High Wycombe

High Wycombe’s CBDAn investigation

5/5/2009Geography GCSE CourseworkCharlie Etheridge

Contents

ContentsI predict that the sphere of influence for the High Street will be bigger than the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre. The reason that I say this is because I think that more people will be coming to the High Street to go to work therefore they will be coming from further afield. Whereas with the Eden Centre I predict that more people will be coming in to shop therefore they will not be coming from the likes of London because there are other shopping centres in London like Westfields or even Harrods.........................................................................................................9

I predict that the Eden Centre will be more popular with most people however especially with younger people because it will contain the facilities that younger people prefer like the cinema and bowling. Whereas the older people will prefer the High street because it has facilities that they prefer like banks and the market.............................................................................................11

I predict that the services in the Eden Centre will be of a higher quality than the services in the High Street according to the Bennett – Wallace Service Index........................................................13

I predict that the sphere of influence for the High Street will be bigger than the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre. The reason that I say this is because I think that more people will be coming to the High Street to go to work therefore they will be coming from further afield. Whereas with the Eden Centre I predict that more people will be coming in to shop therefore they will not be coming from the likes of London because there are other shopping centres in London like Westfields or even Harrods.......................................................................................................30

I predict that the Eden Centre will be more popular with most people however especially with younger people because it will contain the facilities that younger people prefer like the cinema and bowling. Whereas the older people will prefer the High street because it has facilities that they prefer like banks and the market.............................................................................................30

I predict that the services in the Eden Centre will be of a higher quality than the services in the High Street according to the Bennett – Wallace Service Index........................................................30

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Aim: To investigate High Wycombe’s Central Business DistrictObjectives:

1. To compare the sphere of influence of the High Street and the Eden Centre.2. To compare the services in the High Street and the Eden Centre. 3. To compare the popularity of the High Street and Eden Centre.

Where is High Wycombe?

High Wycombe is a medium-sized town about forty miles north-west of central London, which grew

up around the A40 when that was the main road from London to Oxford. The town has good rail

links into London. High Wycombe is surrounded by some of the best countryside in southern

England and is situated in a deep valley in the heart of the Chilterns. High Wycombe is also very near

to the River Thames which is most commonly used for recreation. The town is also about 30 miles

away from Heathrow airport. Therefore I think that the town is in a very good location because you

can get to a plane, boat, or train within an hour.

The Eden Centre was completed in 2008 along with the rebuilding of the old bus terminal and is

located in the heart of High Wycombe right next to the High Street. It is actually an extension of the

old Octagon Centre which is now rather dilapidated in comparison.

On the above map you can see where High Wycombe is in comparison to the rest of Europe.

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Above is a map that shows the position of High Wycombe in relation to the rest of the South of

England.

Shown in the map above is the Location of High Wycombe in relation to London and Oxford. Often in the 19th century High Wycombe was used as a stop over town for people travelling from London to Oxford; and was known a ‘Chepping Wycombe’.

60 miles

High Wycombe

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Above is a map of High Wycombe in relation to its surrounding areas and as you can see High Wycombe is by far the largest town in the area.

Above is a map of the centre of High Wycombe and the CBD. It is also possible to see the River Rye and the Rye Park. There is also Wycombe General Hospital which is the main hospital in the area.

Theories

The CBD

The CBD dominates the commercial and cultural activity in a city. In many large cities it is immediately recognizable by the tall skyscrapers, the neon lights at night and the very high density of buildings, traffic and people. The CBD is usually highly accessible. It is the focus of roads, with bus and railway stations nearby. The largest urban areas often have a mass rapid transport system such as the London Underground or Newcastle Metro. The CBD usually has the highest density of bus services and taxis in the whole of the urban area. Although the residential population is only very small, during the day and evening the CBD is crowded with people working, shopping, or seeking entertainment.

Core Frame Model

This model shows the land use in the CBD of cities. Parts of the frame include:

The zone of discard, where the CBD has moved from. The zone of assimilation, where the CBD is moving to and new shops are moving into. The inner core, the current CBD with the majority of large shops and office blocks.

