More Statistics

Who to believe? statistics vary so widely, but interesting all the same....

Here is a good report, a Community Network Profile of Penzance, Marazion and St Just, chocca with info, written by 'Community Intelligence' and worth looking at if interested.

Below is some further information about a general overview of the SW region

	UK Snapshot	Neighbourhood	Economy	Census	About ONS	Jobs	20 November 2009

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Browse by theme Select Theme Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry Commerce, Energy and Industry Crime and Justice Economy Education and Training Health and Care Labour Market Natural and Built Environment Public Sector and Other Population and Migration Social and Welfare Transport, Travel and Tourism REGIONAL PROFILE printer-friendly South West Summary The South West had a population of 5.2 million in mid-2007, an increase of 7.3 per cent since 1997. This compares with an overall increase of 4.6 per cent for the UK over the same period Men aged 65 in 2005–07 could expect to live another 18.2 years and women 21.0 years. This compares with 17.3 and 20.0 in the UK as a whole A lower proportion of children (13 per cent) lived in workless households in the second quarter of 2008, than the UK average of 16 per cent In the region, 59.5 per cent of pupils achieved five grades A*–C at GCSE level or equivalent in 2006/07, compared with 61.3 per cent for the UK as a whole The percentage of households that were victims of crime at least once in 2007/08 was 14.3 per cent, compared with an England and Wales average of 17.1 per cent People over state pension age (over 65 for males and over 60 for females) in 2007 made up 22.1 per cent of the population, compared with 17.8 per cent for the under-16s The unemployment rate stood at 3.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2008, lower than the UK rate of 5.4 per cent In April 2008, the median gross weekly earnings for fulltime employees on adult rates was £451, lower than the UK median of £479 Labour productivity (gross value added per hour worked) in 2007 was 5.8 per cent below the UK average Local authorities in the region recycled 37 per cent of household waste in 2006/07 compared with an England average of 31 per cent Regional Profile: South West Published on 24 June 2009 at 9:30 am Accessibility|FAQs and Contact Us|Terms & Conditions|Privacy Statement Link to us|Crown Copyright applies unless otherwise stated Related Links Population Density Map Key Statistics: South West Publication: Regional Trends Urban Audit Guide to Geography Regional Accounts Subnational data Article: Changing Regional Economies: South West Regional Profiles Regional Trends 41 Urban Audit Download data Regional Statistician National Statistician's article: measuring regional economic performance External Links Nomis Regional Observatories Regional Development Agencies Welsh Assembly Government Scottish Government Northern Ireland Eurostat Department Business Innovation and Skills: Regional Competitiveness Indicators Government Offices for the English Regions: Fact files Suggested Links None.

Population Statistics

SOURCE: http://www.olib.co.uk/popmap/ (this is an interactive map on the web page - not here)

accessed on the 19th November 2009

Cartogram of England by Population The cartogram on the left shows what England would look like if we all had the same amount of space to live. That's to say, if the size of the counties were proportional to the number of people who live there. Roll your mouse over the cartogram to get the names of the counties. Each block on the cartogram represents 10,000 people living in that county - so London, with a population of just over 7 million has 712 blocks. North Yorkshire, despite being the largest county in terms of area, only has three-quarters of a million people living there, and therefore has just 75 blocks. Counties are in the same layout as normal, so they have only their original neighbours. This is the reason for the strange shape of both the country and the individual counties. If you want a standard map to compare this one with, click here Statistically, in the UK, all but 400,000 of us live on less than 6% of the land (Source: Guardian, August 2003). The data is taken from the 2001 Census, and has been rounded down to the nearest 10,000. Source: National Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO. Where a county doesn't have an overall administative council, the sum of each relevant council has been used. The colours are purely to seperate counties, although where possible urban areas are represented by darker colours. The other countries (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) have been included for comparison. Population data for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been taken from the National Statistics website, and the other countries from the CIA World Factbook. Please note that the inclusion of islands on the Scottish and Welsh coastline is for illustration only, and the pixels used do not represent the population sizes of these islands, although they are counted as part of the country's total.

County	Includes (unitary authorities)	Total Population (000’s)
Bedfordshire	Luton	565
Berkshire	Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham	798
Brighton and Hove		247
Buckinghamshire	Milton Keynes	686
Cambridgeshire	Peterborough	708
Cheshire		673
Cornwall		501
Cumbria		487
Derbyshire	Derby	955
Devon	Plymouth, Torbay	1073
Durham		493
East Riding of Yorkshire	City of Hull	557
East Sussex		492
Essex	Thurrock, Southend-on-Sea	1613
Gloucestershire	South Gloucestershire	809
Greater Manchester*		2482
Hampshire	Portsmouth, Southampton (and Isle of Wight)	1643
Herefordshire		174
Hertfordshire		1033
Kent	Medway	1578
Lancashire	Blackburn, Blackpool	1413
Leicestershire	Leicester, Rutland	922
Lincolnshire	North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire	955
London		7172
Merseyside*	Halton	1480
Norfolk		796
Northamptonshire		629
Northumberland		307
Nottinghamshire	Nottingham	1014
North Yorkshire	York	750
Oxfordshire		605
Shropshire	Telford and Wrekin	441
Somerset	North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset	855
South Yorkshire*		1266
Staffordshire	Stoke	1046
Suffolk		668
Surrey		1059
Tees	Darlington, Hartlepool,Middlesborough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees	636
Tyne and Wear*		1,075
Warrington		191
Warwickshire		505
West Yorkshire*		2,079
Wiltshire	Swindon	612
Worcestershire		542
Scotland		5062
Wales		2903
Northern Ireland		1685
Republic of Ireland		3924
Isle of Man		60
Guernsey		68
Jersey		90

* Denotes a metropolitan county.

