It's funny how the street is jammed with parked cars @ 5:30pm
Subway.docx
Subway
Here, it’s all about the brand.
Green and yellow
Flashes of black
As staff move quickly to
Make subs
6 inch
Foot long
In the lunchtime rush
It’s all go, go, go.
Here, it’s all about the image.
New York subways
Map the walls
Alongside
Legends
Heroes
Iconics
Classics
Not names I would associate
With sandwiches
But to be fair I am not the target here
Too old by a country mile.
Here, it’s all about immediacy
Driven by technology
Attractive to young minds
Thumbs scroll over phones
To place orders
To make payments
To text their mate, who’s
Sat right next to them
Phones, phones, phones
As the Deliveroo driver
Double parks across the street
To pick up a meal deal
As ovens ping and
Cookies slide off trays and
A student picks and goes
No desire to sit in or
Wait a while.
Here, it’s all about speed and
It is busy.
A boy in a boiler suit
Made for a man
Jokes with his mate
He can’t decide what to order
There’s too much choice
He doesn’t know what he wants
He needs inspiration and
The counter guy offers him help
Bread style
Filling
Extra cheese
Drink and a cookie.
His mate ribs him
For getting double Jalapenos
But he doesn’t care.
Here, it’s all about the future
Contactless
A space in which a new generation move
Transactional
The model of a brave new world
Phone app ordering
Because this is what some people want
Safe
Easy
Quick
Convenient
Just because it’s not for me
Doesn’t make it wrong and
Judging by the queue at the door
They’re obviously doing something right.
I leave as another delivery
Heads out the door.
Boilersuit boy is making his way down the High Street
Back to college.
I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow
Grateful for the help with his order.
High Street Pollution Levels
The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs states that the average concentration of Nitrogen Oxide must not reach 40 parts per billion and there must not be more than 18 counts of the hourly mean limit reaching 200.
From the map it is clear that Dudley is above the average PPB, roughly 2-3 times the average along key vehicle routes. Over the last few decades the trend for NO2 emissions are pointing downwards, with measurements approximately halving since 2010.
For the high street it self, it is evident that the stop starting of the vehicles contributes significantly to the emissions of Nitrogen Oxide. Any alterations to the high street must be pretty significant to make any real measurable effect to reduce emissions. The stop starting of traffic is unlikely to disappear with any development that does not specifically target road accessibility or specific vehicle access limitations.
Timeline of Dudley’s History with information on historic buildings and geological features of the High Street.
Dudley has a rich history by being know as a busy market town and being a capital for manufacturing.
The timeline emphasises the rapid change of the traditional industries in Dudley and how it has effected the High Street.
"A tram travels along Wolverhampton Street in Dudley.."
Car exhausts
Car exhaust
"Dudley High Street, pictured in the mid 1980s when Cooks department store was a major focus of the town."
Bake 'n' Butty.docx
Bake ‘n’ Butty
Fairy lights all year round
Three clocks working triple time
More seating at the rear and
Above the sound of something frying in a pan
Laughter
The scrape of cutlery on finished plates
Stacked and cleared
Two cappuccinos
Two toasted teacakes
Footsteps on the lino floor
The hum of radio from somewhere
The clash of a saucepan lid
Tea, milk, two sugars
The tapping of a spoon on a plastic bowl
Fishfinger sandwich to take away
Do you need a receipt?
It won’t be long, alright?
Chips sizzling in the deep fat
Steam escaping the coffee machine
There’s your knife and fork
Musical buttons singing from the till
No sugar, I’m sweet enough
A message left on the answering machine
Phone rings
How can I help you?
Mobile notification
Chatter
Printing
There’s your change
I’ll bring your coffee over
Sausage, egg and chips
Large breakfast, no beans
Two lattes
Milk delivery
Grated cheese in a bag
Butter balanced in the crock of an arm
Is there enough money in the till?
Bacon and egg sandwich to go
Cappuccino
Cheers love
It was lovely, thank you
All this is seen and heard as
I am joined at my table
To talk through
Covid
Cars
Past lives
Old homes
Acceptance
Cooking
Gender
Pubs
Health and
Putting the world back together
My tea is done
I pop my mug back on the counter
All this for the prices of a cuppa I think
Stepping out past the flashing fairy lights
TOO MUCH TRAFFIC! But the street must have vitality without it
Man with cigarette in a open reach van
"Dudley Market Place looking west in 1955."
Hum of engine + idling cars
Hear lots of traffic & music from cars "busy"
'Fast motorbike / loud & fast'
Why put a multi-storey car park with access from the narrowest street in the town?
Dudley Market pictured in May 1982
My gift was created to highlight the importance of connections to Dudley high street through the use of transportation which is key to encouraging people to come and use the high street. The jigsaw shows a map of Dudley with the different types of transport and was made from paper and card.
Noisy BMW exhaust
The first step is sectioning out for pedestrianisation. It was important that we did this so we can move down the intervention scale to the next stepping stone; laying the foundation for social and ecological benefits. The hierarchy of space is very much dedicated to cars right now. If you design for cars, you’re going to get more cars. If you design for people, you’re going to get more people. According to Just Economics, the footfall can increase by about 40% following pedestrianisation, and retail follows suit with about 30% increase in sales.