The Bid-Rent Theory

The bid-rent theory suggests that the price and demand for property changes as the distance to the CBD increases. It also states that different land users will be more likely to compete for land closer to the CBD. This is based on the suggestion that retail businesses will want to increase their profitability, therefore they will most probably be willing to pay more money to be closer to the CBD however they will pay less money the further away from the CBD they are.

Urban Land Use Models

There are many different types of urban land use model, however the three main ones that are perceived as the most reliable and the most valid. These three urban land use models are:

1. The Hoyt Model (also known as the Sector Model)2. The Burgess Model (also known as the Concentric Zone Model)3. The Multiple Nuclei Model

The Hoyt Model

This urban land use model was thought up by Homer Hoyt who was an economist who lived in the USA. He proposed this model after studying the urban land use in many of the cities in the USA. His model consists of concentric rings and sectors (hence the name) and is based on several observations:

1. Those people who own High Class Residential Housing would prefer to live as far away from the CBD and industries as possible.

2. On the other hand, Low Class Residential Housing will be built as close to the industrial areas as possible because the workers who live in the houses will want to be as close to their workplaces as possible. Moreover, their incomes would not be sufficient to give them the opportunity to buy a house that far away from the industrial centre because the houses will be more expensive and secondly, it will cost them a lot more to travel into work and back every day.

3. Finally, the fact that transport links seriously affected the positioning of sectors. For example the industries would all want to be on the main roads or near major transport links so that all of the workers could get to work with far greater ease.

The Burgess Model

This model was proposed by a man called Earnest Burgess. He got his ideas for this model by studying the urban land use in Chicago in the 1920’s. He based his model on the following observations:

1. The idea that cities grow outwards from an original central point and thus this property becomes younger as the cities disperse out into the next building area or concentric ring. The original centre point is where the CBD is located.

2. The closer to the centre of a city you are the greater the cost of land, the CBD being the most expensive because the land is in such high demand.

The Multiple Nuclei Model

The final model of the three is the Multiple Nuclei Model. It was developed by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman in around 1945, they believed that many cities did not follow the patterns of Burgess and Hoyt; so they devised their own Urban Land Use Model and thus the Multiple Nuclei Theory was created. Cities of greater size were developing substantial suburban areas and some suburbs, having reached significant size, were functioning like smaller business districts and developing other features around their own area. They still saw the CBD as the centre of commercial retail yet believed as I said; that separate suburbs within the city were also developing similar features to the CBD, such as a surrounding of light industry and different class of housing.

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A diagram to show the Burgess Model and how it would be in High Wycombe

KEY

= Concentric Rings

1 = CBD2 = Wholesale and light industry3 = Low Class Residential Housing4 = Medium Class Residential Housing5 = High Class Residential Housing6 = Commuter Zone

As you can see above I have laid a version of the Burgess model over the top of a map of High Wycombe so that you can see where the various areas are. I have also marked the main roads coming into the town. From these roads I have been able to locate the CBD as the congregation of all of these roads.

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MethodologyHypotheses

1. I predict that the sphere of influence for the High Street will be bigger than the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre. The reason that I say this is because I think that more people will be coming to the High Street to go to work therefore they will be coming from further afield. Whereas with the Eden Centre I predict that more people will be coming in to shop therefore they will not be coming from the likes of London because there are other shopping centres in London like Westfields or even Harrods.

2. I predict that the Eden Centre will be more popular with most people however especially with younger people because it will contain the facilities that younger people prefer like the cinema and bowling. Whereas the older people will prefer the High street because it has facilities that they prefer like banks and the market.

3. I predict that the services in the Eden Centre will be of a higher quality than the services in the High Street according to the Bennett – Wallace Service Index. I think this because I think that all of the high order shops from the High Street to the Eden Centre because they will obvious want to produce their profitability and they are more likely to do that by being in the Eden Centre.

Hypothesis 1

I predict that the sphere of influence for the High Street will be bigger than the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre. The reason that I say this is because I think that more people will be coming to the High Street to go to work therefore they will be coming from further afield. Whereas with the Eden Centre I predict that more people will be coming in to shop therefore they will not be coming from the likes of London because there are other shopping centres in London like Westfields or even Harrods.

To test my hypothesis I asked 20 different people; 12 in the Eden Centre and 8 in the High Street. I used the following questionnaire:

I asked the following questions for the following reasons:

Where did you travel from? : I asked this so that I could then determine the sphere of influence of both the Eden Centre and the High Street on a map. Therefore I can prove my hypothesis 1.

