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CHAPTER 6 QUESTIONNAIRES
6.3 FINDINGS
6.3.4 Perception of Area
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Figure 6.4 indicates that more than half of the respondents agreed this area is safe/comfortable (52%) and considered the environment of the area as liveable. In comparison, 48% of respondents rated safety as poor. Many of them commented that increasing crime cases will destroy the living quality of the area.
Circulation Difficulties
Figure 6.5: Circulation Difficulties
30% Traffic congestion
25% Lack of parking
space
20%
o
Vehicles travel too15% fast
o
Traffic noise 10%5% • Dirty
street/pavement
0%
o
Traffic signs1
Twenty-seven per cent of the respondents experienced difficulty with lack of parking space, and 23% of those thought that the traffic vehicles travel too fast. This factor indicates that people perceive parking and traffic speeds as the most difficult problem in the area, which is commensurate with the finding of Participant Observation mentioned earlier.
Chapter6 Questionnaires
Table 6.5: Rating for Access to Shops
20 10 2 2 60
33 16 4 4 100
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From Table 6.5, seventy-six per cent of the 60 respondents thought that the area had very good/good access to shops. Of these, 43% of the people said there was very good to acces s to shops. This is because these people can get access to shops such as Spar supermarket, Windermere Shopping Centre and comer shops within walking distance.
Table 6.6 : Rating for A Good Place to Liv e
Rating No %
- - - -~-- --,~ - - - --- ------ - -
Very good 20 33
Good 19 32
Neither Good nor Bad 13 22
Bad 8 13
VeryBad
Total 60 100
Sixty-five per cent of the respondents considered the area to be very good/good to live, of these, 33% of the respondents considered the area is very good. Most of the people displayed their positive impression of living conditions in this area which is quite similar to the finding as mentioned before. Itis also interesting to note that no one thought this is a very bad area. The reason could be related that the area
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traditionally has been residential with some gradual commercial activity, and is aesthetically attractive.
Table 6.7 : Rat ing forPublic Transport System
Rating No %
Very good 16 27
Good 25 42
Neither Good nor Bad 10 16
Bad 8 13
Very Bad 1 2
Total 60 100
Referring to Table 6.7 above, most of the respondents were satisfied with the public transport system. Forty-two percent of the people thought the public transport is good and 27% of them agreed it was very good. This is because both municipal buses and Mynah buses constantly service people as well as mini taxies run throughout the road, so they provided convenient transport service to these people.
Table 6.8: Historical Charac te r of the Area
Rating No %
Very good 21 35
Good 24 40
Neither Good nor Bad 9 15
Bad 4 7
Very Bad 2 3
Total 60 100
The majority of the respondents (75%) rated the historical character of the area as good or very good. Of these, 35% said it was very good.
This comment further provided proof that the historical character of the area, such as early domestic buildings is part of a unique identity and
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contributed to the urban landscape. It's no doubt that we should be more sensitive to it with future planning and development.
6.3.5 Ove rall Comm ents
In order to enhance the quality of the area and its unique identity, some Pedestrianisation and Traffic Calming measures were supported by the respondents in the questionnaires. The comments and ideas will be useful to better accommodate traffic vehicles and pedestrians in this area.
Figure 6.6: Comments on Traffic Calming Measures
Bike lane Widen pavement Increasing parking on street Lane-width reduction One-waystreet
Limittraffic speed !~!~~~~~LJ
o
20 40 60 80 100~ ~
The majority of the respondents (80%) were in favour of the idea of increased parking on the street. Seventy-five per cent of the respondents suggested limiting traffic speed. The two highest inappropriate measures which can be adopted are one-way street (67%) and lane-width reduction (62%). It is clear from Figure 6.6 that people treat traffic speed and parking issues as the most critical problems in this area, which was uniformly emphasised in the Participant Observation undertaken earlier on.
Chapter6 Questionna ires
Figure 6.7: Co mments on Pedestrianisation Scheme
70
PnMsirndtlilets
Kiosklp,blictelel1me
seatirg
o
20 40 60 80 100~ ~
The majority of respondents (87%) are in favour of conservation of old houses. Hence the emphasis of maintaining historical character in the area were the significant goals for building a more attractive place for people. Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents suggested providing seating facilities for people, which is also a priority for improving comfort and satisfaction to the public. The lowest levels of support were for tree planti n g (43%) and play spaces/parks (43%), which can be attributed to green street already existing and the public preference away from parks/open sp a ce due to the fear of crime.
6.4 CONCLUSION
The questionnaire survey was undertaken with the purpose of the research as a key means of obtaining information from the residents, tenants/ assistants, and users within the population of Florida Road area. Each questionnaire took approximately four minutes to complete.
The responses to the questionnaire were good, and are consistent with the findings from the Participant Observation survey. The parking problem, traffic speed and conservation of old buildings were emphasised by the residents, tenants/assistants and users during the survey process. Some issues outside the questionnaire were also raised
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and commented on by the respondents, which can be seen as a contribution to this research. This survey therefore provided an important input to the research.
CHAPTER 7