Urbanism: Observing the City
This honors seminar, led by Professor Frank Russell, was all about different methods to observe the city. We studied many different theorists, all with different viewpoints on how the city should be seen. The idea behind this course was that with better observations, you can create better, more functional and practical designs for the city. Using these theories, we then came up with a project idea for our own observations relating to the topic of movement. We all went out into our chosen parts of the city to see how people acted in a certain place, or to personally respond to an environment. My project was to look at the course of the Flying Pig Marathon to see how it portrays the city of Cincinnati. I chose four locations on the course to observe more closely and then represented my findings through a unique map. This course may not be directly related to my studies, but it did help me understand multiple perspectives, as each theorist had their own, unique viewpoint, and we discussed how different perspectives could coordinate together to get a better product. It also helps me with my professional goals by teaching me how to work and discuss with a small group of people from all different backgrounds. The class had only six students and our majors ranged from civil engineering to theatrical set design and biology. The course and some of the projects especially showed some societal issues. For example, the conclusion of my observations was that the Flying Pig Marathon completely avoids the underprivileged areas of Cincinnati, and in turn, denies them the media attention and money the race would bring that might actually help.
Representative Photo
I feel that this particular painting best represents my experience in this course. We talked a lot about very abstract concepts. The cubist movement was all about deconstructing a scene and then changing the perspective to get something new. Picasso was the best and most well-known of the cubist painters. We actually discussed one of his paintings in class, though I wasn't able to find it again. This painting, like many others of Picasso, is a great allegory for this course. You learn about so many different theories and have to piece them together in many different ways to create a new perspective or observation about the world. It wasn't very easy. In fact, some of the theories made no sense at first, just like when you look at one of these paintings, you have to sit and think for a little bit to understand what the subject is.
Photo source: http://differnet.com/experience/atlarge/picasso-poet1.htm
Photo source: http://differnet.com/experience/atlarge/picasso-poet1.htm
Final Poster
This poster project was the culmination of my observations and project work. It displays my supporting theories and final product (the map). I think this specific item was the most important project I've had to complete during my first year in college. It taught me how to make a poster, which is a very important element of my academic studies. In research, posters are crucial and are used everywhere, so it's important to know how to make a strong poster. Through discussion with my peers and instructor, I found some important flaws in this poster that I now will know better than to repeat (such as not including a quick overview to introduce the project). It was extremely helpful.
Theory Paper
One of the most important aspects of the course was to study various theories on urban life and observations in order to create a better project. This was the summary of the three theorists on whom I based my project. It is a very clear example of seeing one thing from many different perspectives. We were asked to write this paper so that we could write up our project proposal idea and discuss the supporting theorists to demonstrate our understandings of their work as well as show their connection to our proposals.
Summary Report
This was the final product of the course. It covers everything from the theory background to the planning, execution, and conclusions of my observations. It explains everything that could not be expressed in the poster or my in-class presentation (linked below). This paper is the physical manifestation of everything that I learned in this course. For the theory portion of this report, it is essentially the Theory Paper I had previously submitted. But everything after that was new. I don't think that this was a particularly strong piece of writing, but it is a very practical piece that serves its purpose.