Once you have selected your site, stay in one fixed location (i.e. do not walk or drive around to gather notes) and spend at least one full hour observing the space and the goings on there, writing down as many details as possible. It may be helpful to include sketches. Note the way the space is arranged, organized, and constructed, the presence (or lack) of nature, the presence (or lack) of people, the design and look of the place, the topography of the place (if outside), the function and style of structures/buildings in the space (private, public, commercial), the condition and placement of the moveable and non-moveable objects in the space, the activities that take place there and the different uses of the space, the sounds of the space (traffic, conversation, animals, construction, music, etc.), and the overall sensory impact and feel of the place. Is this a place of business, leisure, residence - or some combination of these? How do people seem to get around there (on foot, by car, by bus), and how do people interact with one another? Who uses the space, and who does not? Once you have observed and recorded details of the site, you will construct a descriptive and analytical essay built around a central argument, in which you use concrete details from your observations to support your thesis.
Essentially, this assignment asks you to do a bit of ethnography the firsthand observation and analysis of a particular site and culture.
What messages does this landscape and the goings-on within send, and how can you construct an interesting analysis and argument about the ways in which your site sends this message?
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