Readings for May 3
The Clues chapter from Looking at Cities made me think about a lot of different approaches to research and what our goals are when we research. It's funny that he used the Hercule Poirot analogy at the end because one of the first comments I wrote down when I started to read the article was how urban studies research feels like detective work. Then I started thinking about other types of research (survey, observation, investigation of primary sources) and it's all about detective work. We're just trying to find patterns in the context of what we know and don't know and we hope that those patterns and indicators will lead to more questions. Of course, social scientists hope that they also lead to valuable trends but no necessarily answers. It's not about the answers, it's about the questions and the indicators.
I loved the walk-around-the-block in Boston experiment. The spatial comments, especially walking down Boylston and then up the alley into the Public Garden, reminded me of the famous Paris city planner Georges Haussmann. Haussmann opened up Paris in the mid-1800s, widening narrow streets and developing large city parks that still exist today. So much of the grandness of Paris is because of Haussmann's vision and action. There were a lot of political, social, economic and health reasons that motivated Haussmann but the feeling of openness and light he brought to the city are undeniable. The needs of the people in the study to feel that openness and light and to organize the walk into distinct areas is really interesting. And the methods that the researchers used is really inventive and creative. The comment that when they walked down the alley, the people literally stopped looking around and looked down to the pavement or to the end of the alley where it was light was really telling.
The urban research in Italy made me really think about cultural influences and historical context on our observation and analysis. It is impossible to isolate ourselves completely from the context of our lives, so how do we plan for that? And to think about behavior in the context of our research and how physical setting, relationship and environment really influence that is so complicated.
My questions:
1. How can we ever really be confident in our analysis of research results (identification of patterns or indicators) knowing that our culture and history influence our perspective. How can we remove ourselves from our own context while trying to be aware of the context of the individuals or spaces we're studying?
2. When is the analysis of the environment relevant to a study?
I loved the walk-around-the-block in Boston experiment. The spatial comments, especially walking down Boylston and then up the alley into the Public Garden, reminded me of the famous Paris city planner Georges Haussmann. Haussmann opened up Paris in the mid-1800s, widening narrow streets and developing large city parks that still exist today. So much of the grandness of Paris is because of Haussmann's vision and action. There were a lot of political, social, economic and health reasons that motivated Haussmann but the feeling of openness and light he brought to the city are undeniable. The needs of the people in the study to feel that openness and light and to organize the walk into distinct areas is really interesting. And the methods that the researchers used is really inventive and creative. The comment that when they walked down the alley, the people literally stopped looking around and looked down to the pavement or to the end of the alley where it was light was really telling.
The urban research in Italy made me really think about cultural influences and historical context on our observation and analysis. It is impossible to isolate ourselves completely from the context of our lives, so how do we plan for that? And to think about behavior in the context of our research and how physical setting, relationship and environment really influence that is so complicated.
My questions:
1. How can we ever really be confident in our analysis of research results (identification of patterns or indicators) knowing that our culture and history influence our perspective. How can we remove ourselves from our own context while trying to be aware of the context of the individuals or spaces we're studying?
2. When is the analysis of the environment relevant to a study?