What is the reason for your visit? : I asked this question so that I could further improve the proof of my hypothesis by determining whether or not more people come to the High Street for work rather than shopping and whether or not more people come to the Eden Centre for shopping, going to the cinema, or bowling rather than work

Hypothesis 2

I predict that the Eden Centre will be more popular with most people however especially with younger people because it will contain the facilities that younger people prefer like the cinema and bowling. Whereas the older people will prefer the High street because it has facilities that they prefer like banks and the market.

Pedestrian Counts

For my pedestrian counts I did 4 counts in the High Street and 4 counts in the Eden Centre. All of the counts lasted 3 minutes and I used the following tables to carry out the count:

High Street

Location Time Pedestrian Count People entering/ leaving service Total

Jessops 3 mins

McDonalds 3 mins

WHSmiths 3 mins

Argos 3 mins

Eden Centre

Location Time Pedestrian Count People entering/ leaving service Total

Marks & Spencer 3 mins

House of Fraser 3 mins

Starbucks 3 mins

Boots 3 mins

I did these pedestrian counts to see if the Eden Centre is more popular than the High Street or the other way around. I think that this is a very good way of working that out rather than anything else like just asking people whether they prefer the High Street or the Eden Centre.

Survey/ Questionnaire

For my survey I used the questionnaire on page 10 and the questions I asked are as follows with the reasons:

Age group: I asked what age group they where so that I could work out where people of different age groups preferred in High Wycombe.

Where did you travel from? : I asked this so that I could then determine the sphere of influence of both the Eden Centre and the High Street on a map. Therefore I can prove my hypothesis 1.

How often do you visit the High Street? : I asked this question so that I could get an idea of the popularity of the High Street. In a way it is to reinforce my pedestrian count.

How often do you visit the Eden Centre? : I asked this question for the same reason I asked the one on the High Street just for the Eden Centre.

How did you get here? : I asked this question so that I could work out the most popular mode of transport for getting to High Wycombe.

What is the reason for your visit? : I asked this question so that I could further improve the proof of my hypothesis by determining whether or not more people come to the High Street for work rather than shopping and whether or not more people come to the Eden Centre for shopping, going to the cinema, or bowling rather than work

Hypothesis 3

I predict that the services in the Eden Centre will be of a higher quality than the services in the High Street according to the Bennett – Wallace Service Index.

To attempt to prove this hypothesis I used the routes on the following pages so that I could survey the services on the way. To pick out the services I wanted to survey I just picked out random shops along the way so that there would not be any kind of bias in my results.

To assess the services I used the following table and gave them a score from 1-3 with 1 being the worst and 3 being the best:

EDEN CENTRE ROUTES

HIGH STREET ROUTES

Data PresentationHypothesis 1


Personally I feel that there is only one way to present this data and that is in the form of a map on top of which I have drawn the sphere of influence for the Eden Centre and for the High street. I have decided to present the data in such a way because I think that it is a lot clearer and a lot more accurate than just naming the places where people came from for example.

Map to show the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre

Key

= Sphere of influence

= A person travelling from that point by car

= A person travelling from that point by foot

= A person travelling from that point by bus

= A person travelling from that point by bike

A map to show the sphere of influence of the High Street

Key

= Sphere of influence

= A person travelling from that point by car

= A person travelling from that point by foot

= A person travelling from that point by bus

= A person travelling from that point by bike

= A person travelling from that point by van

From my results I found that the sphere of influence for the High Street was far larger than the sphere of influence for the Eden Centre. This is what I predicted would happen in my hypotheses. It happened because there are fewer shops in the High Street and more companies like estate agents, dentists and banks, therefore making there more demand for workers. This will have been made even more predominant in the current economic climate as people will be willing to travel further to get work, therefore people will travel further to get to the High Street.

The sphere of influence for the Eden Centre is smaller because it contains only shops and restaurants. Moreover, the sphere of influence is also smaller because there are shopping centres everywhere, therefore people will go to the one that is nearest to them. That is why not so many people come to the Eden Centre from London because in London there are even bigger shopping centres like Westfields and Brent Cross. Therefore people in London are more likely to visit those. However, people in London will come to High Wycombe to get jobs in the High Street.

