The People of London

The People of London

by Andrew Kacherski

The People of London

Andrew Kacherski

Abstract

The people of London are unique. Being such a large city, people are drawn to it from all over the world. I have always been curious about people and make it a point to learn their life story. This project is a little different. I am going to create their backstory for them. I will observe their current behavior and use that to make creative writing pieces about their backstory.

Introduction

I suggest you save this section for last. Describe the essence of this project. Cover what the project is and who cares in the first two sentences. Then cover what others have done like it, how your project is different. Discuss the extent to which your strategy for completing this project was new to you, or an extension of previous HUA experiences.

As you continue to think about your project milestones, reread the "Goals" narrative on defining project milestones from the HU2900 syllabus. Remember: the idea is to have equip your milestone with a really solid background and then some sort of "thing that you do". You'll need to add in some narrative to describe why you did the "thing that you did", which you'd probably want to do anyway. You can make it easy for your advisors to give you a high grade by ensuring that your project milestone work reflects careful, considerate, and comprehensive thought and effort in terms of your background review, and insightful, cumulative, and methodical approaches toward the creative components of your project milestone deliverables.

Section 1: Background

• • • • • • • • I will add a lot more to this section. It is just very time consuming to find information because the census posts them in the form of individualized spread sheets. This means I have to do data analysis on the spreadsheets to find the information I want.

London Demographics

Ethnicity

37% of people living in London were born outside of the United Kingdom. In greater London, this number ranges from 6%-23%. This pattern suggests that different nationalities have different migration patterns. (Comparing London and the Core Cities). From 1981-2011, 2,587,066 have migrated to London from the Middle East and Asia. This makes it the largest group to migrate to London (small populations tables.) In London 49% of people are White from the UK. The next highest ethnicity in London is Black/African/Caribbean with 7% percent. The reason it is higher is because the UK consists of Britain Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. These countries much closer to London than the Caribbean and Africa, making these people more likely to move to London.(ethnicity age tool). Through my analysis of the ethnic groups by borough spread sheet, released by the Office of National Statistics, groups of similar race tend to live together. In each borough, there is a large percentage of a minority group that lives in that borough. For the groups that have a low percentage in this borough, they have a large percentage in another borough. Reinforcing the idea that people of similar nationalities live together. This is evident in areas such as chinatown.

The ethnicity of a population changes with each generation. Graphs from the census show how populations of different ages have different ethnicities. Such as there are more people who moved from Pakistan that are between the ages of 25 and 29 while there are more people who moved from the Caribbean between the ages of 45-49.

Age

London has a younger age profile than the nine other core cities in the United Kingdom (Comparing London and the Core Cities.) 832,966 people living in London are between the ages 25-29, making it a fairly young city. This age group has the most amount of people as compared to every other age group. The second largest age group is 30-34 years old which has a population of 796,888. Together this means around 20% of the population of London is between the age of 25-34. Another interesting fact is there are more children aged 0-4 than there are adults aged 45-49. This means that a lot of young people are starting families in London. (ward pop ons).

In London there are over 350,000 students. The majority of students live in London during their terms. But they move from counties such as Cornwall, Devon, Oxford, Berks, and Yorkshire while they are not studying.

Gender

According to a 2011 census, there are 4,033,289 males living in the city of London. They are very well spread out throughout the city residing in 32 boroughs. Croydon has the most men, with 176,224, but there are many boroughs that are only a few thousand men off. According to the same census, there are 4,140,652 females in London. They are equally as spread out as men with the majority in Croydon (187,154). In terms of work, 24% of the men in London work in a professional occupation and 25% of females work in professional occupations (employment by occ and gender).

Population

The population of London, as of 2011, is 8,173,941. I am sure it has increased since then. The largest borough in London according to the census is Croydon. It is home to 363,378 people. The reason Croydon is home to so many people is due to its low weekly rent payments. It has one of the lowest weekly rents in London (London City Hall). This borough was also home to the infamous Charles Dickens. The type of housing is split almost in half. 1,686,116 households lived in flats while 1,580,057 households lived in houses. According to the map, as the property gets closer to the center of London, the number of flats increases. Also as one gets closer to the center of London, the number of shared dwellings increases. It caps out at 5% in Kensington and Chelsea. A shared dwelling is when two or more unfamiliar people share a house or apartment. (housing characteristics). Over the past 10 years Inner London has experienced above a 20% increase in population. According to a GLA projection, the population will reach 9,203,000 by the year 2021 (https://data.london.gov.uk/census/infographic-demography/).

