Category: Exercise 2.3.2: Geographies, Part 2

Note: This is not an assignment post, this is a reflection post. These reflections might not even be accurate as these are just opinions, However,  it’ll be great if we can have a conversation around this and make it more useful. (A.k.a learn more from this assignment : )

Greg’s post helped me crystallize my thoughts on this assignment. Greg’s post is here:

Geographies – Greg Puett

Greg’s honesty about not understanding why we were doing this assignment helped me think more about this. Because, like Greg, I too was not sure why we were doing this.

1. Why are we doing this?
2. Should I leave the apartment complex (neighborhood)?
3. When should I turn? Should I time it? Should I base it on the distance walked?
4. Should I map everything I see?
5. Should I highlight everything that I see?
6. How much detail is to much detail?

I had many more such questions.

After doing my walk, I’m realizing that perhaps the goal of this exercise is to:
1. Sensitize us to our environment
2. Help us observe closely
3. See things in a new light
4. Be conscious of our biases (what we do vs. what we don’t do; what we report vs. what we leave out etc)

[Bias is a big one. For example, all of us use Google maps. Google maps has (kind of) killed all other maps. But we must always remind ourselves about Google Map’s inherent ‘advertising bias.’ Everything that they do (I think) is aimed at collecting data to help advertisers and improve advertising on their platform. Thus, their maps will always see the world through that lens. This is just one reason why other maps must persist. I think as a society we can do better than relying on a map whose’ main goal is to sell more stuff : ( Never thought about this before.]

5. Make us realize the subconscious choices we make when we are interacting with our surroundings

6. Dwell upon these choices and try to think what might be the motivations behind our choices so that we are aware of our blind spots (For example, I think I’m always seeking contrast. That is my observation bias, thus it is also my mapping bias and I need to be aware of it so that it does not impact my work adversely.)

(By the way, this ‘self-discovery’ is also going to help me in the ‘User Needs’ course and the research and interviewing I’m doing there.)

Why all this?

May be becoming more observant of our surroundings and of ourselves can potentially help us in becoming better designers? Because a good designer is a good listener and observer (thus has more empathy)? And that’s why s/he is a good innovator and visualizer too? A good designer is at peace with herself/himself and that is why s/he is able to observe and understand and create more and do all of this better?

I think there could be many more dimensions to this.

What do all of us think?

I’m in India right now, meeting my parents (in Gurgaon, a suburb south west of Delhi) for Diwali, thus I did this exercise in my neighborhood here. I covered an area of two square kilometers. By the time I finished doing this, I could not help but marvel at the contrast – the contrast not just between my neighborhood in LA and Gurgaon but also the contrast between my apartment complex in Gurgaon  and the neighboring village. It is like two worlds separated by a brick wall and a guarded gate.

About turns and turning

The frequency of turns is subconscious. I mean we do not think about it and yet we do it : )

We can always decide to be scientific about when to turn and choose to turn at regular intervals of time or distance but I chose to turn based on what I saw. I chose to turn towards areas that offered more diversity, contrast and greater stimulus. (This would be my mapping bias, I think.)

As a result, I could not follow tuning directions exactly the way they were laid out in the assignment.

Go to new places, see new things, and see old things in new ways

Also, and once again, in spite of the fact that we are trying to map a geography, our discoveries are determined by the roads and tracks we follow and not so much by everything that’s out there. For example, my parents have been living here since 2012 but I had never walked the dirt-road into the village before. I had only driven in and out of our apartment block’s gates. I had never seen our apartment block from the point of view of the village. This exercise opened my eyes to an entirely new way of looking at my parent’s apartment.

Note: My Dad was also curious about my assignment and he decided to join me in my walk. He motivated me to take more videos.

Urban is cohabiting with the rural

As the suburb has expanded, it has engulfed the the nearby villages. (Where my parents live now was farm land just ten years back.) However, in spite of the suburb overrunning the village, the village has somehow managed to retain its unique character. (Eg: People have bought motorbikes and cars, but they still have their cows and buffaloes. Immigrants are using cow-dung as firewood. etc)

A view of the contrast

https://youtu.be/eZjINwboc80

https://youtu.be/4Yz5HV6gNN4

Dirt road and open manholes in the village

Gated Communities

A barricade that has been closed off now

The village serves the apartment blocks?

Most of the drivers, cleaners, domestic help, security guards etc who work in these apartment blocks live in this village (Tigra) and other nearby villages.

Immigrants

Many people have moved into the village from far off lands. Majority has come in from as far as Bangladesh. These people have had a tough life back home and they have come here in search of employment opportunities.

