Blog: Independent Task

up915094
Mar 5, 2022
4 min read

Material Expression

EXPLORE | The Materiality of Portsmouth

Key words: Observation, exploration, wider issues.

"Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because and only when, they are created by everybody." - Jane Jacobs

For a self-directed study task, I decided to photograph different materials around the city of Portsmouth and build up a visual collection. In this blog post, I have included my findings, which I have enlarged so that the materiality within my photos can be appreciated. I wanted to really highlight how many beautiful details can be found within our everyday lives, although we might often overlook it. These are first presented as a plethora of like-materials.

Metal

Brick

Foliage and Flowers

Stone and Concrete

Wood

Collage and Reflections

In order to bring all of these materials together, I created a collage consisting of some of the most interesting textures that I found. This collage represents how, although these details are in their own right very separate, once brought together they can provide an unexpected representation of the city. It is clear that I am particularly drawn to natural materials and colour, which (until I carried out this exercise) I hadn't noticed this much of in Portsmouth. This task helped me to make use of my attention to detail when observing the world around me, and gave me a deeper appreciation for the richness of materiality within my everyday life.

Wider Issues

As I was taking photos of the materials around me, I found myself noticing areas around Portsmouth which represent wider issues. I have included these below and explained my own reflections on each, alongside some research into these areas, particularly within Portsmouth.

Mental Health

I came across this poster, which encourages people to be kind. I thought that this was an important message to portray, as sometimes people can get caught up with their everyday lives and forget to show kindness to strangers.

“Good mental health and resilience are fundamental to our physical health, our relationships, our education, our training, our work and to achieving our potential.” - Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing in Portsmouth.

This led me to doing some research into mental wellbeing within Portsmouth. Unfortunately, the city has relatively high levels of risk for poor mental health, due to children living in poverty, teenage conceptions, children who are carers, low income and low educational attainment. I also found that Portsmouth is significantly worse than the rest of England for hospital stays due to self harm, and estimated prevalence of opiate/or crack cocaine users.

In terms of health in general, Portsmouth also has higher statistics for:

Female life expectancy
Premature mortality from heart disease and stroke
Incidence of malignant melanoma
Road injuries and deaths
Excess winter deaths

After doing some wider research into health and mental health within Portsmouth, I have gained a deeper understanding behind the message of the poster I found, as you never really know what someone is going through.

Sustainability

This image highlights the ever-growing concern for climate change, and how we have been using the earth's resources at an unsustainable rate. 2006 figures show that Portsmouth's carbon emissions stand at 1.2 million tonnes per year. This is made up of 543,000 tonnes from the Industrial and Commercial sector; 401,000 from the Domestic sector and 258,000 tonnes from Transport, which equates to 6.13 tonnes per person. This reiterates why I think that it is so important that I remain ethically conscious throughout my design career, as I hope to make any kind of difference that I can as an individual.

Homelessness

I noticed this tent not far from my house, where someone has been living in for quite some time. Sadly, homelessness is something that I see quite a lot of in Portsmouth, as sadly there are many disadvantaged people who don't have anywhere to call home.

The city is ranked 63rd of 326 English local authorities in terms of deprivation (in which 1 is ranking the most deprived). Around 26,000 residents live within the 10% most deprived English small areas.

A report by Shelter estimated that on any given night in 2019, more than 280,000 people in England were homeless (mostly people living in temporary accommodation arranged by their council). More than 60% of these people (170,068) were in London, where 1 in every 52 people are homeless. I hope that in future, homeless people have easier access to spaces where they can feel safe and cared for in their time of need. This is something which, in this day and age, the government should really be providing more practical solutions for, as everyone has a right to a roof over their heads.

This is a map I found from the UK government website, showing areas of deprivation in Portsmouth (2015).

This map illustrates areas of deprivation within Portsmouth, with the darker areas showing more deprived communities.

Benefits to Living in Portsmouth

I wanted to finish this blog post by balancing out some of the aforementioned statistics with some positive facts that I could find about the city. As it is my permanent home, I think its important to also highlight some of the good things that I have noticed about living in Portsmouth, as everywhere has their upsides that come along with the downsides. For example:

Schooling has seen a great improvement over the years. After looking at up to date Ofsted Reports, I can see that nearly all schools have received a good or outstanding rating. Only a few schools are still in need of improvement, with one ranking as inadequate.
The University of Portsmouth achieved Gold in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework. Its record for graduate employment, and for boosting graduate’s salaries, is something that really drew me to attending this university.
The history and culture: Old Portsmouth in particular is one of my favourite historic spots to visit.
Southsea Common is a beautiful, open space in which events are held. This brings the community together, particularly in summer, in which it transforms into its own hub for socialising and catching up with loved ones.
Pubs, restaurants, beaches and shopping are all activities for many to enjoy.

Here, I have included some images that express different areas of Portsmouth, which captures a more zoomed out view of the city's materiality and the people of the city.

A pub called The Still and West, located in Old Portsmouth.

People enjoying a day of shopping in Gunwharf.

This final part of my self directed exercise has highlighted the importance of paying attention to the world around you, as you can learn so much from the details of the world around you - good or bad, it is all important to gain a realistic view of your surroundings.