Urban Planning & Technology

Upon analysing Market Square I've found that Urban Design is becoming more and more influenced by technology. As stated in the report on the new design of Market Square 78% of people avoided the central area of the square and preferred to use their own desire lines. The new square has been designed to eliminate this. From my analysis of the square this new design does seem to work and now works much more like your traditional agora of grecian times.

I've found that redesigning urban areas to accomodate art & culture seems to be the way of imaging the city, open areas of clean design to give the perception of a modern metropolis where people can socialise and communicate.

It seems mobile technology is affecting the way we move throughout the city and hotspots occured in this area largely as a meeting place within the city, perhaps it's an area where people can meet and decide what they want to do. Mobile phones were used predominately and with the innovation of mobile technologies particularly in the iPhone people can quickly look up cinema times, or places to eat or where to go for a night out.

It seems the renaming of deprived areas is occuring more now in urban areas, I know this is of particular truth purely from studying where I grew up in the North East. My town Seaham is traditionally a Mining Town with a strong Labour backing, however areas where the pits have closed are now been redeveloped into housing areas and agoras and essentially trying to remove itself from Seaham and become its own node. Areas like East Shore Village & Rose Park are new development areas that are essentially their own small Tinsel Towns within a Town.

Redevelopment of transport has been implemented & the original town square has been redesigned much in the same degree as Market Square in Nottingham, an open plan area that would benefit from Arts & Cultural shows and a place for people to meet on the move, rather than to simply go for your grocery shopping.