Farmers have become landlords, again:

Farmers from the village sold their land to the real estate companies. Now they building shanties on whatever land is left renting these shanties to immigrants who are working in these apartments.

This walk opened my mind to the symbiotic relationship between the organized dwelling units in the apartment block and the shanties in the neighboring village.

I also shot a few videos to explain and showcase some of the things I was observing.

Road has to bend: This is symbolic of the power vs process or power vs system dynamic in India. Some people are above law and  law is not even for everyone : (

https://youtu.be/hLYfa714sOU

Most people in the apartment blocks have cooking gas supplied in cylinders like these.

But not everyone gets piped cooking gas : (

https://youtu.be/qRRsnFSPPb4

Dirt roads have open man holes : (

Other sights

Pigeon feet in sand

https://youtu.be/qjHbxEzjTrw

Tailoring shop by the side of the road

https://youtu.be/bzzXmjNGrJQ

Dog Chilling

Cows snacking and grooming

https://youtu.be/aCnXHzWexWQ

https://youtu.be/dDPSSg8VNBA

The Peepal tree where people pray

https://youtu.be/ieDqmLb1LlY

Main road (trunk road)

Some other photos

Private signs stand distinctly

But public signage is rare and rarely in good condition

Workers live in the houses that they are building. It is sad that most workers who build homes for others seldom manage to build proper housing for themselves.

Clothes drying is a symbol that the worker’s family is living with them ‘on site’

Empty lots become parking lots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am going to tell you my first time-mom venture out of the house with my newborn baby on my own. After almost three weeks home from the hospital, I think it is time for the baby to get out there and literally see the world. I also combined this trip with some time to exercise, and it turned out to be an interesting trip, with some mortify moments.

My first plan was just to walk to the park nearby our home, which normally would take me about 5 minutes to get there. It took me almost an hour to pack everything the baby needs (how many diapers the baby need in 20 minutes walk?). Along the way to the park, I got to observe different things I don’t get see when driving. It is nice for a couple of minutes to live in a moment, take a deep breath, walk slowly instead of driving, which we don’t usually do in our busy lives. I see houses with different constructions, different backyard designs, which showed the taste of the owner. I smelled the grass mixed in the fresh air.  Halfway there, my phone reminded me that Starbucks was having a happy hour discount, and I thought maybe I should go to Starbuck instead. Then the baby looked like he was not comfortable, so I decided to stick to the original plan.

After several times, I stopped on the street to take note and check on the baby, then I finally made it to the park. The baby started crying, louder and louder. I felt several eyes on me, which embarrassed me even more. There are many thought inside me: how to comfort a crying baby? Why are there so many people at the park today? Or they might think I am a child kidnapper? After sitting down for one minute, I could not take it anymore. I stood up and got home as fast as possible, passing by some other eyes that were still on me. When we finally got back home, I felt so exhausted and slept for two hours.

 

 

This exercise was a lot of fun! I’m very fortunate to live right by the bustling Grove in LA. There’s always so much going on there that it’s hard to really focus on one thing at a time. It kind of just hits you in the face all at once. I’m glad that this assignment made me hyper focused and myopic. I was able to appreciate all of the cool things that I have right outside my front door.

The route basically took me the long ways to Trader Joe’s. I ended up going into the strip mall that has a ton of restaurants and home goods stores. I often skip over this strip mall and head right for the Grove. It was nice to mosey on through and take the long way to the main Grove entrance. I actually never made it into the Grove itself. Instead, I walked along it’s boundaries until my final destination.

I think my favorite aspect of this assignment was the sketching. I’ve never really been a doodler, and I had so much fun trying to quickly create a visual representation of everything that I saw.

I’ll admit to not really understanding this assignment in the slightest. I’m guessing it was an attempt to make us more aware of our own environment, or maybe to get us to go somewhere new. Were we supposed to make an actually useful map, or is it just supposed to be sketches of stuff along our way? I ended up making a somewhat useful map, but its definitely just sketches of stuff that I encountered along the way. One of the most amusing things about the trip is that I started at my front door, and surprisingly I never actually left my apartment complex except for a very few brief seconds. I did find myself along the way making conscious choices to not call certain places “decision points” in order to make my trip a little more interesting, as well as a single instance in order to not walk about an extra full mile which would have put me really far away from my apartment. Twice I actually just got stuck in a corner because of the directions, which still makes me laugh. So in the end, I’m not sure what I’m intended to get out of this mapping assignment, but I did have a nice walk around my apartment complex.

(I’m having trouble making this show up normally, so here’s the downloadable link).