Occupation

In London, 3,998,897 people have jobs that were reported to the census (LABOUR). In reality this number is probably higher because some people do not fill out the census, or have jobs that are off the books. This means that over half of the population is has a job. Their unemployment rate at this time is around 5% (unemployment region from https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/unemployment-rate-region). This makes you very likely that if you talk to someone in the street, they will have a job. The occupation that dominates the population is professional occupations. This is an occupation that requires formal education (universities). These are jobs such as bankers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. The biggest jobs in London are Construction, Health, and Finance. The average weekly pay for a person in London is around £500. The number of public sector jobs has been steadily decreasing over the past few years so people are turning to the private sector for employment . And the number of hours that people are working per week has also been a steady increase over the past few years. This is due to the cost of living. (office for national statistics)

FIND OUT WHAT PERCENT OF MOTHERS DO NOT WORK

Types of Writing

For my stories, I will use two different styles of story writing. There are four main kinds of essay writing but for this situation, I feel these two types of stories will elicit the best result. The other types of essays will not work for this style of piece. Below I will discuss how to identify each piece. Look for aspects of these styles in my stories below.

Descriptive

A descriptive essay is a genre of essay in which the author is describing something--an object, person, place experience or emotion. This is usually the author describing a particular experience or situation in time. This style allows for a ton of artistic freedom as the goal of this style is to allow the reader to paint a vivid image in their head. (OWL)

How to write one

A rule of thumb when writing a descriptive essay is that if you cannot paint a mental picture as you, the author, read it, describe it further. Before writing, it is important that you take time to brainstorm. This allows you to jot down the simple characteristics then expand upon those to get more descriptive. Writing clearly and concisely is also important. If authors become too long winded in their description, it is often possible to lose the readers attention. The shorter and more vivid the description, the better. This leads me into vivid language. Word choice can plant a firmer image in the readers mind can offer nuanced meaning that will better fit your situation. When describing anything, it is important to incorporate your senses. With this you can embellish the moment with senses and feelings that are familiar to the reader, making it easier to picture. Emotions can be described the same way as senses and has a similar impact. By describing emotions the piece can connect with readers on an emotional level and can often influence how the reader feels.(OWL) Overall, it is not difficult to write a Descriptive essay. Just as the name implies, be descriptive in your work.

Section 2: Deliverable

Additional Image

Why Did I Tell You This?

I will use census and demographic information to make my stories more believable. By incorporating these elements, it will make the story appear to be more realistic. Specifying gender, age, and income before I write my story will allow me to to find a person I believe fits this criteria. Then using information such as type of dwelling and where there from, I can accurately tell a story about their past. I understand that if you do not like numbers and statistics this may seem a little boring or confusing. This is just to show the break up of the population and the probability of running into someone who fits this criteria during your day.

Average Woman

On my days off, I go for a quick stroll through the park. I often enjoy doing this as I see families and dogs playing. Seeing mothers with small children is nothing out of the ordinary. One in particular stands out to me. I see her and her child in the park quite frequently. Most mothers are reading mystery novels, on their phones, or gossiping with their friends while their children played, but this mother was fairly young and reading about the economic effects of Brexit. I know this to be a complicated subject and figured she must be intelligent. Here is her back story:

Growing up in Croydon, Alice lived a typical middle-class London life. Her father was a construction worker and her mother was a nurse at Croydon University Hospital. She was always a smart student, and this showed in Upper School. Alice had a lot of friends and was very well liked. Being athletic, she was a stand-out player on the football team. She distinguished herself as top of her class. So well in fact that she was admitted into University College London. She was ecstatic. She decided her talents would be put best in Economics and Statistics. Her first year at university went off without a hitch. She did well in her Micro and Macroeconomics classes, and made it through her statistics courses. Alice was not particularly fond of statistics but she enjoyed a challenge and making sense of numbers. Becoming one year closer to accomplishing her dream of becoming a Financial Analyst for Deutsche Bank.

