OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB2] - Demographics

The demographic of my area is primarily council-renting residents.

The average house prices are as follows:

Average rental price: Ladbroke-grove

Studio : £1,029
1 bedroom flat : £1,400
2 bedroom flat : £2,297
3 bedroom flat : £2,808
2 bedroom house : £1,953
3 bedroom house : £2,805
4 bedroom house: £3,405

Average selling price: Ladbroke-grove

Studio: £3,468,855
1 bedroom flat: £311,527
2 bedroom flat : £506,619
3 bedroom flat: £844,318
3 bedroom house: £693,010
3 bedroom house: £1,236,585
4 bedroom house : £1,137,990

The demographics of the area of Ladbroke Grove are as follows:

Population demographics Ladbroke-grove

Population: 29,736
Average age: 33
Retired: 15.47%
Unemployed 7.41%
Educated to degree level: 30%
Student: 5.35%
Total migrants: 11.24%

The population demographic is taken from the 2001 census and may not be the same now.

These statistics can be very useful in determining the reasons for the uprising between residents. As you can see, the average selling price for a house is becoming more and more difficult to keep up with for working-class, unemployed or even degree level residents to keep up with. This price hike is surely to do with gentrification and its by-products.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB2] - Westway23 Website

In order to bring all of my elements together, I created a website that contained all of the work I had created. This makes it easy to direct the audience to a single place to find out about the organisation and what they do. I would also be able to use social media to create events and grow the reach of the organisation in the local area, as the more residents that learn of the events that go on in the area, the better.

The homepage also uses collateral from the tube posters and leaflet, bringing all the different elements of the project together on one page.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB1] - Time Banks

Time based currency is a radical concept. The idea that anyone can put in hours of work and receive the same payment is both a blessing and a curse, it doesn't take into account the perplexity of the work or the qualification required to actually perform the task required.

There are hundreds of "Time Banks" which are primarily volunteering projects, scattered across the world. The biggest Time Bank organisation in the UK is "TimebankingUK", a registered charity. Time Banks in the UK are usually limited to volunteering work but the paramaters remain open. For example, you may offer your services to a hospital for an hour and in return, they would help you with cooking healthy meals (this is an example on the website). On the TimeBanking UK website, these are the three listed types of Time Banks.

Person - PersonThese might be ‘standalone’ timebanks, perhaps in a local community, where residents might organise social action using the principles of an hour for an hour. This might typically see a timebank member earning a time credit by doing the shopping for an elderly member of the timebank, and then spending that time credit on getting somebody else to provide baby-sitting support at a time when they are busy.

Person - AgencyThis model might see organisations using timebanking as a tool for achieving their own outcomes and goals. In this instance, the timebank might be interwoven into the fabric of the organisation, so that their own activities can be organised through a system of time exchange. For example, a hospital might wish to provide a home-care service for patients who have left the acute care setting but are still in need of support –perhaps somebody with a broken leg for example. The hospital would then organise the informal support needed, such as help with cooking meals, doing shopping or running basic errands, using a timebank to incentivise the giving of help rather than paying professionals in the traditional manner.

Agency - AgencyTimebanks can also work between organisations, as a system for trading assets and resources. Organisations, such as local businesses or public sector agencies, might place access to some of their resources into the timebank. This might be the use of a minibus or sports hall, or particular skills that they have such as graphic design or legal advice. Organisations in the timebank can then share, trade and exchange resources based on the hour for an hour principle.

Time Banking is definitely an interesting concept, and shows that with co-operation, the world doesn't need a physical currency at all, and can exchange favour-for-favour deals. This is still a radical concept and would be extremely difficult to implement on a wider scale, but helps my research into my unified currency.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB1] - Note Ideas

BitNote

BitNote is a concept trying to bridge the gap between physical money and the anonymous service, BitCoin. With physical money falling out of favour for digital payment services, there needs to be a modernisation of the physical side of money in order to boost usage. 

The downside of BitCoin is not everywhere accepts the currency, and there's no current way of using BitCoin in stores as you would a debit card. In comes the idea of BitNote.

BitNote is a wildly fluctuating currency, as it follows the BitCoin currency market and is subject to the same movement of wealth. However, there are constants for the notes that will take into account these fluctuations. The notes themselves will represent the BTC, with notes carrying micro-thin bendable screens inside them. These notes can be changed by governments to match inflation/deflation rates meaning the need for 100,000 Yen (for example) notes would be a thing of the past. With a universal online currency running alongside local currencies, there will always be an alternative to local currency to normalise inflation and deflation.

However, with a radical idea such as this, there are many problems. Who would govern this currency as it would be in use worldwide? How would politics change the face of the currency? With the world so interlinked, how would wars and the like affect the currency?

Although this was an idea I had an interest in, I decided to be pragmatic and put this idea to the side.