I also found the average distance travelled to get to each place. For the High Street the average distance travelled was 9km. For the Eden Centre the average distance travelled was 4km. This serves to further augment what I have already stated about how local people will use the Eden Centre more.

The train station will bring a lot of people into High Wycombe from the likes of London. Whereas, the bus station will only bring in people from closer areas and these people will probably go to the Eden Centre.

In conclusion, in answer to my hypothesis 1 I looked at the diagrams on the two previous pages and I can see that the sphere of influence of the High Street is greater than the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre.

Pedestrian counts – Tuesday 19th May

72%

28% Number of people passin M&SNumber of people enter-ing or leaving M&S75%

25% Number of people passing Hose of FraserNumber of people entering or leaving House of Fraser

72%

28% Number of people passing StarbucksNumber of peo-ple entering or leaving Starbucks

Pedestrian Counts – Thursday 21st May

56%

44%Number of peo-ple passing BootsNumber of people entering or leaving Boots

72%

28% Number of people passing StarbucksNumber of peo-ple entering or leaving Starbucks

75%

25% Number of people passing House of FraserNumber of peo-ple entering or leaving House of Fraser

75%

25%Number of peo-ple passing M&SNumber of people entering or leaving M&S

60%

40%Number of peo-ple passing BootsNumber of people entering or leaving Boots

94%

6%

Number of people passing JessopsNumber of people entering or leaving Jes-sops

88%

13%Number of people passing JessopsNumber of people entering or leaving Jes-sops

94%

6%

Number of people passing JessopsNumber of people entering or leaving Jes-sops

78%

22%Number of people passing McDonaldsNumber of people entering or leaving Mc-Donalds

67%

33%Number of people passing WHSmithsNumber of people entering or leaving WH-Smiths

83%

17%Number of peo-ple passing ArgosNumber of people entering or leaving Ar-gos

78%

22%Number of people passing McDonaldsNumber of people entering or leaving Mc-Donalds

88%

13%Number of people passing JessopsNumber of people entering or leaving Jes-sops

78%

22%Number of people passing WHSmithsNumber of people entering or leaving WH-Smiths

94%

6%

Number of peo-ple passing ArgosNumber of people entering or leaving Ar-gos

The results above show that there were far more people using the Eden Centre than there were using the High Street which shows that the Eden Centre is far more popular as more people are using it.

Moreover, the fact that less people seem to be entering the shops in the High Street suggests that perhaps these people are just using the High Street as a way to get to the Eden Centre rather than for the shops in the High Street. Whereas in the Eden Centre at least 25% of people were found to be entering or leaving the shops; however, in the High Street the number of people entering or leaving the shops was always under 25% apart from one anomaly which was outside WHSmiths on Tuesday 19th May where 33% of people were entering or leaving. Apart from this one anomaly the rest was all as I expected. I suspect the reason for this anomaly was that the time was about 5:30 and people may have just come out of work and they wanted to buy newspapers for their journeys on the trains or the buses. Another reason could be that stationery and newspapers are day-to-day items which people may run out of daily and WHSmiths is the best and one of the only shops of that type in the area, therefore people may be buying stationery for their work or home and 5:30 would be about the right time to do that. Seeing as it is the best known shop of its kind in the area it is in.

Moreover, if we combine these finding with those in the questionnaire we find the following:

Number of times visiting the Eden Centre per week Number of peopleEvery Day 4At least once a week 10At least once a month 4Less than once a month 2Total 22

Number of times visiting the High Street per week Number of peopleEvery Day 4At least once a week 7At least once a month 5Less than once a month 4Total 20

As we can see from the tables above, which are based on the “How often do you visit the High Street?” and “How often do you visit the Eden Centre?” questions on the questionnaire, most people visit the Eden Centre far more often than they visit the High Street. I also found in my results that the people who visited the Eden Centre more were generally of the younger generations. Therefore, you are more likely to find older people in the High Street and younger people in the Eden Centre.

