How sustainable is my community?

 

The definition of community is regarded as `a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage’ (dictionary.com), so with this in mind I regard the London Borough of Harrow as my community. Though it covers 19.5 sq mi (50.47 km²) and had a population of 216,200 in 2008 (Wikipedia),I live, work and play there, taking part in many of the community activities and using its facilities, making it a part of me, my community.  I know that over the 19 years that I have lived there, it has begun to become a greener area; for example there has been a heavy recycling policy put into place, where if it’s not in the correct bin all hell breaks loose, and when taking a closer look. However my community is roughly more located in a small town in Harrow, but to understand the extent to which the community is sustainable the assistance of the definition of a sustainable community is needed, thus with this definition I can see how my community fits into what a the definition is trying to portray, then it can be illustrated to what extent it is sustainable.

(http://www.areasoflondon.com/harrow.html)

 Harrow situated in the district of Middlesex, North West London has been said to be `a very ‘green’ borough, with many parks and open spaces. However there is also a thriving business community and a wide range of shops and facilities’ from the website Town Pages, which in my opinion is true; the 88 parks and open spaces in Harrow provide a greener more sustainable outlook on the area. Though the thriving businesses that go on in Harrow, may be thriving one week but are having a closing down sale the next, which does make the mind wonder how sustainable the community actually is. Though to make it easier, if I break down Harrow to my immediate community area in which my ward is situated, Rayners Lane, a small town in the borough, would be regarded as my community, I can begin to use aspects and factors of the town to help to justify how sustainable my small town community is.

So before I can start to decipher how sustainable my community is with the focus being on Rayners Lane, the definition of a sustainable community needs to be looked at. One definition is a sustainable community is "a place where people want to live and work, now and in the future" from the The Guardian. But this is not an in-depth understanding of the word sustainable in the context of `sustainable community’, thus another definition is needed such as ` Sustainable communities are planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. This may include sustainability aspects relating to development, water, transportation, energy, and waste and materials. They tend to focus on environmental sustainability (including development and agriculture) and economic sustainability. Sustainable communities can focus on sustainable urban infrastructure and/or sustainable municipal infrastructure’ sourced from Wikipedia.  Though this has been sourced from Wikipedia, which can be unreliable the majority of the time, the definition given makes it clearer to understand what sustainable community means. Thus I am able to interpret an understanding in the form of `a sustainable community is one in which the residence fulfill their lifestyles with the notion of making sure that what they do today doesn’t harm tomorrow. With this it is not just the residence but where they live work and play as well; the facilities, housing and the environment also play apart in keeping the community sustainable’.

Rayners Lane defined by how sustainable the community is and how well it fits into the definition of a sustainable community, can be looked at through various aspects of the community such as the amount of people that live there and how they travel around. Distinguishing factors such as those found in the document called Sustainable communities: building for the future, by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, can be used to determine what makes a sustainable community and what doesn’t,  such as: a flourishing local economy to provide jobs and wealth, a well-integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures to support a range of household sizes, ages and incomes and Good quality local public services, including education and training opportunities, health care and community facilities, especially for leisure. With the factors from the document I can begin to look at where my community is thriving with sustainable factors and where it is lacking, by looking at six main aspects of the community: people, housing, transport, facilities, community activities and lastly the environment. To help see if my community in Rayners Lane resembles a sustainable community examples from my own experiences are going can be applied.

According to the document Sustainable Communities when it comes to people and housing the density has to be suitable enough so that people are still able to lead their lifestyles but not to the extent of overcrowding. Thus there must be management in the community so that the communities carrying capacity is not breached, to add to this housing must utilise the resources to hand to their full potential `A well-integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures to support a range of household sizes, ages and incomes’.  In 2008 Rayners Lane was home to 8,079 people of different age ranges, cultures and social backgrounds which makes the community very diverse.

The age range in Rayners Lane is spread over a spectrum of ages, though the majority are between the ages of 25-49 which is the main working age with around 37%, then the percentage of those that are aged 0-15 is more with 22% than those aged 60+ with around 14% (data sourced from Office of National Statistics. Figures like this can be interpreted in two ways; it can be seen as a part of making the community more sustainable; those who are at the right age or able to work keep the local economy going enabling for the community to improve its facilities. Whilst the elderly people attend many community functions such as coffee mornings at the local church, and some even have allotments, where they grow their own fruit and vegetables thus providing an environmental incentive to home grow produce, instead of buying the same produce that has been shipped half way across the world. Also the combination of the two age groups 0-15 and 16-24 adds up to 33.5% of the communities population, meaning that in the future there will be a work force that can take over once those who are in the 25-49 age group have become elderly and retired.  