Start: Home
End: Compton (lol.)

The house I currently live in is in a gated neighborhood on a golf course, kind of isolated a rough looking area on the outside. If you go one cardinal direction a few miles, it’s the wealthy Manhattan Beach area, and if you go the opposite direction it’s Compton. The exercise started kinda like how I normally behave, where I leave and come back before I leave the neighborhood x10 because I realize I forgot any or several of the following: my wallet, driver’s license, phone, purse, backpack, charger, lip balm.

The direction starts off towards Gardena, which I’m always excited about because I love the amazing Japanese and Korean restaurants in the area. But we quickly went the wrong way through a residential area. This area I’ve been in several times, and seems like neat and polished rows of houses with families. There’s a neighborhood watch sign, with lawn decor like flamingos, plastic cars, and palm trees/Californian shrubbery.

I pass by a park and pretty quickly get to an area with a church, a beauty salon, and a nail salon. Signs of a rougher neighborhood start appearing – no credit check businesses, cracked roads/pavements, lots of run-down auto shops, barred windows on both residential houses and business, a hemodialysis center, speedy cash, and a fried seafood place.

My initial reaction was being scared because of all the stories I’d heard about Compton over the years. Ironically, I started to feel at home and think fondly back to my time as a student. I hail from Atlanta, and at one point in time during school had to live on the corner of Ghetto and Crack (deep in Home Park in Atlanta, if you were curious). People were regularly robbed with guns (several times with AK47s), machetes, knives, whatever. At that time I had nightmares not being stabbed or shot but losing my laptop and not being able to turn in my homework, and when I was going to get my next paycheck so I could stay a few months ahead in rent. I fondly thought back to my pink pepper spray (the little flame on the bottom right represents that), and on the bottom left I say “I’ll be ok, I think”, the phrase that I’d repeat to myself every night I went home after dark in that neighborhood. As with these neighborhoods, keep your head down and be aware of your surroundings. You’ll be ok.

 

After working all day, I decided to go out for some fresh air and started this exercise at the mall near my home. (It’s actually the same site as Robin’s Project 2 map!) I really enjoyed this exercise. I was a little worried about sketching while walking, but it was fun to sketch on paper what I saw and quickly felt. Despite being there at around 9 pm on Thursday, there were still a lot of people working out in the gym, talking and studying at cafes, and shopping at the grocery store, even as the wind was blowing unexpectedly. What I learned in this exercise was a way to see the environment more broadly and flexibly. To this end, I not only saw and observed the environment, but also tried to focus on thoughts and feelings. The wind was sudden, but it gave me a natural and fresh feeling for a long time. I wanted to capture that moment in my sketch.

The mall was a familiar environment as I knew the main areas and directions of this site, but it felt a little bit different because of the time, weather and season. It was night time and the weather was very different from usual. The wind blew so hard that it made me difficult to walk, so I stopped a couple times and had a chance to sit and observe while stationary. The mall was decorated with lights in a Christmas theme. The decor was the same as last year, as it was always petty and bright. This decoration not only made me feel happy about the holiday season, but also sad that the year is almost over. Overall, I had a great experience doing this exercise and enjoyed my observation, emotion and thoughts at the site.

This exercise was a nice break from my usual day to day. It forced me to step outside into my neighborhood and notice things I haven’t actually paid attention to throughout all the years I’ve been living there. What I loved most when walking around and drawing out the map is not necessarily following the directions I was taking, but rather noticing what it is I pay attention to. There might have been more than one thing going on at once, but I was jotting down that one thing that stood out to me the most. This map is not specifically directional, but mental.

It’s been quite some time since I heavily doodled, but I enjoyed actually drawing what I saw in front of me. It’s definitely challenging to portray things as you see them, but it’s fun to try. Something else that was quite interesting is how certain directions led me back to where I was and it wasn’t difficult to pinpoint another observation of the same place. I truly enjoyed every aspect about this exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I initially thought the concept of this exercise was fun and I was looking forward it.  Midway through the exercise, I was frustrated because I felt constrained by the directions. I realized I had to picture my decision points way in advance in order to produce a proper map. Even then I struggled to keep all my observations on paper.  Some areas in my map feel clustered, and other areas feel sparse which is far from reality.  I realized how important it is to understand spatial concept at the geographic scale in creating maps.  Although, I had faced some challenges, my overall experience was positive.

