Burgess Model of Urban Land Use: How does it fit Stoke-on-Trent?

Central Business District (CBD)

This is the centre of the city and in Stoke-on-Trent refers to Hanley. The typical characteristics of a CBD include:

a shopping centre – The Potteries Shopping Centre large shops e.g. department stores such as Debenhams and high street brands

such as Marks and Spencer, Boots, River Island, Top Shop etc large banks e.g. Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds TSB large office blocks a town hall entertainment – the Cultural Quarter with the theatres etc

All cBDs share these common factors: Built on the most expensive land – that’s where the customers are Contain the tallest buildings because the land is so expensive (the buildings

maximise their use of vertical space) Have the largest Sphere Of Influence (the area from where it attracts it’s

customers) – people come to shop and work in Hanley from all over Stoke-on-Trent as well as from Leek, Stone, Market Drayton and Crewe.

Contain no houses – the land is too expensive Often have an inner ring road around them.

Improvements to the CBD: Hanley City Centre was improved in the 1980s Potteries Shopping Centre was built on the old Port Vale FC site Many parts of the city centre were pedestrianised to make it safer for shoppers CCTV was installed to reduce crime particularly at night Cultural Quarter was redeveloped at the end of the 1990’s to improve the image

of the city centre

CBD

Inner City

The inner city is the oldest part of the town and some areas may still be awaiting redevelopment. This is the zone that surrounds the city centre and would have been built up extensively in the 1800s as industries such as coal mining, steel and brick works and pottery factories grew rapidly during the industrial revolution. An example of this in Stoke-on-Trent is Etruria, Cobridge and the Festival Park area.

As cars had not been invented, the workers were housed close to the factories in rapidly built, tightly packed together terraced houses. There was little time for leisure and these houses were small, often housing a family of on average 7 or 8 in one or two rooms per flood, and had no gardens. There were no garages, so now there is only on-street parking and car theft or damage is a problem. In the 1960s, high rise flats were built in the inner city to house an increasing population.

Corner shops were set up on the corner of terraced houses to sell low cost convenience goods such as bread, newspapers and milk. These have since been closed down or turned into fish and chip shops etc as supermarkets were opened selling goods more cheaply.

In the 1970s and 1980s many of the factories and coal mines started to close down as the products that they sold could be obtained more cheaply from abroad. People also started to move away from the small terraced houses as early as the 1950s as they started to earn more money and wanted a better quality of life and bigger better houses. Therefore, many parts of Etruria and Cobridge started to become run down and derelict.

Who lives here? Mainly people on low incomes, immigrants from other countries seeking to improve their standard of living, students who rent property while at university, people on unemployment for long periods of time, people with low skills and cannot get higher-paid jobs and afford housing in the suburbs. Sometimes wealthier property developers buy the terraced houses cheaply and do them up to sell them for a profit.

In the 1980’s Stoke-on-Trent City Council decided that in order to attract new business and to improve the unemployment rate in the city, they needed to improve the look of places such as Etruria. Therefore, National Garden Festival was opened at Etruria for one year (1986) to attract tourists and businesses to the area. As a result, the Festival Park redevelopment scheme was planned and now includes:

Out-of-town shops e.g. Comet, B&Q, Next, Boots, ToysRus Morrisons Supermarket Cinema, Waterworld, Ski Slope, Gym and Hotel Range of eating places e.g. McDondalds, Pizza Hut, Frankie and Benny’s and China Garden Range of offices, small businesses (e.g. electronics firms and ParcelForce) and bigger

warehouses

Inner

City

The houses have also been redeveloped. Many of the old terraced houses have been knocked down and rebuilt. At Festival Heights, a range of affordable modern mews, apartments, semi-detached and detached housing has been built.

Inner Suburbs

The inner suburbs are an area of mainly semi-detached housing. This zone of the city has developed as the city has spread outwards and people have wanted a better quality of life. As wages increased in the 1920’s to the 1950s, people living in the inner city wanted better housing and to get away from the pollution of the factories. Also many parts of the city centre and inner city had been damaged by bombing in the First and Second World Wars.

Therefore, housing estates were developed around the inner city. Council estates of semi-detached houses were built to accommodate people displaced by the war.

The land becomes cheaper the further away from the CBD (Central Business District) so planning for new houses was/is common. Estates of larger semi-detached houses were built as people on higher wages wanted to move away from the inner city into larger houses away from the city centre.

Characteristics of semi-detached houses: Two houses joined together Front and back gardens Garage Some quiet cul-de-sacs

Neighbourhood shopping centres were built to serve the areas of private and council estates. The shops were clustered together and offered a range of goods and services such as a post office, fish and chip shops, betting shop, hair dressers, TV and video repairs. People could walk to these centres from the housing estates but there is often parking for people who wanted to drive.

An example of the inner suburbs would be Kidsgrove and Butt Lane.

Inner

City

Inner

Suburbs

Outer Suburbs

The outer suburbs are an area of mainly detached housing. This zone of the city has developed as the city has spread outwards and people have wanted a better quality of life. The housing in this area of the city is large in size and have large gardens and garages. These areas are ideal areas for families with young children due to the size of the housing and safe roads on small estates.

Characteristics of semi-detached houses: One house on it’s own Large front and back gardens Garage – often detached from the house and many houses

with double garages to accommodate more than one car Many quiet cul-de-sacs and smaller exclusive housing

estates

The outer suburbs contain a mixture of land uses including residential areas and recreational facilities such as golf courses. Access to open spaces and parks is common. This part of the city is closest to the countryside and a greenbelt often surrounds the city here. This is an area of countryside that is protected from further building to prevent the city from growing outwards and further damaging the countryside.

As the land in the outer suburbs is so cheap, modern out-of-town shopping centres have been built recently. These are large shopping centres selling high-order goods, goods that are more expensive and are bought less frequently such as clothes, jewellery, and electrical items. These shopping centres have large, free car parks and good transport links. They are often easily accessible from motorways or

dual carriageways. An example would be Freeport in Talker or the Trafford Centre.

Modern Factories and warehouses have also set up in the outer suburbs where land and rent is cheaper and access by road is quick and easy. An example of this is Trentham Lakes, which has been built on a brownfield site. This is a derelict site, an old coal mine (colliery), in the city which has been redeveloped into housing, recreation, including Stoke City Football ground, a gym, hotel and five-a-side football pitches, car show rooms and warehouses.

An example of the outer suburbs would be Packmoor or Trentham.

Inner

City

Outer

Suburbs