(http://www.cityfarmer.info/category/england/page/5/)

Another way at looking at these figures is in a more negative light by  looking at the high number of  25-49 years olds and saying that how many of them have children, want children and want more children which will slowly increase the population density as people in the area become more wealthy. An example from the Office of National Statistics for the average weekly household total income estimate is £840 compared to London which is £690 (Office of National Statistics), this shows that people in Rayners Lane may be able to afford more children.  

When it comes to housing and buildings, a lack of poor housing and residential area conditions place pressure on the sustainability of the community, with this house prices can also place an effect on the extent to which a community can be sustainable. For in Rayners Lane there were 523 dwellings in 2008 (Office of National Statistics)and in the different parts of the community the housing styles and the conditions vary, in which the community mainly consists of flats, terraced houses and semi-detached housing. With this these styles of housing change depending on which part of the town you are in, the same with the condition of the property. Rayners Lane could be seen as a form of suburbia because it has `extensive residential developments on the outside of towns, low density, large plots of land, structured around cars’ (from power point presentation called sustainable communities 28^th October) as shown by the Radburn design.

Housing quality is a key factor in the workings of a sustainable community, for example if houses are of good quality and in a good area people have a better quality of life, thus this makes the community better off for as nehboughs interact more due to their lifestyles. The same can be said for the type of housing, for example people who live in flats crate their own miniature community as they maintain and live in their shared living space. However as the document Sustainable communities states `homes in poor condition damage the health of those who live in them and can undermine the sustainability of neighbourhoods’ this is true for my community in which some parts of the area are of poorer quality, leading to people moving out and increases the chances of the area becoming rundown. An example could be that the road that I live on has very nice quality housing in a good area and down my road everybody knows each other’s business, whereas where my friend lives which is an area dominated my rundown housing and flats (mainly council estates) people don’t really have as much of a close nit community as we have down my road. Because the area is not very inviting and people have a lower quality of life making the sustainability of the area almost impossible as nobody interacts with each other creating no sense of place.



Le Corbusier's design for France, in my opinion doese
not look good in my community.



The density of the housing also affects the sustainability of my community, for example the flats that are by the town centre could be considered as a sustainable type of housing. This is because they use up the land available to their best ability by building upwards not outwards, thus allowing around 4-5 families to live on the same amount of land as one. Which means in comparison the 3-4 bedroomed 7 bay window houses that are selling for over £300,000 on the market, are more unsustainable due to space and the amount of people that they can accommodate. However these types of housing make the area look and feel better aesthetically which gives the community a better quality of life as stated before. Though in my opinion these flats that were inspired Le Corbusier design of tower blocks to solve Frances urban squalor, are unsightly and do not make the community look aesthetically pleasing.  But this problem is a double edged sward for as the area gets nicer the more people are going to want to move in, increasing the population density which could push the community’s carrying capacity over the edge. Another problem that could damper the community’s sustainability is that because Rayners Lane is a nice area close to good schools and the underground, house prices are going to go up as well as the demand for these houses, which could make the area too expensive for existing residence. 

 


 

The transport factor of my community is a tricky area when it comes to the sustainability of the community, because though we have direct train and bus routes into London which cuts down on transport emissions, these forms of public transport are not wide spread throughout the community which still creates a heavy need for cars as the main means of transport. In Rayners Lane from what can be interpreted form the Office of National Statistics website; around 80% of the community have at least one car, this means that there is a lot of car emissions in the area which is an unsustainable part of the community. But the cars are needed as the majority of the major facilities such as supermarkets and shopping centres are quite far away from the town, making a type of suburbia where cars are needed to carry out the lifestyle.





This reliance on cars in the community creates a lot of congestion on the roads which puts people off walking unless they have to from fear of road accidents, which have accrued a couple of times on the main road going through the town. With all the congestion on the roads its unsustainable for another reason other than Co2 emissions, damage to the roads in my community is a big problem, there are always men in high visibility jackets mending the roads because of the amount of traffic that accumulate, this is highly unsustainable for the money that is needed to pay for the road mending comes out of the communities money, which means that roads are being fixed whilst recreational areas begin to die down. But the community does redeem itself by having many cycle lanes all over the town with many in the residential areas, so that if people want a green more healthy method of transport it is available to them, I am personally one of the users of the cycle paths, for example I would ride the 20 minute walk it took to get to my sixth form whilst my friends would take the bus or drive, though there not a widely used facility the cycle paths do show that the community is trying to be sustainable.

