The Land Use Patterns Typical of a Sub-Urbanized Village in the U.K. and the Way in Which the Patterns are Changing
Suburbanisation is the increased movement of people, services and
industries from the centres and inner urban areas outwards, towards
and onto the edges of the built-up area taking over land that was
previously rural.
A suburbanised village has grown as a result of being populated by
those who have moved out of urban areas. As this occurs in villages
in the UK so the conversions of old barns and shops takes place. As a
result the land use pattern has changed over the period of change.
In Urchfont, Wiltshire, this has been extremely noticeable since the
1930s when the recession of the farming industry started. Prior to
the suburbanisation of the village, the land use pattern would have
been fairly simple for the village of Urchfont, and many other
villages similar to it.
In the 1950s there were 10 or 11 farms that employed dozen of farm
workers that would have lived nearby. The village would have
originally been focused around, either the church or a small parade of
shops, in a clustered form. These would have been the only
attractions in the area. All the shopping would have been done in the
local shop, and fresh vegetables may have been purchased from the
local farmers. This is a clear indicator that the village would have
had a clustered structure to it.
As the years have progressed and personal mobility has increased, so
ahs the interest of second homes in the country, and permanent homes
in the country to escape the pollution of the big cities. With the
increased personal mobility it is easier to drive into town for work,
which in turn is increasing the number of people moving into the
villages in the countryside. This has resulted in the
suburbanisation, which has changed the land use pattern of Urchfont
entirely in a short period of time. What once dominated in the small