Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Crouch End Heights !!!!?????
Estate agents (Prickett & Ellis of Crouch End - where else) have now given the name "Crouch End Heights" to the north (higher) part of Stapleton Hall Road. See the attached. The property in question at 194 is just down the road from Quernmore Road. What next Finsbury Park village?. There was an attempt at Stroud Green Village, but this came to nothing.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Hugh on
-
One way of doing it for the current purposes would be to generate different maps for each neighbourhood area and shapes should readily emerge.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
I'm puzzled, Hugo, about why you seem to exclude the fact that neighbourhood naming is both complex and contentious. And includes not just layer after layer of history - people's history as well as rulers' history - but different groups of people with power and vested interests in naming that map you'd like to see.
And of course a large part of that map already exists - in the historical and geographical layers beneath homes and streets. Is it to be redrawn by "simply" asking people their address and their neighbourhood? Is even that task so simple? Shouldn't we be listening more carefully to the answer to the question: "Where do you think you live?", than jotting down a single word or phrase? In other words isn't the question itself far more complex and far more interesting than a single label? People have differing experiences which colour and shape their 'mental maps' of the areas they know and use.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
You're right of course Alan that the question "where do you live" has the potential to generate different answers in different circumstances. I might reply London, North London, Harringay or The Ladder depending on how the question was phrased and when and where I was when answering it. I think that if this were to go ahead, it would be useful to dry run, analyse the responses, and refine the question or questions.
I do think there is also value in length of residence being taken into account (I said age in a previous post but I've rethought that). As I've lived in the same place for over 30 years my feeling about the place I live and how I indentify it might be very different from my neighbour who moved in a year ago. Actually talking to my very new neighbour, who is on the verge of moving in, he talks about the area as Green Lanes.
Again you're right that there are many other variables that might need to be taken into account in analysing the information. Personal geography is complex.
-
-
Oops. The end of my post seems to have dropped off. What I wanted to say was that wanting to know everything has to be tempered by both the resources you have for something like this and the length of time a respondent would be willing to give in taking part. The more info you ask for, generally, the higher the drop out rate.
-
-
I agree with both your posts, Michael. But suggesting that I'm "wanting to know everything" is inaccurate and unfair. Even in a brief conversation I'm sure that both of us to listen respectfully and thoughtfully to what people say. "Please tick one box" (or place name ) seems unhelpful - even dismissive.
"If they give you lined paper, write the other way."
-
-
Actually Alan, I was referring to my tendency to want to know everything and over complicating things
-
-
Thanks, Michael. Apologies for my misunderstanding.
-
-
No problem
-
-
Yes, clearly very complex (see my earlier answer for my thoughts on this). But as a tool for adding a layer of understanding, rather than something that's a complete answer, a map informed purely by people's views would still have its place. It would be a snapshot in time of where people think they live. It wouldn't give any definitive answer to the single question, "Where are London's neighbourhoods?", but it would give fascinating information that would speak to the question and it would be interesting to watch change over time.
It would also address other questions. For example, I think it would measure the strength of a neighbourhood brand. What changes would it have noted in the geographical shifts of the Crouch End brand over the last 20 years? How would Harringay have fared? What does that mean for social well-being? What about areas where there is no agreement? What are the implications for them?
-
Permalink Reply by Hugo Read on
-
Err, not sure what to say to that really Alan. Of course it's complex, multifaceted and contentious, but I don't see why that should prevent an interesting and useful map being developed charting neighbourhoods as people who live in them see them. I don't believe I'm ignoring that at all. No-one said it would be easy. All interesting projects have a whole host of problems but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take them on, otherwise nothing would ever happen.
Anyway, I'm not really into online arguing, so I've said my opinion on what I believe would be an interesting project and I'll probably leave it there.
-
-
Thanks Hugo.
Just to be clear I'm not saying that the map you suggest has no purpose or that people shouldn't find ways to take on such a project. The Awkward Art of Neighbourhood Naming
-
Permalink Reply by Arkady on
-
My own interest in this neighbourhood-defining business overlaps heavily with the reasons that Hugh gives above. But I'm also motivated by the emergence of Neighbourhood Forums as part of the administrative architecture. This development has the potential to harden some of the previous soft or overlapping boundaries, compelling people to give a narrow response to binary questions like 'do you live in Finsbury Park or Stroud Green' even when the person answering the question feels that a full answer ought to be more complex.
I have my reservations about this. But I can also see the positives. I'm very sceptical about the suitability of the current ward/borough/GLA governance arrangement - people tend to be loyal to (in no particular order) their 'neighbourhood', their broad geographical part of london (e.g. 'North London') and London itself, and I think the administrative arrangements would engender more passion and participation if they were reconstituted on that basis.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