Pacem

Pacem is an idea I had whilst researching communist currency and planned economies. With my concept being a united currency, I looked to communism for inspiration (although trying to avoid the pitfalls that occurred with the ruble, for example.) Pacem is the translation of "peace" in Latin, as with this currency I would intend to create financial peace across the globe. The notes themselves would be created to be polymer notes, to protect them from outside sources. The design would be extremely simple, as it would need to remain neutral and universal. No language would be printed on the note, as it would need to be transcribed in hundreds of countries. Instead of money being a currency, it would be a signifier of time. For instance, the 1 note would be 1 hour, the 10 note would be 10 hours and the 20 note would be 20 hours. These notes would be earned as usual, through work. However, this would completely eliminate capitalist culture and the premise of social classes. The people that worked more, would be "richer".

This idea could be seen as extremely left-wing and with good reason, but I believe adopting a currency similar to this would drive the world much further in the fight for world equality. Time based currency is not a new concept, as there have been attempts at implementing currencies many times. The problem is attempting to include the whole world in this same process, as it simply doesn't work unless a country completely isolates itself, or the world itself adopts the single currency.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB2] - Gentrification: The Negative Aspects

As well as positive aspects, there are a range of negative aspects associated with the process of gentrification. These can leave residents with a sour taste in their mouth and are some of the main reasons there are action groups against gentrification rising up in urban areas across the globe.

Loss of affordable housing

With the upside being property values increasing in a gentrified area, many low-income residents will rent their housing instead of owning it. This means residents will have rent hikes they can't keep up with, and end up having to be displaced to other low-income areas (which creates a more concentrated area of poverty, a massive problem in some cities creating favela-like areas).

Small business can suffer

As areas are gentrified, smaller businesses such as newsagents, hairdressers and the like can suffer from increased competition and similar rises in rent from property developers. With a changing demographic living in the area, there may not be as much custom as a small business needs, meaning shops will close. This is well documented with many small businesses suffering from bigger business taking over areas (such as supermarkets dominating smaller food stores).

Diversity suffers

With the demographic changing in areas, there is also a change in diversity in the area. While there are early gentrifiers that bring the same amount of diversity that low-income areas usually have, the majority of early gentrifiers are white residents in the 25-40 range (Reference). This loss of diversity can effect the community of the area, and create tensions between different classes in an area.

Can increase crime

Interestingly enough, some neighbourhoods that have been gentrified recently experienced increases in crime (albeit most of those neighbourhoods have since resumed normal crime rates). Sociologists have given reasons such as desperation to remain in the area, tensions between different classes and criminals recognising the increase in wealth in the area, targeting individuals in the area purposefully.

Displacement

One of the biggest reasons there is such an uprising against gentrification, displacement. The means of displacing strong-knit communities can have extremely detrimental effects on the residents currently living in the area, with many residents being priced out due to the rent increases and businesses targeting a higher social-class. Specifically in London, the displacement of people to certain lower-class areas creates even more poverty in that area, dooming the residents to certain austerity. Instead of helping residents enjoy a better way of life, they are simply moved on to an area that property developers aren't interested in (yet).

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB2] - Gentrification: The Positive Aspects

In order to create a piece of work that effectively conveys the effects of gentrification, both the positive and negative aspects of gentrification have to be considered.

Gentrification has received a negative stereotype over the past decade that it destroys culture and displaces residents from their original homes. What isn't as commonly known is the positive benefits of gentrification, of which there are many.

Gentrification signals economic growth

Gentrification is often a pre-cursor for economic growth in the area. Areas are renovated, jobs are created and increased spending in the area means there is more reason to police the area. All of these elements of gentrification are extremely beneficial and create a safe, beautiful area to live in. The criticism of this, however, is that the benefits are reaped most by the demographically superior individuals, rather than the residents who have always lived in the area in a vast amount of cases, albeit not all.

Numerous sociological studies have been conducted around the idea of gentrification, and surprisingly the demographic that benefitted the most in the average case was black residents with high school diplomas. These residents contributed towards 33% of the total income gain of an area, compared to college-educated white residents contributing a 20% income gain. These numbers are interesting as it challenges the perceptions of gentrification and sparks the question: Is gentrification as bad as it is made out to be in the media?

The Property Market goes through significant growth

Residents in an area that goes through gentrification will find that the value of their property increases substantially due to the different processes listed above. This makes for a great boost to the income of your average working-class family. However, studies conducted by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve concluded that pre-gentrification families are just as likely to move as a family that hadn't gone through the process. That means gentrification can't be as disrupting to low-income families as commonly thought, with the property market probably contributing to that fact.

Gentrifiers improve public services

With more income revenue pouring into the area, councils are able to spend more on public services such as education, health and even the local environment. This in turn makes the pre-gentrification group live in a much more desirable area, and is seen as a massive positive influence on how a large percentage of lower class residents live and how they can often times become wealthier through the process itself.

In conclusion, gentrification is not as black and white as it may seem to people. It has flaws and it does displace people - but not nearly as much as you may think. This adds an interesting perspective onto my work, as I have to consider both sides of the gentrification debate before I produce my work on the subject.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB1] - Final Note Designs