As she finished her first year she had met a man named Felix. He was a Statistics, Economics, and Finance major who grew up near Truro in Cornwall county. He was still adjusting to the big city. They had met in a statistics class together. He was a shorter man with dark hair and light eyes. The two hit off and they began dating soon after. They continued to be in love for the remainder of their time in university and shortly after graduation, they got engaged. Upon graduating he applied for a job as a stockbroker and he had received it. This was a well-paying job. They decided to move into their own flat together. The flat was in Barbican. This area turned out to be perfect for them as it allowed Felix to be close to work as well as allow them to live in a quieter, affluent part of the city. At this time, Alice did not have a job and was currently searching for one. Her dream of becoming a financial analyst was no longer an option as Deutsche Bank was not hiring and she had not previously considered any other companies. Now she began to consider them. Felix did not have a stag party as he saw it was a waste of money and would distract him from his job. Trading stocks was stressful enough when healthy, let alone hungover. Alice did not feel this way. Her friends took her out for a hen weekend and did hen activities in Bristol.

After the two saved some money, they had their wedding. It was a smaller ceremony in the Gherkin. The top two floors provided an amazing panorama views atop the city they both love. They had their closest family and friends there to help them celebrate their big day. A few weeks of job searching and temporary jobs went by when Alice discovered she was pregnant. Felix and Alice had a long discussion and decided it would be best if Alice stayed home with baby Lewis for a little while. The baby had light hair and light eyes, just like Alice. They also decided that Alice should look for a job while she stays home and accepts a full-time position when Lewis enters school.

Alice and Lewis would go out during the day and do everything together. Errands, playgrounds, the library, everything. One day as Alice took Lewis to Spa Fields Park. This wasn’t the nicest park, but it had benches for sitting and a nice playground for little Lewis to play on. Lewis loved the slides. All day he would run up to the top as fast as his little legs could carry him then he would let out a playful yell as he slid his way down. He also enjoyed chasing the pigeons. The poor things were terrified as this little human came running at them screaming with his arms out. But never the less, they would fly further ahead and continue doing their pigeon thing. Lewis would then run over to them again and this cycle continued. As Lewis played, Alice read her book on Brexit. She has been keeping up to date with current financial trends and has been trying to remain sharp in statistics to allow herself to get an analyst or banker position. Alice is ambitious to get a full-time job. She found a few places that she really liked and felt she would fit in well, but they wanted her to start soon and that wasn’t possible for Alice. She decided it would be best just to keep herself ready for when she was ready to work that she would remain a competitive applicant.

Through the look on Alice’s face, it wasn’t hard to tell that she was not happy with the situation that she was in. While her eyes lit up when she played with Lewis and loved spending time with him, she felt as though she could be doing so much more. She feels as though her degree from the one of the best economics schools was going to waste. She feels underappreciated and looked down upon by her friends and acquaintances. She is constantly asked how they can afford to live in London with rising costs of living and she always tells them that her and Felix make it work. She has always loved an intellectual challenge, this is what brought her to her love of crossword puzzles. She would do them while Lewis played. When Lewis was tired, she would load Lewis and his toys back into his push chair and the pair went on their way. Off to continue their routine tomorrow. As she walked by, I could feel the dissatisfaction pouring out of her. She yearns to be something more than a stay at home mom, but can’t at the moment.

Average Busker

As I walked through Blackfriar’s tube station on my way to get some bubble-waffle ice cream, I heard a busker playing such an iconic song I identified it from just a few notes: Wonderwall by Oasis. As I looked around to hear where it was coming from, I expected to find a teenager with a speaker. But surprisingly I was greeted by a man who looked to be about 27 years old with a microphone, acoustic guitar, and open guitar case in front of him. The quintessential busker. He looked very familiar and it did not hit me until I was on the tube back to my flat where I recognized him from. He worked at the coffee shop I had went to earlier to work on my second milestone. Here is his back story:

I wasn’t able to catch the man’s name so for my story so I am going to call him Phil. Growing up, Phil had everything given to him. His parents were very wealthy; his father was a private wealth advisor for Goldman Sachs and his mother was a surgeon who came to London from the British Virgin Islands in her 20’s for medical school. They had met at a modern art exhibition. Early on, Phil found a deep appreciation for the arts. He loved to sing and perform. With his parents being very wealthy and connected individuals, Phil got accepted into the Westminster Abbey Choir School. Being so young Phil did not understand how big of an honor it is to be one of thirty boys accepted into the school. He spent the next five years of his life singing in the evensong, masses, and even Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. He could not have been happier. He was performing and doing what he loved. When he was 13, he began to go through puberty. This was also the cutoff age for the choir school for the same reason. Having gone to the Westminster Abbey Choir School, Phil was easily accepted into the Theatre and Music program at St. Paul’s School. He did well in school and had a lot of friends. Being at an all-boys boarding school did not help Phil’s chance of getting a girlfriend.

