General Title: Geography School Based Assessment

Title of Study: Urban Settlement Land Use in Belleville, St. Michael, Barbados.

Name of Student: Karla C. BovellCandidate Number: 0300140258Name of School: Harrison CollegeSchool Code: 030014Territory: BarbadosTable of Contents

Aim of Study

Location Maps - Map of Barbados

Site Map of Belleville

Methodology

Presentation of Data

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix

Aim of Study

To observe, record and determine the main land use in Belleville, St. Michael, Barbados.

Methodology

At the location George Street and Pine Road, Belleville, St. Michael, Barbados the study was carried out in the avenues 1 11.The date the study area was visited was on Wednesday, 9th of October, 2013 from 1:30 pm to 3:00pm.The geography class departed by bus from Harrison College at 1:30 and drove to the study area. The class disembarked at the 1st avenue. On reaching there the class was split into 5 groups of three or two and issued with various items to use while doing the study.The students used the map to first find the avenues assigned to them. They then proceeded to travel up each avenue while observing, recording and mapping the main land use of each avenue on their respective places on the map. The information recorded on the map was the land use classified as the following, being either a residence (R), service (S), financial (F), medical (M), medical support (MS), school/daycare (Sc), church/mosque (C), beauty service (B), vacant (v) or dilapidated (d). Also whether the building was a single or double storey and if it was either a modernized or traditional structure. In addition, photographs were taken using a camera of the land use.Also, from each avenue two businesses were chosen to be surveyed. A permission letter was shown to inform them of our purpose and then a student proceeded to ask them the questions from the questionnaire while another recorded the responses. A copy of the questionnaire and permission letter can be found in the appendix.After completing all of the tasks from the study, the class met back at the 1st avenue and the bus collected us at 3:00pm to take us back to Harrison College. Back at Harrison College the various groups exchanged the information collected and it was collated, analyzed and later presented in the form of a written report.

Presentation of Data

The study area, Belleville, divided into eleven parallel avenues, has been modified to a great deal. Decades before it was just an upper class and high-income residential area that was filled with impressive and majestic homes of that time. Most of the avenues then were private with only few of them being allowed entrance to the public. It was a well laid out community that was filled with the upper class that had moved out of the upstairs homes of their Bridgetown businesses. Now the peace and tranquility of this well structured development has passed. Since having been converted to a site of commercial and business activity there is now the noise of the constant hustle-and bustle of consumers, employees and residents going about their business. To begin with, while viewing the land use within Belleville, it was seen that they were many different services located there and still quite a lot of residential homes within the area and also a few unused and vacant areas. This can be seen represented below.

Figure 3. Pie chart showing the main types of land use in Belleville

The services were then further categorized, so as to show what type of businesses and the percentage of them within the area. All of them were then compared to each other.

Figure 4. Column Chart showing the percentage of services located in the Belleville area.

As the results in Figure 4 show, the area is heavily filled with medical services. It is seen as the main type of business located there and with it being so close in proximity to the QEH, it is probably convenient for the business owners as their patients who may need further assistance can easily and quickly travel to the QEH in case of emergency or any other purpose. The amount of medical services could also have resulted from their being many upper-class citizens once living there and back then the main form of work was either in medicine or law, so as the buildings were passed down their generations with the children being doctors, they probably decided to convert their homes into businesses of the sort. In addition with their being so many medical services, there must be some medical support businesses nearby also that can provide the medical supplies needed by the customers, which leads us to the fair amount of medical support businesses within the area. Next, there is also a good number of financial agencies in the area which can be useful to the people who may want loans to pay for their medical needs or as this being a high-income place, manage their funds at a nearby location and also even for the people who are looking for a financing agency that they could get to more easily than going all the way into town with its traffic. They were also a lot of other, various services within the area that were there, but were too little in number to class in a full category of its own and were so placed under Other Services. Continuing, with Belleville being just like a community, they were day cares and nursery schools there providing education and also giving the parents a location that is on their way to town, that wouldnt be out of their way of work that they could leave their child. They were also a few beauty supplies stores in the vicinity that people could easily get their various beauty items and need so as not to have to go right into town.

Figure 5. Bar Chart displaying the distribution of service types within each avenue of the Belleville area.

In Figure 5 above, you can clearly see which the different types of services in the area and the comparison to one another. Within the avenues 7-11 there is still many residential buildings, but there is still a considerable amount of businesses. Most of the businesses though appear in the other avenues and the most prominent of them is the medical and medical support. This is expected as it is mainly a medical area. Also seen very little land is wasted and not used.

Figure 6. Chart showing the percentage of buildings with modern or traditional structures within the Belleville area.

