Case Study Selection
This research study consists of a case study of central Newcastle, (referring to the NE1 and NE2 postcodes). The centre of Newcastle has a rich architectural heritage, with buildings from ‘an eclectic mix of styles and periods’ (Rea, 2018). A significant proportion of Newcastle’s historic parts of the centre including Grainger Market, Bigg Market and much of the surrounding areas which lay within the medieval town have been grouped into one planning zone boundary known as Grainger Town, named in the early 1990s during ‘regeneration of a substantial part of the historic core of Newcastle’ (Cullen & Lovie, 2003). Newcastle’s historical Georgian core has seen the city develop a ‘craving for ‘risky civic forms’ (Merrick, 2005) and the ‘cultural engineering’ (Merrick, 2005) of an architecturally explosive post-war period. Georgian facades are now presented with the central Eldon shopping precinct adjacent and this blend of eras, styles and uses is visible across the NE1 and NE2 postcodes allowing a wide range of features of each era’s built environment to be discussed as an influence on the cities’ users’ wellbeing.
In more recent years, Newcastle has become a city which is at its centre ‘as restless as ever in the pursuit of progress’ (Newcastle City Council, 2019). With plans to transform the centre of Newcastle’s main shopping areas, alongside investments into transport and housing, the city could benefit from understanding the effects these changes may make to residents and visitors mental health.
The variation of built environment conditions within the area of study in Newcastle’s NE1 and NE2 postcodes were key to its selection as the location for the case study. The postcodes contain not only key parts of Newcastle’s built environment but each of the designated features of the built environment as defined by Srinivasan (2003): ‘homes, schools, workplaces, parks/recreation areas, business areas and roads’. With a mixed sample of building spaces and districts included in the postcodes, the research will cover shopping areas such as Northumberland Street, Eldon Square; suburbs such as Sandyford, Shieldfield, Jesmond and West Jesmond; recreational spaces such as the Town Moor, Leazes Park and City Stadium; two university campuses (University of Newcastle and Northumbria University’s Newcastle Campus) and a multitude of cultural buildings such as art galleries, theatres and museums.
Secondary Data Analysis
Initially I conducted desktop research into both the features of Newcastle’s NE1 and NE2 postcodes, gathering data on the built environment such as architectural features and urban design.
Secondary Data Analysis calling upon prior research to further analyse an existing dataset (Andrews et a., 2012; Smith, 2008), such as data relating to the mental health and wellbeing of inhabitants, visitors and users of the built environments in the defined area of study was required to decipher whether the same factors could be seen as correlating links to threats or opportunities in regards to non-institutional design.
As flexible approach which can be utilized in several ways, secondary data analysis is an empirical method with ‘procedural and evaluative steps, just as there are in collecting data’ (Doolan & Froelicher, 2009).
The key to conducting sound secondary data analysis was to ‘apply theoretical knowledge and conceptual skills to utilize existing data’ (Johnston, 2014) as a means to investigate what ‘remains to be learned about a topic’ (Creswell, 2009). Doing so allowed me to focus my own research and inform the semi-structured interviews as part of the iterative process outlined in the methodology.
Semi-Structured Interview
To gather data pertaining to mental health and well-being, I conducted semi-structured interviews with mental health professionals in the fields of mental health nursing, occupational health nursing and counselling to collect qualitative data. As the most frequently used method to collect qualitative data (Doody & Noonan, 2013), I asked open-ended questions where the participant responded in their own words to gather data which aimed to understand people’s experiences as they have lived them (Schwandt 2001, Lambert & Loiselle 2008, Schultze & Avital 2011).
The semi-structured interviews used predetermined questions with clarification sought from myself if necessary, allowing the chance to explore issues that arose spontaneously and new paths that were not considered initially (Gray, 2004; Berg, 2009; Ryan et al., 2009). This, in turn, informed the curation of the questionnaires which were distributed online and within the NE1 and NE2 postcodes, as per the iterative process outlined in the methodology to ensure holistic data has been gathered.
Interviews were conducted with mental health professionals who had been consulted with through personal contacts to make introductions and arrange the interviews. This was to ensure that the research process will continue to observe the projected time scales as I will not be required to make new contacts to gain access to interviewees as this is often a difficult process (Lucas, 2016).
Questionnaires
After cross-referencing the results from the semi-structured interviews with built environment conditions gathered from desktop and observation studies, key factors of the built environment which have an effect on the mental health of its users were identified. These were then be examined through the perspective of the user through qualitative questionnaires which gathered data from a range of participants.
The set of standardised questions follow a set scheme to allow for the administration of the research method to have set the same parameters for each respondent. By doing so, the questionnaire governed the responses through the ‘wording and order of questions in the instrument’ (Lavrakas, 2008) to collect data regarding each of the features of the built environment which has been identified by objectives 1 and 2, from the perspective of the users. The method produced a large amount of data which required analysing without any form of personal bias in favour of the research (Groat & Wang, 2002).
Sample
The emails to mental health professionals were positively received, leading to two interviews being conducted with participation from one mental health nurse and an occupational health nurse with degree level qualifications in counselling. The questionnaires both online and physically saw responses from over (number) participants. The study employed the selective sampling method to ensure that there was variation in the age, occupation and level of qualification amongst the participants. Participants ranged from (age) to (age) and qualification levels ranged from GCSEs or equivalent to degree or above. This was in order to ensure that variable social conditions such as unemployment, old age and low qualification level could be accounted for in the findings.
Ethics
In accordance with the Northumbria University’s 2019 Research Ethics and Governance Handbook (REAGH), this study has been determined as a medium level of risk due to the involvement of interviews with non-vulnerable adults and secondary data not in the public domain (Northumbria University, 2019). The research has been reviewed by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee and was granted approval.
The study was conducted in accordance with the REAGH (2019) and General Data Protection Regulations (2018) within the Data Protection Act (2018) to ensure that data was only collected with the permission of the individual to which it relates and remained anonymous (Data Protection Act, 2018). To adhere to this, alongside the names of participants was identified by a code referenced on an ‘index list’ and referenced alongside data on the ‘working list’ (Northumbria University, 2019).
This data, alongside transcripts of the interviews, was then stored on a password protected laptop which could only be accessed by myself, the researcher, as outlined in the Northumbria University Research Ethics and Governance Handbook (2019).
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