At the start of the design research, I was looking on a much broader scale, and I was looking at the Kirkcaldy town maps from  records and also referring to current maps of the town. The town has evolved from its origins as a harbour port and from its Fife Mining Heritage. Although mining has ceased to be a productive industry, linoleum is still produced in the town and  both these  elements. Through time the post industrial development of the town has been quite fragmented and the elements of history have lost emphasis.

Referring to older maps of the town centre and with recent developments in the retailing heart of the town, it is clear that something has been lost in the characteristic appearance of the urban and civic centre.

Historical references do exist within the town centre in different areas, but they have been bypassed by other factors such as economic development and the expansion of out of town retail developments in competition with the original town centre. Kirkcaldy is actually fighting against itself. The car is prime in this town. Buses and taxis are also major transport factors and the impact on the town is that there is constant movement  in and out of the town.

As Kirkcaldy is ideally placed as a commuter hub for Edinburgh and Dundee, the railway system is also a major transport element and Kirkcaldy is a mainline station on the East Coast Railway network. A train can take passengers to London in approximately 5 hours.

QUESTION : Could Kirkcaldy Town Centre become a car free zone and could the bicycle become a sustainable alternative to the predominance of the car, which has major traffic effects at peak times on the periphery junctions around the town?

Car parking accommodation is a huge factor in trying to attract visitors , tourists and shoppers to the town, and the current wayfinding signage is based on this need to bring people and customers into the town. This approach has been to the detriment of the town’s appearance and functionality.

QUESTION : How can WAYFINDING SOLUTIONS or  bring new benefits to the economic, civic and cultural centre of Kirkcaldy and how can it assist its  residents, businesses and tourists and visitors to make it a more attractive and interesting place to live and work ?

I think there is a need to integrate and develop a holistic approach to the regeneration of the civic centre , which will involve a wide range of stakeholders, and a variety of different, but complementary solutions to enhance and develop the town centre as a place to be.

I have a meeting with Joan Geddes from Fife Council, to discuss my project and to obtain information and hopefully, an endorsement that my project is of value to the town development.

The short videos made last sunday from my driving trip into Kirkcaldy from the different access routes, is not really of the best quality. It was the first take of using video as a potential method for gathering research data for the design project.

I need to purchase a griper tripod to allow me to attach it to a fixture within the car interior ( rear view mirror ) or set up a a frame structure into the front passenger headrest. It need to operate as a hands – free format as I will also be driving.

I will need to plan the next filming session for this sunday  4 April at a very early time , as I do not want to have too much traffic to deal with.

Alternatively I can use my bicycle as the mode of transport for more local and town related  film recording.

I have included  some more traffic signs within the town centre area.

Today, Monday 29 March 2010, I need to refocus my project. The development of the project has to be included as a presentation for SID and foe MDP,

SID – Strategic Information Design

2 pieces of information design needs to be produced.

1  PRINT                                                                  2   WEBSITE  / DIGITAL

MAP                                                                          BLOG

POSTER                                                                   WEBSITE

Production has to be developed from now with submission on 3 MAY

SUNDAY 21 MARCH 2010

Spent today recording video from the car as I drove into Kirkcaldy from a variety of entry points.

I set the camera onto a mini tripod which sat in a shallow recess on the car’s dashboard.  As I was also driving the car,  I had to ensure that the camera was switched on and recording in video mode before I drove off. I realise that this exercise was potential law breaking ( similar to using a mobile phone ). I was wary of being observed by any police vehicles etc and took note of signs taht informed me that there were police cameras in certain areas.            

PRACTICALITIES OF THE EXERCISE

The tripod worked reasonably well apart from having to touch hold  it as I went round roundabouts and junctions as it realy could have been more stable if I had stuck it ontom the dashboard with strong tape and / or blutack or similar. The camera, although small was a bit top heavy and was prone to toppling over as i drove off and changed gears from 1st to 2nd.

1  I drove into Kirkcaldy from the east coast route ( A955)  at Dysart and I also drove in from the main Leven/ St Andrews road  ( A915 ) as it approached the Boreland / Randolph area.

I also drove into Kirkcaldy from the northside of the main  A92 from Glenrothes as this is the main route into the town.

It became clear that although there is directional signage, it is inconsistent and breaks do appear at different points of the route into the town centre. In some cases the information is confusing as it has too much local information and in some points , there is conflicting infomation unrelated to traffic route wayfinding. ( car wash etc )

It was a very useful exercise recording the actual road routes in as it enabled me to see certain aspects that previously I had assumed were clear and understandable as I live in the town.

The video recordings will more than likely need re-recoding with better equipment , if I intend to use this type of data gathering evidence in my developed research proposal.

I also walked on foot today to photograph the signage as stills and I now have  a series of visual evidence that I can analyse and disseminate for my project development. I will update the blog to include these asap.