Following on, it was noted whether the buildings were either of modern or traditional architectural structure was made and a diagram of the percentages of each was compared in Figure 6.Modern architecture is known as the movement of architecture that began in the 20th century, it is also architecture that is characterized by the simplification of forms and subtraction of ornaments, modern architecture can be some of the most futuristic, colourful, innovative designs ever. Modern architecture these days there are so many materials that architects can use to create different effects on buildings. On the other hand traditional architecture are mainly classified as historical buildings that have a lot of character and culture incorporated into them and is the conservative way of building used by architects. Their main aim is to retain the beauty of a particular community or culture giving each one an individual stamp.An Example of a Traditional Building in BellevilleAn Example of a Modernized Building in BellevilleAs seen in Figure 6 three-quarters of the Belleville area has modern structure, which shows great change has been had to the area and many people have chosen to renovate their homes and businesses from the earlier traditional structure leaving the community with few of the early traditional structures of past times. Most of the business owners when interviewed even said the building had been totally transformed. The buildings may have been renovated and modernized to keep up with the modern times and to catch peoples eyes but the little traditional buildings left behind are still a lovely sight to see.Continuing, a total number of 22 businesses were interviewed. Fortunately, the people from the businesses when asked questions from the questionnaire (in Appendix), were very helpful in their responses. It was found that they were also a lot of similar responses. When asked what the location was used for before many either said residential, open land or that it was the same type of business. Also, the main reason for most moving to their location in Belleville was for space and parking, more commercial area as Belleville is a well-known business area within Barbados and it would be good for business, for convenience of staff and clients and for ownership of the building since most moved from places in town and wouldve most likely have had to rent the building. Also asked were what the benefits and disadvantages of moving to the Belleville area. Below is a table listing the various responses to the question.

Benefit Responses# of businesses with that responseDisadvantage Responses# of businesses with that response

More parking space10Security10

Proximity to Bridgetown5Poor street lighting3

Room for expansion6Competition with other businesses2

Proximity to QEH3

Quiet Area 3

Business linkages4

Affordability 5

Figure 7. A table displaying the benefits and disadvantages of businesses located in the Belleville area.

The most heard answer for benefits was the parking space and expansion, which suggested they were previously located in compact or concentrated area such as in Bridgetown. The medical businesses in the vicinity all said that their main advantage was business linkages, as there were many medical associates around and therefore more advertised as a medical area. A huge disadvantage in this area was that theres a lack of security. One business even said that one of their patients were robbed and also, a lot of robberies are said to happen in the area which could be as a result of the poor lighting in the streets at night that was mentioned by another business. Also a few daycares, said the competition with some of the other daycares was a problem but the fact that the area was a quiet one was good for the business.

Figure 9. Column Chart showing the number of businesses and the length of time (in a range of 1-10 or above 10 years) they were located in Belleville.Figure 8. Pie Chart showing the percentage of businesses with and without renovations

Lastly, as seen in Figure 8 above there has been many renovations and transformations to the businesses buildings in the Belleville area. This occurrence can be linked to the number of years the business has been in the building or how recently they had moved there. The businesses that had been there longer may have needed to renovate to keep up with the modern times and the ones that moved recently probably needed to transform the past older building to newer conditions or because there was a change in the type of business now moving there. As shown in Figure 9, there are almost an equal number of businesses which have recently moved there and the ones which had been there for a longer time. The recent ones slightly edge out the older ones, which goes to show that there are still businesses that are still moving to Belleville and that the area is still developing.

Conclusion

Belleville has changed noticeably and is still constantly changing and improving. Even with it now being a business area it continues to flourish. Many of the inhabitants seem to be very supportive of the changes. The avenues now consist of both residential and non-residential services. However, there are now more business and non-residential services flooding the area. The main type of business situated within the area is medical and medical support. There are also many institutions and offices providing various services to the public.The structures of the houses in the Belleville area have also been modified a great deal. Most of the houses are now designed in a more modern structure than the traditional. By the responses of the owners of the building it also seems that more and more renovations will continued to be made as time passes. If newer people continue to move there, even more modern buildings will most likely be seen as the area continues to be developed.Additionally, due to responses to the question of the disadvantages and benefits of moving to Belleville, it can be concluded that by moving or

All in all, it is seen that Belleville has been transformed from its previous use as a mainly residential area to a commercially active and business area.

Bibliography

Rahil, V A (2002).New Caribbean Geography with map reading and CXC questionsSan Fernando: Caribbean Educational Publishers.

Watson, Karl (2003)Bridgetown Expands in the late Nineteenth Century The Creation of the suburbs of Belleville and Strathclyde. Journal of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, XLIX 192-203.

Wilson, M (1997).The Caribbean environment for CXC Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

OTHER SOURCES

Google Maps (2013)Belleville, Bridgetown, Barbados. Retrieved from www.maps.google.com

Philip, G (2000).Barbados (Map). 1:143 000 In Philip's Certificate Atlas for the Caribbean. (4th ed.) London: Philip's. (p. 35).

Appendix

Permission Letter

Questionnaire