Purley is a large residential area settled within wooded hillsides. Different situations of urban tissue formation can be found in Purely. The townscape of Purely is interesting in that the street system, plot pattern and the building fabric change within 10 minutes walking distance of an adult. There are three categories, the elongated historical street and building blocks, recent residential development and detached houses. The street proportion and arrangement are also diverse among these three types of development.
Elongated street and building blocks (2- 3 storeys high)
According to recent report released on 3 December 2018 from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the elongated building blocks with a parade of local shops was designated as ‘Local Area of Special Character’ and a ‘Local Heritage Area’ along Brighton Road and the High Street. It is located at the town centre of Purley that it is linked with public transport as mentioned before. Bus stops can be easily found there. Brighton Road is also the busiest road and street in Purley. There are a lot of cars, trucks, buses passing by as it is the main road connecting to other parts of Croydon. The building along the local heritage area has been built around 4 meters from the busy road while the façades of the buildings were built according to the site boundary.
Recent residential development (5 storeys high)
It is a different fabric from the town centre. The plots have been redeveloped to a large scale with higher storeys and larger land ownership. The terraces of the apartments are privatized. 2 layers of space are created in the recent residential apartment, the layer of pedestrian road and the layer of privatized terrace or garden.
For example: -
Astoria court is a residential apartment, which has been redeveloped in 2000. It provides different types of flats from 1-4 bedrooms and private balconies, and private underground parking. Cygnus Court is also a residential apartment built in 2007. 1-2 bedrooms flat with balcony are available in the market.
Carriages Purley is a retirement housing type developed by PegasusLife company where it is adjacent to Cygnus Court. Similar to other developments, it offers 1-2 bedrooms flats for older people.
Detached houses (1-2 storeys high)
The street experience changes after 5-7 minutes walking from the town centre. Most of them are detached houses with front and large back yard. The lot of one detached house land is larger than the building itself. Garages, gardens, private playgrounds or even swimming pools can be found in the back yards. Different types of barriers are built in front of the houses along the street side. At the same time, the homogenous use of land creates an intangible boundary between the residents and non-residents.
The research is based on various scales: urban scale, building scale and human scale, from macro to micro scale of chosen site, Purley. By looking at Purley in different scales, it helps to reveal how the existing urban structure shapes people’s lives, how the structures connects to the local areas.
Visible Elements
From the overall zoning mapping at the beginning of this chapter, the town centre is surrounded by the suburban area. Similar to many other small cities, there are different institutions, like primary, secondary schools and tutorial centres. The town centre also serves as a communal area. Those communal facilities can be easily found, for example churches, supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, local stores, library, youth centre, sport centre, parks. However, most of them are paid communal spaces as free communal spaces like parks, churches and library are rare in Purley. Refer to the drawing on the adjacent pages, it shows the current significant urban structures which support the daily needs of the citizens. They are mainly located in the centre. The main road in the town centre also connects other parts of Croydon, like Coulsdon, Kenley and northern part of Croydon (p.62).
Invisible Elements
There are current services and events that are provided by some institutions and amenities. They are listed in page 63: the organisations are South East Cancerhelp Centre, Purley Youth Centre, Purley Baptist Church, The United Reformed Church and Purley Cross Centre. They often provide various services and events to the local citizen or target to different ages of people, such as Cancerhelp Centre provide complementary therapies, massages or counselling to their members (membership fee to join is needed). Students or pupils can join the Afterschool Clubs in Purley Youth Centre. Purley Baptist Church and the United Reformed Church also offer different workshops and activities for young and elderly. Some interesting relationship between these amenities can be found, for example Purley Baptist Church provides monthly services to the Sunrise care home nearby, the two churches often have joint activities, Cancerhelp Centre will run some fundraising events (e.g. Christmas fair) in a local church hall (p. 64-65). Some private amenities like Thomas Catholic School will also hire their classrooms, halls, playing field to the public, but it costs a lot per hour (p.66)
Current Urban Structures
Worships at 9:30am (children)
Worships at 6pm & 7:15pm
Cameo informal service
Bods & Tods
Young at Heart di erent clubs
Worships at 10:30am (all)
Worships at 11:15am (youth)
Current Urban
Current
Visible
provide services/events
connection & cooperation
holding events
Rehearsal Space
Sports Hall
Meeting Room
Dance Studio
Legend
provide services/events connection & cooperation holding events
Halls £35/h
Classrooms £20/h
Dining Hall £33/h
Drama Room £30/h
Playground £10/h
Playing Field £25/h
Swimming Pool £45/h
Legend provide services/events connection & cooperation holding events
Current Active Institutions and Amenities
Current Urban Structures Obervation
shopping in Tesco
courses in cancer help centre
hanging out in a cafe
play place after school club in Purley Youth Centre
classical music recital in Purley United Reformed Church
Here are the common routes of elderly people based on the research and observation on site. Elderly are all around in Purley. Tesco, the supermarket, café and churches are the common spaces they will mostly go. Sometimes there will be a special event like classical music recital held in Purely United Reformed Church. It attracted not just the elderly in Purley but also elderly and other care home residents from other parts of Croydon.
