffic. Elizabeth Silva discusses the functionality of numerous bollards preventing restricted access to pavements caused by cars mounting them. In contrast Austin Crescent has no bollards and cars frequently park on pavements, competing for space with pedestrians, pushchairs and wheel chairs. During busy periods pedestrians are put at risk as pavements are blocked and impassable forcing them to utilise the road. The winners of City Road created by the presence of bollards become losers on Austin Crescent by the absence of such safety measures.

In looking at the consumer population of both streets it is clear City Road caters for a diverse ethnic community. Janet Symmons’s shop (Making Social Lives on City Road, 2009, scene 2) is one such example where the African population are drawn into the community. The provision of ethnically sourced foods and specific hair products enable the African population to keep their cultural identity just as it invites other cultures to sample something unfamiliar. The availability of a diverse range of goods brings the...