Variations in the Building Fabric of Small Towns

Bibliographic Data

ID8962736
AuthorsJohn M Luffrum (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume5
Issue2
Pages170-170
Publication date1980-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/622262
OpenAlexW2333370188
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited1

Variations in the building fabric of 34 small towns in Norfolk and Suffolk are analysed. Relationships are found between variations in building fabric and town population, a measure of centrality and population change. The data are comparable to, and the results consistent with, the work of Whitehand (1979) in southern Scotland. WHITEHAND'S' paper concerning the variation of building fabric in small town centres represents an important contribution to the understanding of some of the complex and important relationships present in the townscape. In particular, his analyses revealed a relationship between the urban hierarchy and building replacement and faqade conversion in both the postand inter-war periods, between the urban hierarchy and floor-space concentration in the post-war period, and between population change and building replacement and faqade conversion in the post-war period. This paper considers similar building fabric variations in a different area of the country-the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk-with the aim of examining the generality of Whitehand's findings. Both the data and the types of towns studied in Norfolk and Suffolk are broadly similar to those considered in southern Scotland. Like southern Scotland, Norfolk and Suffolk have numerous discrete small towns, and they are largely devoid of major urban areas that would complicate interpretations. The 34 East Anglian towns studied comprise all the settlements in Norfolk and Suffolk considered by Lemon2 to be of urban status, but exclude the larger towns of King's Lynn, Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, and the major centres of Norwich and Ipswich. The populations of these towns in 1971 covered a range between just under 2000 and just over 13 ooo--a rather smaller range with fewer large towns than that considered by Whitehand, although Whitehand's population figures were increased by the inclusion of the populations of town service areas. As in the case of southern Scotland, the populations of the small towns of East Anglia were largely stable during the inter-war years, suffering an average loss of 2 per cent between 1921 and 1931 (i per cent in southern Scotland) and an averagegain of 2 per cent3 (i per cent in southern Scotland) between 1921 and 1951. The towns have a variety of histories and functions, but may be broadly divided into traditional market centres and seaside resorts. The data for the East Anglian towns are almost exactly comparable to those recorded for southern Scotland in that similar criteria were utilized in defining the extent of the town centres and the characteristics of the building fabric. Two differences should be noted. First, in an area with a very high concentration of small towns it was considered that the complexity of overlapping and interlinked service areas rendered the delimitation of hinterlands an exercise of dubious validity without a separate, major investigation. The population and population change figures for the East Anglian towns therefore refer not to service areas, as in Whitehand's study, but to the civil parish or urban district within which the town lies. Secondly, the data

Architectural engineering · Business · Economic geography · Geography · Engineering · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis · Urbanization and City Planning

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