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Urban Fieldwork » Urban Fieldwork Enquiry

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: 2.4

How to use an environmental quality survey (EQS), a structured questionnaire and an urban land use survey in a central or inner urban area
How to use annotated photographs and stakeholder interviews to show urban change
How to use a report on change in a local urban community, and historic maps and images
How to apply all this to unfamiliar urban data in the exam

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The urban enquiry in Section B

If your Paper 2 Section B topic is Urban environments, your enquiry is investigating the changing use of central or inner urban environments through primary and secondary evidence. For example, a class might study a high street where shops have closed and flats and cafes have opened, or an old factory area that is being redeveloped. As in the other fieldwork lessons, you need quantitative and qualitative primary data, and at least two different secondary sources. The theory of urban change is in the Urban Environments lessons. This lesson is about collecting and using the evidence.

The EQS (environmental quality survey) is done in the same way as in the Energy Use Fieldwork Enquiry lesson, so this lesson only shows how it fits a town or city.

Key terms:

Urban land use survey: recording what each building or plot of land in a set area is used for, such as shops, offices, homes, cafes or empty units.
Urban community: the people who live and work in a part of a town or city.

Primary quantitative data

The spec suggests two quantitative methods: (1) an environmental quality survey (EQS) and a structured questionnaire, and (2) an urban land use survey.

📊 EQS and questionnaire

Use a small-scale EQS at points such as the main shopping street, a side street and a newly built area. Add a structured questionnaire with closed questions, such as: "Has this area changed for the better, for the worse, or not at all?"

🏢 Urban land use survey

Walk a set route and record the use of each ground-floor unit on a tally sheet, using the same categories every time, such as shop, cafe, office, home and empty. You can then put the results on a map and count each type.

Worked example

On Bridge Street, a student surveys 50 ground-floor units. 20 are shops, 11 are cafes and takeaways, 9 are homes or flats, 5 are offices and 5 are empty.

11 ÷ 50 × 100 = 22% are cafes and takeaways. The student can compare this with an older report or map to see if the share has grown.

Primary qualitative data

Annotated photographs showing evidence of change in the urban area, such as an old warehouse turned into flats, a new tram stop, or shops with boards over the windows. Add labels that describe what you see and explain what it shows about change.
Interviews with different stakeholders, such as a shop owner, a long-term resident, a young person who has just moved in, a council planner or a property developer. Their views can be very different.

Qualitative data gives the reasons behind your numbers. A land use survey might show 5 empty units, but an interview with a shop owner may explain that rents went up.

Secondary data for an urban enquiry

The spec suggests two secondary sources.

📄 A report on local change

A paper or digital report into an aspect of change in an urban area and community. It might cover how the number of people, homes, shops or jobs in the community has changed.

🗺 Historic maps and images

Local data on urban change from development. Compare an old map or photograph with a modern one to see which buildings have gone, where new roads run, and where old industrial land is now used for homes or shops.

You can check your own findings against these sources. If the report says the community has grown but your survey finds many empty units, think about why.

What the data may show

Your results should help you answer your enquiry question. Look for patterns, such as whether EQS scores are higher on streets with newer buildings, or whether older residents are more likely than newcomers to say the area has got worse. Then back up your points with figures and quotes from your interviews.

How reliable are the results?

Judge your data before you trust it. Results can be misleading if:

you surveyed only one street, or asked only one group of people
the survey was done at one time of day, such as a quiet weekday morning
the sample was small, so a few odd answers change the pattern
a historic map is very old or covers only part of the area, so it may not show the full change

Remember that stakeholders, such as a developer and a long-term resident, can hold strongly different views, so one interview is not enough.

Unfamiliar fieldwork in the exam

An unfamiliar question gives you new data about an urban environment, collected with methods like these. You should be able to:

describe a pattern in survey results using figures
explain the pattern, and say why stakeholders might disagree
say how a method works and what makes a result unreliable
say how a source such as a historic map would help

Common mistakes

Changing the survey categories halfway through. Use the same ones for every unit.
Surveying one street only. A single street cannot show a pattern for the whole area.
Asking only people from one group. A shop owner, a resident and a planner can all think differently.
Using only one secondary source. The spec needs at least two.
Photographs with no labels. An annotated photograph needs notes that explain what it shows.
Writing "there were more cafes" with no figures. Quote the numbers.

Exam-style question

A student studied an inner urban area and surveyed 40 ground-floor units on one street.

Land use	Number of units
Shop	14
Cafe or takeaway	12
Home or flat	6
Office	4
Empty	4

(a) Calculate the percentage of units that are cafes or takeaways. [1 mark]

(b) Give one advantage of an urban land use survey. [1 mark]

(d) Suggest one reason why a shop owner and a long-term resident might give different views in interviews. [2 marks]

Model answer

(a) 12 ÷ 40 × 100 = 30% (1).

(b) Each unit is recorded the same way, so the results can be counted and compared (1).

(c) They show what the area looked like in the past (1), so the student can see which buildings have gone or changed use (1).

(d) The shop owner may want more visitors and new cafes to bring in money (1), but the resident may dislike the extra noise and the loss of the older shops they used (1).

Exam tip

In (a), write the sum 12 ÷ 40 × 100 before the answer, and add the % sign.

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