Blog to what extent your ward/SOA resembles a 'sustainable community' and what extent you don't think it does. Give some evidence from your observations (or your memories) of this judgment.
Southampton is my local city and is a medium size city with a population of 217,445 The city overall in my opinion is fairly sustainable although at times there is a lot of traffic and there is not enough open space with too many buildings. Although a couple of years ago Southampton was named the cleanest city in England. Also the local council are putting lots of advertisments up to encourage recycling and there is also now a blue recycling bin given to many residents in the city. Some key statictics also show that compared to the national average Southampton's transport method for travelling to work is more sustainable. This can be seen in the fact that 11.43% travel by bus compared to the national average of 7.51%. Also a lower percentage travel by car compared to the national average with 52.95% compared to 54.92%. Also a higher percentage of people in southampton travel by bike to work with 4.3% compared to the national average of 2.83%. Plus finally more travel to work by foot with 13.3% compared to the national average of 9.99%.
In conclusion Southampton as a city is trying to become more sustainable mainly through transport, recycling and generally being cleaner. Although for Southampton to be more sustainable more open green space should be set up in the local towns, as there is not enough in my opinion.
Reference list:
- http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=301592&c=SO19+7DA&d=141&e=15&g=412218&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1270227642083&enc=1&dsFamilyId=283
- http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=301592&c=SO19+7DA&d=141&e=16&g=412218&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1270228800576&enc=1&dsFamilyId=75