The experience of creating a psychogeographic map was definitely a new one, and very interesting.  I feel as though my experience may have differed from the majority of my classmates, because here in Virginia, the high was 44 degrees and we had winds reaching 30 MPH.  Perfect weather to walk around and draw a map, right?  Weather aside, I think that this exercise forced me to look at things a bit outside of the box – to use markers I would not normally notice.  This map is done from exiting my condo, and the local high school actually has their football field right behind our condo, so that ended up impacting my map a good bit, and some of my observations and “markers” are actually noises from the games.  This is different from what I would normally expect to see on a map and made me expand my understanding of what a map could be or show.

Another part of this exercise was that it made me look at other things besides normal signs and use those as delineations for the map.  For instance, instead of using the signs that mark our condo community and show which numbered houses are where, I had to use things like children playing in the street and a giant pile of leaves as my guide posts.  I think this exercise has further cemented what I have been learning in this program – that the way you think of and look at things is never the only way.  This exercise really pushed me out of my comfort zone to use non-conventional markers for my map.

I started out from my friend’s house and walked around the neighborhoods of Noe Valley & Mission in SF. Because the directions were random, I struggled to keep the drawing organized without circling back on itself and struggled to make sense of where I was. Eventually, I had to accept that the map is simply be just a guide to the experience and that it didn’t have to make sense in the end. I found that it the things I noted for this drawing were things that I could pick out as different from street to street such as trees that stood out or objects in the sidewalk that stood out. When something was so abundant that it became like the background, I did not feel compelled to note it, such as the rows and rows of houses or the rows of similar trees. It is only when the object appears only once or twice on a block that I would recognize it as the figure or subject.

 

I thought this exercise was a nice change of pace from my day-to-day routine because it forced me to be fully present as I took a walk around my neighborhood — something I hardly do anymore. Initially, I didn’t think I would be able to observe anything except “houses”; however, that proved not to be the case as I soon guided myself to our neighborhood park. Some notable events that occurred were getting barked at aggressively by several dogs, stepping in wet grass and soaking my white shoes in mud, nearly passing out from hunger as I walked by a house that smelled deliciously of pizza, and taking a moment to appreciate the gold crescent moon that lit the sky as day turned into night.

I find the concept of the Psychogeographic Map fascinating because it gives readers of my map the chance to not only follow me on my physical journey but my mental journey as well. My journey is not only marked by landmarks and sounds (external forces) but subjective internal forces as well such as hunger (when I smelled the pizza) and gratitude (as I gazed upon the moon). I feel that psychogeographic maps are important because they provide insight into how someone internalizes their external space. For planners of a physical space, getting a collection of psychogeographic maps created by people visiting that space can increase their empathy and guide their decision-making.

I very much enjoyed this exercise. It freed my mind and provided unlimited possibilities on the map I want to do. Just having a pencil and sketchbook I can explicitly express the view that’s presented in front of me, and the hidden map that I am going to include in my sketch. I chose the route I often take to go to Mitsuwa, a Japanese market that is near my home. To get to the market, I only need to walk two streets and cross one traffic light.

There are many single-family homes, apartments, and small shops on the road to the market. The houses on the streets all have distinguishing styles and are fun to look at. I also see cars parked along two sides of the street. The trashcans are out on trash days. The greenery has been thoughtfully included in the area. There are many shades of trees, and nicely designed landscaping. Every day, I hear noises from people mowing their lawns. Because the holidays are coming, winter decorations are up for the holiday season. Not until doing this fun and inspiring activity did I begin seeing plenty of details in my lovely neighborhood.

I counted my turns and realized this is rather a simple route I am taking. It takes me only a couple of right and left turns to get to the destination, the Mitsuwa supermarket.

I started my walk today at the condo but when I made a left I was at my bus stop and the bus was arriving. So I got on and we made several turns that could be marked off and sketched such as the bus stop itself, the trees, the front and side of the high school nearby. The bus took me to my Mappings site, Crossroads Shopping Center. As I get off the bus, I was pleased to make a left there and cross the street toward the center. I sketched the crosswalk sign, more trees, and a sandwich board advertising open homes at one of the townhouse developments. I was working on sketching quickly – let’s call it scribble sketching ;-). It was quite sunny when I started out, and not too cold, which is good because I ended up meandering in the parking lot for a while. Eventually, I made my way closer to the buildings, and after about 45 minutes I decided my next right needed to take me into the Half-Price Books store, and then deeper into the mall. It was getting late then,  I was cold and tired. Looking back on my drawings and notes I can see the mall has a lot going on, even in the parking lot. One of the notable items was the amount of signage all over.

This exercise was refreshing, and got me thinking about how much activity we miss in our routine transportation every day.  We might say we know a neighborhood because we’ve lived there for six or seven years, as I have, but I discovered today new houses, trees, structures, and activities that took place just a couple blocks from me.

