I choose the field site of my work (MUSC), which is actually quite interesting. I work on a large medical campus about a mile in radius with so many various forces at play. This is a mixed-use campus on the lower east side of the downtown peninsula region of Charleston, SC.
(area captured with Google Maps)
Force 1: Education
This campus is called the Medical University of South Carolina, and medical education is a large force here. Not just medical school, but also dental school, nursing school, PT/OT school, PhD candidates in medical research, and many more types of comprehensive education to teach the future healthcare employees and researchers of tomorrow. There are several buildings dedicated to education comprised of classrooms and research labs (for the PhD students and researchers on campus), as well as libraries and even the hospitals themselves as they are considered teaching hospitals for medical students. This force largely drives the constitution of MUSC, which is constant research and innovation in the healthcare field.
Classrooms for various students.
The main library for students.
The University Hospital is a teaching hospital for all types of students (medical, pharmacy, nursing, PT/OT, etc.) to get on-hands learning with real patients.
Force 2: Healthcare
There are several different hospitals and physicians’ offices on site. The delivery of healthcare is another primary force on this campus. MUSC is ranked the #1 hospital in South Carolina for the delivery of healthcare and nationally ranked in 11 specialties. Striving to always provide top-notch healthcare is a huge force on this campus.
The emergency room (ER) entrance.
Patients arriving and being picked up from the hospital is a constant occurrence.
Force 3: Promotion of well-being
Health & wellness is a huge force on MUSC’s campus as well. There are many different areas and promotions happening all the time to promote healthy lifestyles, from a large wellness center, to planned group activities, to free outdoor gym areas, to a weekly Farmer’s market. There is even an Office of Health Promotion on campus, which I actually learned about in researching the campus for this project. This force is a bit more abstract, and it manifests in both physical spaces on the campus, as well as attitudes. MUSC promotes certain lifestyle choices through media, such as e-mails, flyers and signs. There is an overall commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles that all the students, employees, and patients feel spread throughout campus.
An outdoor gym area is free and available for anyone to use at anytime. Volleyball games are often set-up by MUSC students and faculty in this area as well.
The Wellness Center is MUSC’s on-campus indoor gym. The fact that MUSC calls the gym the “Wellness Center” serves the notion that they are trying to promote physical activity as an overall factor in our well-being.
This sign states MUSC as a tobacco-free campus, another way the force of well-being is at play. MUSC controls what people can and cannot do on their campus in relation to their overall goal of promotion of wellness.
Force 4: Communal integration
The MUSC community and its surrounding area have a symbiotic relationship. There are many local businesses such as restaurants, banks, food trucks, local vendors, and also residences which integrate to the MUSC community. MUSC’s 13,000 employees and thousands of students provide a large and loyal customer base to the surrounding businesses. Local businesses often offer discounts to MUSC employees and students to show their appreciation. Housing near campus is often inhabited by students who want to be able to walk to campus.
A local café frequented by employees and students.
The horseshoe of MUSC’s campus.
National food chains like Subway are integrated into the hospital cafeteria to provide more food options to employees, students, and patients.
Force 5: Planned urban vegetation
The urban garden is a part of MUSC’s commitment to growing and promoting healthy foods, which goes into their overall promotion of well-being. Employees can volunteer or buy produce from the garden. There is also a medicinal garden, which promotes natural herbal remedies. MUSC takes a holistic approach to health.
The description of the Urban Farm.
A look inside part of the Urban Farm.
Every couple of days, the Urban Farm uses a new produce-based pun on their chalkboard to grab attention.
Description of the Porcher Medicinal Garden.
Maps of the individual forces
Force 1: Education
Force 2: Healthcare
Force 3: Promotion of Well-Being
Force 4: Communal Integration
Force 5: Planned Urban Vegetation
I decided to label each map since my forces are somewhat abstract and not entirely straight-forward. Even for planned urban vegetation, it’s important to know what kind in the context of the MUSC campus. The urban farm and the medicinal garden both serve a purpose in the overall goal of healthy living at MUSC. These planned urban vegetation spots are done with specific reasoning.
Final Map
For the final map, some of my forces overlap. I decided to represent this by drawing rectangular outlines inside the structures that can belong to more than one force. For example, during this process, I decided the planned urban vegetation force fits into the overall promotion of wellbeing force since these planned gardens exist on campus to promote holistic living. The weekly Farmer’s Market fits under both promotion of wellbeing and communal integration since it brings in members of the local community to sell their fresh organic produce. The main hospital (also known as the university hospital) is both a building where healthcare and education are both at play since this is where medical & nursing students get their “real world” education, so-to-speak. Thus, many forces are at play on the MUSC campus and some will inevitably overlap.
I really like your forces.
For the healthcare force, are they also education areas?
Are the education areas where students interact with the public or are they purely classroom areas?
In terms of design, I like the way you are laying it out, but it feels a bit distant. Could you rotate the area a few degrees to utilize the areas in the top left, top right and bottom right? I think tilting the map and maybe zooming in a little bit will make this feel more dynamic and draw me in more.
Hey Megan, for education the forces mostly represent academic buildings, but there are a few overlapping forces, which you’ll see representing in my final product. For example, the hospital also serves as a place for teaching medical students so both the education and healthcare forces overlap there. And yes, I did end up rotating the map, which you’ll also see in the final product. Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll clearly label what’s an academic building (i.e. classrooms) and what are more “healthcare” buildings (such as hospitals and physicians’ offices) in my final product.
I really like the changes you made! The overlapping forces are really interesting. The garden is a little hard to see the overlap. Why did you pick the ones you did to be the “base” and the other color to be the “swirls” inside? Is it mainly one and the other is additional? Or was it just an arbitrary choice because it’s equal? I’m also curious about the purple box. I wonder what makes that whole area promotion of wellbeing rather than just the buildings. I’m not saying you should have done it another way, it just sparks my interest.
As I am also part of the healthcare industry but from the insurance side and no longer the academic side, I am in love with your selection of forces. Unique and set it apart from everyone else’s. This is why I came back to academia. The pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and to be around people who care about the future of tomorrow and not simply the dollar signs made in the here and now.
I love the way you presented the campus. Seems forces you’ve chosen were relevant to work. I found it interesting most people are doing the same thing: forces they chose are highly relevant to the person’s work, lifestyle, or habits. MUSC seems to be a great place. All forces you indicated seem to be efforts the institution is putting to promote a better living for people within the community, also a broader sense of making human lives better.
Well said, Debra!