Chapter 3 - Site Analysis

3

Site Analysis

Introduction

This chapter covers the analysis of the project site. Also, the study of homelessness requires on-site analysis to understand the way of living homeless people on the streets. In the analysis study, which is the first stage of research, I decided to use the observation method to determine the lives and behaviors of homeless people on the street. Therefore, the observation site should have been a highly favored spot by homeless people. Another appropriate site was needed as the development proposal for the design stage. But this site should not be far from the city, it should be in a popular location and in a place that people can notice. In this way, it is easier to reach more people, and people do not have to be removed from the points they choose in the city.

During these visits, photography was limited as much as possible to avoid disclosing private life and preventing people from feeling uncomfortable. The faces of people were blurred as stated in ethical conditions. For the same ethical issue, I made the observations by taking notes and sketching by keeping the image in memory. In the city of Oxford, two important streets are often preferred by rough sleepers to sleep and to reside during the day. One of them is Cornmarket Street, which is the most actively used street in the city center and closed to vehicle traffic, and the other street is Cowley Road, which is also very actively used (see Figure 47). There are intense commercial lines on both streets.

Findings from the Site Analysis

My site investigations demonstrated that one of the main reasons that these strips were chosen by rough sleepers was the incidental safety they provided due to the higher numbers of people passing these streets when compared to neighbouring streets. These environments can be considered safer because the streets are well lit even at night, there are people around most of the time and this can prevent the risk of being exposed to violence up to a point, which is one of the biggest problems of homeless people. Choosing crowded spots also creates more opportunities for those who beg, sell things, or perform street performances.

These two streets have been selected as the observation site and the project site. Although Cornmarket Street is home to more homeless people, due to the density of development currently on site, I decided that it would be better to site my project elsewhere on Cowley Road. As a result, observations made at Cornmarket were for the purposes of observation of behaviours of homeless people and an analysis of their preferences as discernable from an observer's viewpoint.

Figure 47 Oxford City map showing Cornmarket Street and Cowley Road Labels on the map represent the location of the City Council's office and Cornmarket Street some charity organisations in Oxford (Crises, Oxfordshire Community Foundation, Aspire, Homeless Oxfordshire, MAYDAY Trust, the Porch) Cornmarket is a shorter street than Cowley Road and is the most popular street in the city. Another important point of the street is that it is very close to many charities. This close distance could make working on the area effective by establishing relations with charity organizations in the design of possible accommodation. There are street performers on this street almost every day. This could make that street a worthwhile place for homeless people to spend their time.

Figure 49 Drawing from the site observation

Observation Findings

As it is understood from the observations made and the repeated counts of the points where homeless people are located, some of them do not change the places they stay at, while others use these spots temporarily or change the location on the street occasionally.

Figure 50 Drawing from the site observation

Figure 51 Drawing from the site observation

- These people often have their belongings with them. - One person stays in a single tent. - Two people own dogs.

Especially when the shops are closed at night, the inward recess of the showcase, underneath of the arch passing to another street, fronts of the shops during the day, the corner of the HSBC Bank which is the most visible point, are some of the points they have chosen.

Cowley Road and Manzil Way Gardens

Manzil Way Gardens on Cowley Road is the site for the project. Since there is no appropriate area on Cornmarket Street and its surroundings for project development, this site should be on Cowley Road. Cowley Road is also a location with dense buildings but also there are parks on this road. Manzil Way Gardens on this road is close to the city center, it is surrounded by health centers that offer mental and medical services, is suitable for project development.

Cowley Road is also used by homeless people to sit or sleep in front of several shops including supermarkets, such as Tesco and the Co-operative, where the products for basic needs can be bought. In addition, the charity named Porch Day Care Centre is located close to this road.

Figure 55 Manzil Way Gardens and the playground

Figure 54 Manzil Way Gardens and Cowley Road

Figure 56 Manzil Way Gardens

Figure 58 Map Drawing of Cowley Road and Manzil Way Gardens

Cowley Road has a multicultural structure in general. The area, where people from many different nationalities live, also offers many special opportunities such as the ability of individuals to live their own culture and even perform their belief activities in places of worship. There are also shops, groceries, and restaurants of different nationalities in the region. This situation may make homeless people from different nationalities not feel alien in such a multicultural environment. It can be said that Cowley Road and its surroundings host many different cultures. In the later stages of the site analysis, demographics of the population residing in this region such as religion and nationality are also given. East Oxford Mosque is located in the north of the Mental Health Centre. The whole of the Manzil Way site was formerly home to the imposing Cowley Road Workhouse. The Asian Cultural Centre occupies the only building left from the demolition of the former hospital/ workhouse.

A vehicle road connected to Cowley Road passes through the park and divides the park in two. There are diagonal pedestrian walkways on both sides of the park. There is a playground on the east side of the park and it needs to be replaced after project development. The next chapters give details about it.

Figure 59 Walking path and the playground (on the right)

Figure 60 "Manzil Way Road" passing throuh the park

Figure 61 East Oxford Health Centre

Figure 62 Car entrance of East Oxford Health Centre (connected to the Manzil Way Road)

Figure 63 Manzil Way Road passing through the park

Figure 64 View of the mental health centre and the mosque

Figure 65 Consumer Vulnerability Source: CDRC, 2020

Ethnicity and Religion of the Local Community

The profile of people living in this area is shown in Figure 65 as students and young professionals. It can be thought that residents here usually live for a certain period of time, rather than living for many years.