 The facilities available in Rayners Lane are well maintained by both the community and the council such as the local schools in which the one closest to my house my siblings attend in which my mother and several of her friends are a part of the PTA there, which creates a community inside the school but also the local area around the school, this a sustainable part of the community as the council, children, teachers and parents work together to make the schools in the area better for today and the future. Not only do the schools in the local area try to improve their own community they also try to improve the rest of the community through events such as that HA2 Can Do carnival that myself and my brother where apart of for many years which can be seen in the local paper Harrow Times and my old high schools newsletter ( page 7).



Another facility that is a part of the community is the high street which has a few local shops such as newsagents and some small supermarkets like Tesco’s express and some speciality shops such as Polish delicatessens and pure vegetarian Indian caterers, these high street provides the community with a place to meet due to the coffee shops and restaurants making the high street the heart of the community where everything is happening.

The use of facilities in the area such as the schools and shops are part of the glue that keeps communities together thus making them sustainable in the future as these facilities provide people with a sense of purpose or belonging. However this sense of belonging and community being brought together can be broken by the continuous changing of some of the shops in the high street, for example over the past couple of years some shops have changed for the worst such as the local Chinese restraint which went out of business during the recession, which has now been transformed into an empty nightclub/cocktail bar which not many people in the community are interested in, this leads to a breakdown of the community which is unsustainable in the long run as people are unwilling to adjust to change.



(http://www.guides-uniform.co.uk/)

Another aspect of the community that makes it sustainable is the social clubs and community activities that people attend, such as though’s mentioned before; allotment societies and local carnivals but there are others such as Scouts and Guides, Sports clubs, Dance lessons in church hall and so on. From my experiences of these clubs and community activities it brings people in the community together from all walks of life and of all age groups for example Scouting and Guiding brings the children of a community together along with adults to be their Scouts and Guide leaders creating communities for both adults and children alike in the home town. My personal experiences with the Guides have made me part of my community for the past 11 years through community based projects such as bake sales and Christmas shows. However though these activities are good at making the community more connected, people are split up into different groups within the community which in a way brakes down the overall community, and if there were an increase in activities it could become unsustainable in the long run.



Then there are the environmental factors that need to be considered, Rayners Lane is home to several parks and open spaces such as Alexandra Park and Roxbourne Park, where people are able to meet in the community providing them with a sustainable area which is maintained by the council. For example the parks are used as sports grounds and children’s play areas playing a vital function to the community. Another aspect of the community that keeps it sustainable is our recycling policy, where by every house hold has three bins: one for recyclable waste, non-recyclable and kitchen and garden waste, this is a part of an incentive from the council to be more green and eco-friendly, this more green way of recycling can be seen on the Harrow Councils website. Though these rules and regulations have been put into place by the council for the good of the community, the sometimes get kicked to the curb, for example in my house were supposed to separate out all the rubbish that we through away, but in some cases it’s a hassle that we can do without, and my family are not the only ones to “forget” to recycle properly.

So in conclusion, I would say that over all my community in Rayners Lane, Harrow, is a sustainable one, I do think that it is a place where people want to live (though I wouldn’t really say work) and it is being modified to promote sustainable living through incentives from the council such as having so many bins it’s easy to get what goes where wrong, but the bigger picture is that it is good for the future of our community and that’s what counts. Though we may not be building the community of tomorrow from scratch, we are improving on the community of yesterday to bring it towards tomorrow, through community factors such as a diverse population with people who are working to keep our community afloat to those who are being educated for the future, as well as having miniature communities through Guides and PTA meetings, thus in the long run it  builds to a better community as the mums on the PTA hand out flyers for the Guides church coffee morning. Other factors that make us a sustainable community is that we work together to strengthen our community and that of others such as the HA2 Carnival in which all the schools in the community take part and everybody gets involved, even the town next door to us.

However we do have are sustainable slip ups such as the Co2 emissions that the mums taxi’s create in the mad rush to get to school before 9 o’clock, the popularity of the area that is pulling people in could be the reason for pushing people out as the community begins to reach its carrying capacity and the incredible large amounts of space wasting 4 bedroomed semi-detached houses.

But all in all I think to be a sustainable community you need to have flaws in the system otherwise it’s not a true community, because those who can see past the run down council estates and through to the smiles on people’s faces as they dance down the high street in carnival colours, are the people who make my community of Rayners Lane a sustainable community.