As Phil got older, his parents tried to convince him to pursue a degree that gave a more stable career such as Business, Finance, or Medicine. "But I don't enjoy those things!" He would always say. "I want to do something I enjoy. Not just something that will make me a lot of money." He wanted nothing to do with those professions because he didn’t want to be ‘just like his parents.’ The pushing of him towards these professions agitated him. Being a resentful teenager who knows everything, he decided that he was going to spite his parents and go to drama school. With an impressive list of schools on his resume, Phil was able to get accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His parents did not support his decision and decided that they were not going to pay for his university and they would not give him any more money. They had good intentions; they planned for him to see how hard it was to be an actor and come back to them and change his degree focus. Instead Phil saw it as his parents were turning their backs on him and he resented them ever since. With no source of incoming, Phil became a mix of a starving-artist and a broke college student. His third year of schooling, Phil had to pick up a part time job as a barista at Knockbox Coffee to help pay for his student loans. He intended for this to be a temporary job until he graduated his program then be a top prospect for acting work.

Graduation came and went and Phil had a very important audition lined up. It would be a supporting role for a musical at the Royal National Theatre. His audition was singing and dancing, something he has been doing for as long as he can remember. It was very important that he makes it to this audition because it was being conducted by a highly-respected director and his word has been known to carry a lot of weight. Being nervous the night before, Phil and a few friends from drama school went down to the pub to wash away his fear. Turns out that Phil may have drank a little too much. So much that it may hinder his performance at the audition. Over the speaker system, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen came on. His friends quickly realized how bad Phil was when he stood on the bar and began to belt out "I see a little silhouetto of a man Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?". His friends pulled him down from the bar and hailed a cab home.

Feeling horrible the next morning, Phil wakes up an hour before his audition time. He quickly showers and gets on the bus down to the theatre. The motion of the bus and number of people did not help his splitting headache. He arrives five minutes late to his performance but the director still lets him audition. He begins to sing and realize that his voice is off. It sounds as though he swallowed glass and when he started to dance he immediately became nauseous and dizzy. Afterwards the director thanked him for his audition and asked him if something was the matter. Having seen Phil’s resume, he expected big things from him. Phil explained the situation and the director understood. But the director could not risk giving the role to Phil in case something like this were to happen again. Phil understood and left with a heavy heart.

Phil went to work the next day but was not his chipper self. He hummed a much sadder song and did not have his notorious smile. This audition really bummed him out. He knew how much influence that director has and figured he was ruined for a couple months, or until everyone forgot about his name. Phil then remembered what allowed him to get through school; his passion for music. Later that evening he grabbed his old acoustic guitar and a microphone and headed down to Blackfriar’s station. He set up his guitar case and began to play songs that he grew up with in the 90’s. His favorite was Wonderwall.

After doing this for a few nights, he began to feel much better about himself and had some extra pocket change to help pay the rent. He dreamed of making it big just as other buskers had before him: Robin Williams, Bernie Mac, Ed Sheeran, the list goes on. He has a new ambition in life. Treat each performance in the tube station as an audition. One day he will get the gig he auditions for.

Conclusion

In this section, provide a summary or recap of your work, as well as potential areas of further inquiry (for yourself, future students, or other researchers).

References

1. Clegg, R. (2017, May 17). Statistical bulletin:UK labour market: May 2017. Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/may2017#public-and-private-sector-employment
2. L. (2017, June 05). London Rents map. Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/renting/london-rents-map
3. 2011 Census. (2012). Retrieved June 13, 2017, from https://data.london.gov.uk/census/

• This is the census information from the 2011 London Census. I used this website to find and download excel spreadsheets regarding the population of London to include in the demographics section. I referenced documents regarding housing characteristics, occupations, diversity, population, and comparing London's demographics to other core cities in the UK.

1. Descriptive Essays. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2017, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/03/