![[What do you notice if you imagine you are a worm / a bird / somebody else?] weed under bench, rusting lamppost, vehicles, business - 211110 1730 Views.png](/images/processed/211110 1730 Views_thumb.webp)
[What do you notice if you imagine you are a worm / a bird / somebody else?] weed under bench, rusting lamppost, vehicles, business
Space escapes thro' set back corner splay for traffic sightline has spoilt the street intimacy
Moment of silence - no people / cars (seconds)
Smell of a clean Euro-6 bus engine
"Dudley High Street looking towards Lower High Street and Bottom Church in September 1983."
The interior of the community kitchen would be inviting and colourful to create a positive atmosphere. The colours were abstracted from one of our group collages of food. The kitchen counters are not considered as a back of house element; they have been combined with seating as we are trying to embrace the cooking process. The kitchen desk is designed in a way so multiple people can work together from all sides, with central storage for herbs.
The facade of the kitchen contains a small window so food can be sold outside. We have also created a vertical herb garden so it can be used in the community kitchen. We wanted to keep these below eye-line so people outdoors have a clear view into what’s going on inside.
This street section shows activity from the back of the community kitchen to the other end of the street and how all these elements are working coherently. The street is filled more with people rather than cars. We believe that the outdoor seating, more trees, canopies and street lights can attract people to connect with the High Street.
Car radio
Looking to be the centrepiece of our exhibition, we proposed to create a site model of Dudley Highstreet at 1:200 scale with buildings modelled in a simple form. Local residents and visitors to the exhibition are then invited to decorate a chosen building to how they would envision it sat within the context of a greener Highstreet. We want to tie in our themes of biodiversity and materials by proposing that buildings can, and do, have the potential to be a lot healthier, sustainable, and interactive on the street. This site model also helps gain vital public opinions on the Highstreet and prompts discussion of areas most in need of attention.
To ensure that the model is utilising the MDF to the most efficient standard possible. First, the centres of the massing blocks have been hollowed out. This allows a reduction in materials used as other buildings can be cut in the centres of the model. Then the top is finished with a solid piece.
The waste material is placed into the recycling rack where other students can reuse it; otherwise, if the material left cannot be used for another project, it is recycled correctly by the university.
The model spanned just over 3.4m long and over 50cm wide. With the majority being cut from scrap woods that would fit the jigsaw of the shape, we were able to drastically cut down on waste. We also got some small benches and bee hives printed from recycled plastics, and used dried flowers as trees to represent the green spaces. Ultimately, the model seemed like a huge success, and really helped portray our ideas about Dudley High Street to those who came by. Everyone from Dudley who saw the model knew that it was the High Street, and interacted well with it. The size did make it difficult to move, especially to carry to the site, but it sat nicely in the centre of the the room and really drew people in to interact with it.
The model brought people in from outside to play with, write on, interact with. It became a spectacle for the public to come in and see what was happening and offer their ideas about what could be done.
The event was a success. Many people from the public (those who heard about the event, and those who just happened across it on the day) came in to interact with the model, which sat as the centre piece in the room. Kids liked to play with the pieces while the adults talked about things that could come from actions to help the High Street, not just leave it as is.
SOME OF THE KEY IDEAS WERE:
- The Shops need to be inviting for everyone. It’s no good having these places to go if people would rather take a bus to the next town.
- Just putting up boards across the windows is awful. Paint, Posters, Graffiti: Anything that actually makes the High Street look still alive is better than just wooden boards.
- More Green is needed. While it is obvious that there is a lack of Trees, many people wanted to push for these small bushes or planting spaces that could easily be implemented across the street.
- Spaces for public events or for people to at least gather at. While there is the Market and Fountain, it is not enough for the people of Dudley.
- Something needs to be done about the cars on the High Street. Some were Pro-Removal of all Cars, while some just wanted to limit when they could access the High Street.
Following the exhibition we created a series of drawings with our own interpretation of Sarah Wigglesworth ‘The Dining Table’ drawing. The drawings are a perfect representation of the our interactive model at the ERA Environmental Exhibition and Event. Showing the interaction the public had with the model, as well as the conversations that were held around the model.
This post develops what the community kitchen has to offer with street grown resources and community engagement.
(We decided to present our narrative through social media and instagram posts as we wanted to showcase what individual experiences might be like when experiencing the future High Street. Each of our posts captures a different element of experience on the High Street to form a collective scenario.)
Slow car 11, faster car 9, faster van 1
[What can you see?] Cars, xmas decor, shops
New use for cars — As part of pedestrianisation we would like to suggest a memorial of sorts to cars. The feature would sit in the middle of the High Street and would consist of an old out-of-use car, being used as a planter and being filled with plants. This gesture symbolises the movement of the High Street’s priorities shifting from the automobile to plants, people and food.
Break light red glow
Slow car reversing into bay where I am sitting