Response to Jenn and Avery’s Midterm Presentation
Hey guys
Based on your presentation and your recent blog posts, it looks like you’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re looking to study. I was impressed by how much you already knew about public housing and I noticed that you’re still bulking up on background information by checking out journal articles. Good idea!
After your presentation at the meeting, one response I had was that you should better define the interactions you’ll observe as field research. Your project might be a little trickier than others because you’re looking at relationships between residents, and not just activities. What you’re researching is a bit more intimate than, say, what people do in a park, on a bike, or in front of a screen. In addition to looking at interpersonal interactions, it could be helpful to generate ideas for specific activities to observe that have more to do with direct interaction with the space, rather than with other people. A good example you mentioned was foot traffic through areas of interest. This type of data could help answer how the social atmosphere is changed by the space, and not just what the social atmosphere is.
I like that you’re going to go study private housing, also. By comparing the two situations, you’ll be able to zero in on what makes public housing unique. And you can look at the commonalities between the two and determine whether any ubiquitous social attitudes dictate the design of public housing.
You guys are off to a great start, good luck!