The people of the region mostly do not have a religion (see Figure 66). Most believers in religion are Christians (see Figure 67), the second majority is Muslims (see Figure 68).

Figure 66 Religion - No religion Source: Data Shine, 2020

Figure 69 Country of birth Source: Data Shine, 2020 Figure 67 Religion - Christian Source: Data Shine, 2020

Figure 68 Religion - Muslim Source: Data Shine, 2020

The majority of residents of the region are European-born (see Figure 69). Approximately 60% of the total number is British (see Figure 70). Whites other than the UK nationals people constitute the second majority and on average are between 10-20% in the region (see Figure 71). One of the ethnic origins other than whites, Pakistani residents, from the Asian, Asian British group, is about %10 of the total population in the region (see Figure 72) and is the third majority.

Health Services

Manzil Way is home to the NHS and third sector healthcare organizations. To the north of the area is the health centre and pharmacy on one side and the mental health centre on the other. There is also a pharmacy on the opposite side of the park on Cowley Road. That is, the area is a few minutes' walk from many health institutions. Access to hospitals in Figure 73 shows that the area gives the 2nd degree best access. Also, between the Mental Health Centre and park, there is an Oxfordshire-based mental health charity named Restore (see Figure 78), which supports people to take control of their recovery, improve their skills and lead meaningful lives. The organization offers recovery groups, training, and employment coaching to make this possible.

Figure 73 Health Services Domain Source: CDRC, 2020

Figure 74 Access to Pharmacies Source: CDRC, 2020

Figure 75 ReThink Mental Illnesses Services provided

Figure 76 ReThink Mental Illnesses Older Adults CMHT & Mind Service

Restore

Restore is an Oxfordshire-based mental health charity that supports people to take control of their recovery, improve their skills, and lead meaningful lives. To make this possible, Restore offers rescue groups, training, and employment coaching. Restore also has a garden cafe, providing people with mental health problems with an opportunity to learn catering and customer service skills, find out their strengths, and gain work experience (Restore, 2020).

Figure 78 Source: Restore, 2020

Figure 79 Source: Author's own drawing on the image adopted from Google Earth, 2020

Health Services:

In the north of the project site, there are health centers where treatment is given for many mental and physical illnesses. East Oxford Health Center, ReThink Mental Illnesses, St Bartholomews Medical Center are these health centers. Restore, which is a charity organization that supports mental health, is also in the north of the project.

Green Area:

Manzil Way Gardens offers a wide green area to the city at this point. Regardless of where the project is located, it was essential to protect this green area as much as possible.

Vehicle - Pedestrian Paths Vehicle

Cowley Road is actively used almost every hour of the day. Manzil Way, which passes through the middle of the site, is less congested. The park currently has two wide walkways and sidewalks for pedestrians

Medical Centres

Green Area

Pedestrian

around the park. Figure 80 Model of the Project site

Figure 81 Model of the Project site

Figure 82 Map drawing showing the boundaries of the project site

Borders of the Project Site

Manzil Way Gardens consists of two sides and has been selected as the Project area. The border of the park in the area is painted in red tones in Figure 82. Decisions made about where the design should be placed at the park and stages for this purpose are given in the design decisions in Chapter 5. After this stage, there are sun and wind analysis. The borders of the project area are also shown in the 3D diagrams illustrating these analyses.

Climate Analysis

Sun

The movement of the sun on the field is shown in the diagram. The area receives sunlight at varying angles from the south throughout the year. The sun reaches its highest position on the longest day, on June 21, at an angle of 61.63 degrees. On the 21st of December, when the shortest day occurs, it comes at an angle of a maximum of 12.17 degrees during the day. Manzil Way Gardens creates a large space at a point where the city and buildings are dense. The surrounding buildings are also not high enough to block the sunlight, allowing the park to take the sun as much as possible during the daylight hours of the day (Marsh, 2020).

Day lengths for Oxford city are shown in Figure 28. The sunset time is 20.28 on 29 June at the latest. The sunset is at the earliest time, on 12 December at 15.54. The longest time of daylight during the year is 16 hours 41 minutes on 21 June and the shortest period is 7 hours 47 minutes on 21 December (Marsh, 2020). It is important to get maximum sunlight in the design, especially considering that the length of the day is as short as 7 hours in the UK during the winter.

Figure 83 Author's own diagram showing the sun movement Source of sun path: Marsh, 2020

Figure 84 Source: Marsh, 2020

Air Quality

Although the region is rich in the green area (there is also South Park in the north), air quality ranks 7th according to the CDRC Map in Figure 85. In some other parts of the city, this ranking is 6th, but the air quality is generally similar in different regions of the city. It rises to the 4th rank in rural areas outside the city of Oxford. It can be said that the quality of air is not very bad compared to the air in the city center of London (see Figure 86) and it is normal for the city, although it is not as good as a rural area.

Figure 85 Air Quaility Domain - Oxford Source: CDRC, 2020

Figure 86 Air Quality Domain - London Source: CDRC, 2020

Figure 87 Source: windfinder, 2020

Figure 88 Source: Author's own diagram based upon the data given at windfinder, 2020

Wind

Figure 87 shows the dominant wind direction and wind speed by month in Oxford city. The dominant wind direction, which can vary by months, is generally from the west, however, winds from the north in April, and from west to southwest may be dominant from time to time.

The diagram in Figure 88 shows how the wind reaches the area. Although the buildings in the area can cut the wind to a certain point, Manzil Way Gardens can turn into an area where the wind and therefore cold weather in the winter can be felt more due to the space it creates in the region.