Daily / Potential Routes
Daily Routes of Students / Kids After School
waiting for the bus towards North Croydon
having burgers after school in local store
play place after school club in Purley Youth Centre
Here are the common afterschool routes of students and kids based on the research and observation on site. As mentioned before, the bus is the common public transport medium in Purley when going to other parts of Croydon. There are many students from Thomas More Catholic School walking towards the bus stops every weekday. While some students are waiting for the bus, there are also some students hanging out with their classmates in a snack shop to have a afternoon hamburger. There are also some students who joined the choir group in Purley Youth Centre (photo from Purley Youth Centre).
Building Scale and Human Scale
Tesco (supermarket) Obeservation
gas station
Current Urban Structures Obervation
Building Scale and Human Scale
Current Tesco Arrangement G/F 1:1000
Tesco in Purley is a huge supermarket separated that appears like a separated entity. It opens 24 hours from Monday to Saturday. There are 2 bus stops nearby, so the supermarket not just serves the people living in Purley but also serves people living in the south part of Croydon. It is the biggest Tesco among the supermarket in south Croydon. The car park of Tesco is huge as it has the similar size as the building itself. There is one gas station in the car park.
It provides wide range and variety products from food, vegetables, daily necessities, electronic products to clothing. Food, vegetables, daily necessities, frozen food, drinks, cleaning products and checkout counters are one the ground floor. Electronic devices, clothing and café are located on the first floor. The long escalator connects the ground floor and the first floor. Although it is huge and spacious, there are only few seating inside and they are all in the checkout counters area.
Building Scale and Human Scale Current Urban
Time Spent in Tesco
Shopping in Tesco
The old man came to Tesco on foot. He has a serious hunchback. The trolley became his ‘walking frame’ while shopping in Tesco. He spent almost 1 hour there for buying food and daily necessities.
Packing Things After Purchase
After paying in the cashier, the old lady went to the nearest seating to pack the things into a tesco shopping bag. She took almost 10 minutes to organise and pack what she bought from Tesco.
Buying Cheesecake in Costa inside Tesco
The old man took a long time to order, much longer than other customers. He cannot hear very well when the staff asked him about what else he wanted. It took him almost 5 minutes to get his cheesecake and coffee from the display rack.
Taking Escalator
This is an escalator to the second floor of Tesco. There are clothes, kitchen necessities, electronic device and a cafe - Costa. He took the escalator carefully after enjoying his afternoon tea.
Building Scale and Human Scale
Time Spent in Tesco
Shopping with partner and granddaughter
Shopping with partner
They came there on foot. While they were shopping, the lady have a little looked at her note listing what they needed to buy. This is common for most of the elderly who have a little note. They took almost 1.5 hours in Tesco.
Asking the Staff
The old man came there alone. He used the ‘Handset’ system while shopping in Tesco. The Handset system saved time in the queue and packing. He called the staff to come with him and suggest the display order of the products.
Current Urban Structures Obervation
Building Scale and Human Scale
Street Experiences
PurleyRoad
Semi-underground Passage
On Their Way to Tesco
There are a lot of students on the street during 15:0016:00 every weekday who are on their way back home. The two students and the old couple came from opposite direction. The student were on the way to the bus stop while the old couple were going to Tesco.