BWSI map Eden Centre

BWSI map High Street

BWSI vs shop name graphs

The maps and overlays above show that the closer that you get to the bus station on the generally the higher the BWSI is. I have also calculated the average BWSI for both the Eden Centre and the High Street. The average BWSI for the Eden Centre is 6.2 and the average BSI for the High Street is 5.2. That is a gap of one, which is quite a lot, but where does this one come from?

This is because the Eden Centre has just been built recently therefore the shops are going to be more modern and to my eye, more aesthetically pleasing. Hence, the BWSI will go up.

Moreover, according to the bid rent theory businesses will want to be closer to the CBD to maximise their profitability then some of the businesses and shops that used to be in the High Street have now moved to the Eden Centre for example M&S and HMV. Therefore the brand quality of shops in the Eden Centre will go up. Hence, the BSWI will go up.

Furthermore, if more people are using the Eden Centre rather than the High Street, and the Eden Centre is more popular than the High Street then the businesses are going to want to be in the Eden Centre because their brand will be seen more and they will increase their profitability. Then once they have increased their profitability they may spend some money on the aesthetics of the shop and the aesthetic rating will go up. This in turn will cause the quality of the brand to go up.

ConclusionHypothesis 1


This hypothesis was proven to be true.

I say this because there is sufficient evidence to back it up for example the radius for the sphere of influence of the High Street was 9km whereas the radius for the sphere of influence of the Eden Centre was only 4km.

Hypothesis 2

I predict that the Eden Centre will be more popular with most people however especially with younger people because it will contain the facilities that younger people prefer like the cinema and bowling. Whereas the older people will prefer the High street because it has facilities that they prefer like banks and the market.

This hypothesis was proven to be true.

I say this because there is sufficient evidence to back it up for example

Hypothesis 3

I predict that the services in the Eden Centre will be of a higher quality than the services in the High Street according to the Bennett – Wallace Service Index.

This hypothesis was proven to be true

EvaluationReliability of methods and accuracy of results

Service Index data collection

Overall I think that this data collection method was very valid and reliable. However, if I were to improve it in any way then I would make the scale for rating the services bigger; therefore, increasing the reliability and validity of my results. The new table that I would use would look like this:

A B CService Number

Name of Service

Order of Service (1 –

10)

Aesthetics of Service (1 –

10)

Brand Quality of Service (1 –

10)

Bennett – Wallace

Service Index (A + B + C)

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Furthermore, had I have had more time I would like to have surveyed all of the shops in both areas, not just a select few. However I do think that I have got enough and more than enough results to make my data reliable.

Questionnaire

To make my results for this better I would have liked to have asked more people in both the High street and the Eden Centre. This would have made my results more reliable because I would have had I greater number of readings. However, I do think that I had a sufficient number of readings.

Another thing that I would do if I could it again would be to ask more and different questions, for example:

How long did your journey take?

From this I would be able to work out an average speed for the journey and therefore estimate how much traffic there is on the roads in certain places. Moreover, I would have been able to ascertain where the main travel links are.

Which place do you prefer?

By asking this question I would be able to further improve the validity of the hypothesis about the popularity of the Eden Centre compared to the popularity of the High Street.

Which do you find most convenient?

This again would have helped with my popularity hypothesis because if something is easy and convenient people are going to use it more, therefore making it more popular.

What do you think of the amenities in both the High Street and the Eden Centre? For example the disabled access, public toilets.

If I were to ask this question then I would be able to see which of the two places was the most modern and up-to-date. This would help with working out popularity, sphere of influence and changes over time.

Pedestrian Count

With the pedestrian count I would have liked to have spent more time at each point because this would have made my results more valid and reliable. Furthermore, I would have counted the number of pedestrians in more places because this would also increase the reliability and validity of my results.

A problem in collecting this data that I found was that people may have been walking through the High Street towards the Eden Centre. This would mean that they may have shown up on both the Eden Centre pedestrian counts and the High Street pedestrian counts therefore creating some anomalies. However, I think that this would probably have evened out across the two places.

Implications on validity of conclusions

I think that my conclusions are very valid as I have done all that I can to get the widest range of results from the widest range of places. However for the service index conclusion there will have been a small amount of bias on my behalf with regards to the rating of the shops. This because of my opinion of what is aesthetically pleasing and what is a good brand and other people, for example my parents, may not agree with my ratings.

Another,

High Wycombe

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