The Dunstable library looks dull and old fashioned and is obviously not attracting customers as much as it needs to be. The building next to it makes the area and the library look tacky and could be knocked down to make way for something that could be useful and that make Dunstable more attractive.
Go bowling, is a bowling/arcade establishment, and we can see the car park outside, on the left we can see some railings that have been damaged and not repaired which won't be very presentable to people in Dunstable. The go bowling building looks like it was built in the 80’s, which wont appeal to the target audience and it looks tacky and if it was taken down, it could make way for a market of some sort.
This is an image of the grove area, by the Gary Cooper bar and restaurant. I would see this as a good place in Dunstable, making it look better to the audience. The large field area is very good for families, children and teenagers to hang about, have picnics and play fun games when the weather is nice. However, the grass gets pretty muddy, making the area looking dull and gloomy, when the weather is worse. This can put people off from visiting the area, decreasing the footfall. To increase the footfall, Dunstable could add flower bushes, low boxes or a seating area around the field area. This way it would make it seem and look more brighter, fun and a great, bubbly place to relax. I feel that the whole view of this area does have a big affect on the view of Dunstable as it is a very wide-open space for various aged people to meet and relax with each other. It is also next to quite a few popular places in Dunstable town centre, such as Asda, Go Bowling, the leisure centre, Cookies and Cream and the Gary Coopers bar, making it regularly seen and noticed.
This image is of two small food orientated restaurants, that have both been closed down, due to lack of footfall and business in the area. I feel that because they are situated in the corner of Grove, with shiny, black windows, making it harder to see inside the restaurants, and showing the visitors what they have to offer. I definitely feel that they show a bad view to the visitors about Dunstable, as they show no bright enthusiasm shown or colours to make it seem inviting. I feel that by swapping the black windows to clear, adding funky posters and banners and paint, they will definitely attract customers. By raising money, by doing things such as cake stalls and car-boot sales and mini taster sessions, the owners would be able to work towards a brighter future for the restaurants.
This is the Grove Theatre, which I feel is a good aspect for Dunstable, as it is easily accessible and great for all ages. However, it does not appeal to the visitors at all, as there is no fun to the outside of the building, making it look dreary. I feel that by adding beautiful flowers around the outside, it would already look inviting. By making the inside look colourful and funky, yet relaxing, then this would be seen from the outside from the clear windows, making the visitors interesting and intrigued. They will be finding themselves wandering into the theatre, mainly because it caught their eye. I do not live in Dunstable, so when I came across this area, I had no idea it existed. I was quite disappointed as it wasn't inviting in any way, They had posters in the corners of the windows, mainly falling off anyway, making me less intrigued than I would have been. There is no colour or fun dynamics, instantly putting me off as it doesn't look inviting and gives me the impression that it isn't really that important.
These are the statues that are at the other end of Grove from the Theatre. They were created to give the visitors information on the history of the area. I feel that they show the history of the area in a creative manner, although they don't really appeal to the public as they are not very bright or bring enthusiasm to the park and grove area. Therefore, it is a good aspect for the area as the visitors can learn about the history and take images, however they could be more colourful and exciting to make the visitors get inspired by the statues. This could be done by adding fun, colourful flower boxes around the statues, maybe creating a pathway to attract the younger audience. I think that by making this effort by adding fun colours and fun aspects to the area, it would bring more people in, not just for the park area, but to learn about the history of that part of Dunstable.
The bandstand is a good aspect of Dunstable as it intrigues the teenage audience, as the dynamics and funky shape definitely looks inviting. The colour is bright, bringing both the male and female audience, which means bringing on the community. This definitely makes it an inviting area to chill and meet with friends. However, the colour blue can be seen as a dreamy, lazy, even sad colour, which means that the audience may feel that they don't want to be surrounded by a sad atmosphere. This could be improved by adding (not changing) more colours to the outside of the wooden stand, and on the floor area - making it a more funky, exciting place for the teenage audience to chill, eat and even get inspired by what surrounds them. The bandstand is mainly recognised for the gigs that they show in the summer, which is a great aspect to Dunstable as it brings the community together, having a good time. I think that by advertising this more on billboards and posters etc, the community is able to acknowledge the good events that are being offered.
This is the recycle bins, just aside the bandstand.This definitely shows one of the bad aspects of Dunstable, as this person couldn't be bothered to place the glass bottle in the bin, but instead on top of the bin, making it look dirty and a waste of space. I could suggest that by adding bigger signs to show where the bins are would be helpful, making the bins larger and possibly taller so that there is no waste surrounding the area. However, I do feel that the bins provided are already standard, so the community needs to work together to make Dunstable a cleaner, better place to live.
These two images are of the squirrels and pigeons in and around the Grove area. The squirrels are cute, however they can make a mess by rummaging around in the rubbish bins, which makes the area seem more messy than the public are making. This shows that little animals and pigeons can annoy the public, which leads to the public not visiting the area, resulting in a decrease in footfall. To overcome this, I feel that the bins could have lids on them - which means that the squirrels do not have access to the rubbish. However, this does also mean that the public are less likely to use the bins, as I have noticed that most people throw their rubbish in the bins, and if missing they don't go out their way to pick it up. This can be a downfall in this area. However, the small animals around the Grove area show the public that they do encourage nature, which shows that the community is well natured and looks after the nature in a good manner.
This is the Central Beds College Store, which shows that the education in Dunstable is easily accessible and that they offer more various opportunities. This definitely shows that Dunstable can offer good education, which needs to be shown to the visitors of Dunstable and the target audience outside of Dunstable as most people see this area as a rough place to live/visit. I feel that to gain footfall in this area, the store could create leaflets to hand out, posters and professional looking banners to gain their attention and advertise in a range of newspapers. Social Networking is also a great way to advertise the education as most people use these sites, in and outside of Dunstable. This would gain footfall and change the negative perception of Dunstable that most of the public have.
The image below is the Dunstable Leisure Centre, which is good for the community as they can meet up, chat and exercise. However, I feel that it isn't well advertised and put across to the public as it is in the corner, making it less noticeable to the public. The centre could create funky ways to increase the knowledge of where it is situated to the public eye, such as painted footsteps on the floor tiles to make the public intrigued, wanting to explore what is over there and what they provide, professional looking banners and posters/leaflets and hold various shows to show what they provide. This will also show that Dunstable offers good education, intriguing the public to take a look at what they offer, and explore more of the area.
Overall our group has captured a good variety of the good and bad areas of Dunstable and some of the causes to why the footfall is low. These images will assist us through our developments throughout the brief and inspire us with possible ideas we can carry into our final designs.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