Source: National Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO.

Rural Poverty

Other parts from this book by Paul Milbourne: 'Rural Poverty: Marginalisation and exclusion in Britain and the United States' can be found here. The book was written in the early 90's so the statistics are not current but the bits that I read are informative and easy to understand. A wealth distribution survey was created using the statistics gathered from 13 areas in Britain, also examining effectivity of social improvement within rural communities.

Something I will come back to.

Play areas

Look.... Jen Ghel

And a great blog about playgrounds, playscapes is written by Arcady. Her site is much more useful than trawling through all the manufacturers sites: Arcady's blog gives several good examples of innovative playgrounds where you can see the designs are creative and considered.

Their is one link on the website referring to some designs for street furniture here. The work is interesting but quite unsuccessful I think, because the execution of ideas has been poorly done, but the premise is interesting and potentially worth considering. And another idea which I have to say I was put off by because I think this is more of an "happening/encounter" than an actual functioning object (although this might just be my own take) is the laughing swing, designed by Michel Rinot.

Arcady has also looked at skate parks, a great example of one is Cantelowe Skate Park in London, which was created by Wheelscape in October 2009.


There are some video links that show the way the skatepark has been received and it seems to be a huge success, just from the rendered image above this looks as though it is a great shape and move forward from some of the more cluncky examples you can see dotted over the UK.

Another attempt at explanating the 'idea' of semiotics

Semiotics as I understand it represents the relationship between things. These relationships are complicated and varied and often overt particularly in the case of road signs, then comparatively very subtle for example a sight or smell which triggers a emotional response. Anything that presents to us as a significator allows us to make connections.

Below I will list a series of signifcators that express this idea of relationals. They will also illustrate to some extent the vastness of the subject and how important this ‘semiotic’ ‘foundation’ (of which there are many) is to our existence.

Slippery Snake – Onomatopoeias

Family – Love, security

£ - Sterling, money

Apple – The Apple Macintosh

Yellow - Yellow is the colour of sunshine

Immediately the mesh becomes inexorably complicated, these relationships underpin the way we learn the way we react, and basically shape society with concrete yet infinitely elastic junctures. Everything in life can be examined through the ‘semiotic’ magnifying glass. What springs to mind is literally a mind map or the roots of a tree, sometimes winding their way into swelling river then evaporating, to be found later tracing their crystal clear vision toward the damp sill. Oh dear, I’ve lost my thread. But anyway this does relate to design – somehow. Tbc…. With some references!!

Students as Agents for Change

Today I attended the first meeting for ‘Students as Agents of Change’, the premise is that the students become involved in the decision make process connected to the expansion plans for the university. So before the architects are contacted the student body is allowed to make suggestions about what kind of new facilities will be present in the improved campus.

It was a really interesting meeting, students from many of the courses were present, from both Exeter University and Falmouth University.

One group of students were adamant about the fact that the work going on at the campus should be considerate of animal habitats and also not destroy the allotments that had been provided for their course. People wanted to improve the green areas, making it possible to enjoy the outside more in the summer. Another group wanted to make the campus more inviting, by creating a Sculpture Trail for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Another valuable idea was to set up a series of focus groups to take place within Penryn and Falmouth giving the opportunity for locals to also make suggestions about how the campus expansion could be of benefit locally through new businesses, entertainment facilities like theatre and films and so forth.

Something that I felt stood out for the students was the idea of creating a feeling of ownership within the campus for the students. This would be established by basically turning the university into a gallery space, showcasing art, photography and design and also giving the students the opportunity to use the campus site as a site for experimentation for example through garden design and ecology.

For me this will be a really helpful experience. In my current work I am aiming to discover the specific needs of a community relating to a project. So my personal methodology (discovering needs and creating an outcome) will cause me to either do a good or bad job. I found a great website the other day with a series of crib sheets and toolkits on it, they show how to approach and implement the finds of a consultative process. So hopefully being a part of this committee at college plus + the crib sheets + first hand trial of focus groups = good outcome.

Feelings of Usefullessness

Coming into the second year of this MA, I now have to reconsider my route and the path that I will need to take to achieve this.

Last year I completed two work placements, both of which were very rewarding and helpful in enabling me to see if the choices that I made were viable, the placements have given me insight into the kind of career which I would like to pursue in the future.

My first work placement was to design a bench. using Autocad. I also worked within a landscaping department at the council and this was very enjoyable and insightful.


The bench would have been made from rolled sheet steel, unfortunately thier were drawbacks;

• too expensive to produce
• uncomfortable in the sun

The bench was made from component seats

• did not fulfil the ‘bench’ brief
• the shape of the seat made it hard to create dynamic arrangements

My second work placement, was much different. Making signs for a camp-site. This was oriented towards creating a final product. In this similarly to the other placement, I used computer programmes to achieve the outcome – illustrator, which was challenging, but eventually came to a successful outcome. The camp-site wanted a series of signs for the site, directional and toilet signs – with an arty edge.

They were handmade and original, as well as this they were made from recycled materials, according to the brief. The signs are in use now, and I made a total of 11 signs.

The process of design is different to art and dependant on approach. Design is always user motivated, which means that nothing is sacred in the way that could be considered with art and as well as that items, objects must have a reason or excuse for existing, otherwise they can be deemed useless.