Current Urban Structures Obervation
Building Scale and Human Scale
Street Experiences
The photo captured the same time slot. The pupil was running toward the bus stop while the adult assisted the older adult carefully while they were crossing the road. The two different walking speeds were captured at the same moment.
As mentioned from the last page, 15:00-16:00 is the after school slot. The photo captured the overlapped time between the elderly with manual wheelchair and the students when they were waiting for the traffic light on the pedestrian road.
Street Section 1:200 Dependent Elderly and Students Street Section 1:200 Dependent Elderly and Running Pupil
Bus Stop - Students, Adult and Elderly
During the after school time slot, usually there are many students and pupils waiting for the bus to go to other parts of Croydon. The photo captured the overlapped time of different ages, including the old, young and adult. They occupied 2/3 of the street. It is one of the crowded periods and area in Purley.
Street Experiences
Older People and Truck
Many huge trucks pass by for the whole day, they are just adjacent to the pedestrian road. It gives a big contrast in scale of the truck itself and people. It also gives a sense of danger to the elderly people walking nearby.
Speed Difference
Purley is a place where it has a big contrast between the ageing demography type and huge car dependency.
Street Section 1:200 Street Section 1:200Experiences from the Event Held by Purley Baptist Church
Event ‘ Speak It Out!’ in Purley Baptist Church
It is a venue for the event ‘Speak It Out’, ‘Lunchtime Bible Study’ and Wellbeing Café.It is adjacent to the church’s private car park and next to the pedestrian road.
There is one teacher, five helpers who are all volunteers and retired people. The volunteers help the English beginners to communicate in their daily life. After having lunch and the English class, the class was divided into 2 groups to have English discussion and listening practise related to what they have learnt during the lesson.
It was the first lesson on that day I visited. They offered free lunch, English lesson and English group discussion.
After the course ‘Speak It Out!’
There were only 2 students participated in that day. They are English beginners who just migrated to UK. The man is 75 years old from China who has stayed in Purley for half a year with his son. His son has already worked in London for several years. Another is a girl from Spain.
Based on the First Part of the Research Question:
1. How to extend the home boundary to help the elderly to be more familiar with the communal space?
Second Part of the Research Question:
2. What kind of supporting structure can facilitate the elderly in the overscale suburban area and how can it be adapted to serve or include the daily needs of elderly?
The previous observation of the slow pace and local movement reveals how the young and old citizens react to the existing urban structures and fabrics and how Purley performs at a local, everyday level for the citizens. An interesting and significant factor can be noticed – how long does it take for the old people when they walk from one place to another place. What does the city look like especially for some elderly who cannot walk that fast as us? A summary of the walking speed and distancea are shown on the adjacent page (p.83) based on the categories of elderly people I observed in Purley: -
Walking Independent Older Adult 1
Walking Dependent Older Adult (with walking frame) 1
Walking Dependent Older Adult (hunchbacked) 1
Older Adult with Powered Wheelchair 2
Older Adult with Manual Wheelchair 1
There is a big contrast of the walking speed of elderly when comparing with younger adult. The measured speeds are counted per one minute. Refer to the summary, a younger adult can walk approximately 81.6 meters in a minute while a walking independent older adult and older adult with walking frame can only walk 30.6 meters and 19.8 meters in a minute respectively. These datas were collected from the observation and took reference from ‘the study of Walking Speed Threshold for Classifying Walking Independence in Hospitalized Older Adults’ (James E. Graham, Steve R. Fisher, Ivonne-Marie Bergés, Yong-Fang Kuo, Glenn V. Ostir, 2010).
The differences of walking speeds affect how urban structures perform. The impression or image of a city may also differ. For example, the older adult with walking frame or hunchbacked may fully focus on the ground instead of the surrounding building because their sights are limited to their actual walking conditions. The older adult may view a city more slowly than a young adult. These are the interesting factors because of the paces.
1: data collected from site observation
2: date collected from https://www.hoveround.com/help/learn-more/power-wheelchairs-101/how-fast-can-apower-chair-go (How Fast Are Power Wheelchairs?, 2013)
All Types