This exercise was also frustrating because I struggle with making my doodles look representative or at least pretty. So it was hard to capture the feeling (let along the nuances) of the neighborhood.

As with Melissa’s class, this psychographic map I think says as much or more about the observer that it does the area. There the experiences I didn’t sketch because they didn’t catch my eye as interesting, or were too difficult or time intensive to draw. And there were countless things I don’t know that I missed. And, like a game of telephone pictionary, someone looking at my map is going to imagine the walk differently too. This exercise did get me thinking about how maps often leave out the more experiential elements of a geography and got me thinking about how to incorporate those in our mapping project.

I navigated my neighborhood in the process of creating my Psychogeographic Map.  Fall has hit, and there was a cold and biting wind throughout the walk. Many of the elements of fall stood out to me as I wandered the neighborhood, following the arbitrary directions prescribed by the assignment. I found myself hearing more sounds than my standard walks. The rustling of the leaves, and the cool breeze blowing through the trees. I felt that the assignment helped me focus my senses. The sound of my neighbors mowing their lawns on a Saturday afternoon, or sanding down a wood project.

By following the directions, I discovered a new path that cut across the neighborhood. The experience definitely resulted in me learning more about my environment than a more passive walk might. I made it a point to not be interrupted by technology. I jotted notes down and made observations, that had gone unnoticed in the three years I had been living hear. It was nice to get out of a routine, and experience a familiar place in an alternate way.

There is currently a wildfire in Butte County that’s significantly affecting the air quality in the Bay Area. During my walk around my neighborhood in Oakland, I noticed the smokey and hazy atmosphere, which I tried to capture in my sketch using uneven horizontal lines. I also chose to sketch a driver I saw wearing a mask to protect from the smoke.

Another occurrence specific to my neighborhood was the recent death of our beloved neighborhood cat, Mingus. I witnessed a man passing by Mingus’ usual hangout spot shout “God dammit, Mingus!” as he read the note posted by Mingus’ parents on their front door. There were also flowers left by neighbors on the front step in remembrance of the cat who used to be a regular sight on this street corner.

Other things of note are the falling of leaves during this autumn day, the various types of plants I walked past, and the different transportation modes present – cars (some that are ride-share with Lyft/Uber/Getaround stickers), motorcycles, and ride-share electric scooters parked on sidewalks.

 

I explored downtown Santa Monica, California near the Third Street Promenade. On any given day, there are a lot of pedestrians and cyclists moving around, and I found that walking and writing notes didn’t get in anyone’s way. Walking along the promenade, it was a little hard to go “right” or “left,” so I switched between sides and was able to make hard rights or lefts at the intersections. I found myself noticing and observing people more than the buildings that surrounded me because the storefronts were all so similar. The architecture that stood out was the taller office buildings (which was hard to come by), so I instead focused on the environment that was created between the buildings. What I didn’t see a lot of were street performers, which, on any other day, would have been in the double digits.

I would have to admit that I may have objectively described an environment I wasn’t familiar with better than this one because I have walked down this promenade hundreds of times… everything that is the same as before gets kind of blurred out.  Overall, it was a fun experience that made me notice more architectural details that I would have otherwise dismissed.

Okay, I went to the Domain Northside, which is also the site of my Project 2. I go here a lot and just breeze past most of the stores, usually on my way to a restaurant or to meet up with friends/coworkers for happy hour. What struck me is the sheer number of stores and all the different “paths” you can take. Families tend to take the Apple store –> snack (candy, cupcake, or popcorn –> lawn –> Starbucks route. Groups of twenty-something women a generally hitting up the fashion stores or workout studios, and groups of workers, like me, are meeting up with people at bars or restaurants. It’s amazing to me how often I come here and how few of the businesses I actually frequent. When I have some time (which won’t be for a while), I want to come here and just browse the stores. I say that, but I’ll probably make it to two before I get bored, annoyed, or disinterested. (Probably why I do most of my shopping online).

Following arbitrary directions was a nice change from the usual “everyday busy” and always leaving the house with clear intent. Upon reflection, the primary takeaway is that my sketches focus on items that stood out immediately or over time. Of course what stands out is my exclusive interpretation and so I would not expect anyone else to arrive at the same conclusions. For example my last diagram of the Tesla car logo was the result of observing many brand new Model 3s during the course of sketching. At the other end of the spectrum was a bunny doll wrapped in a blanket and left in a tree. Fresh graffiti was a stark contrast to what was seemingly a seemingly quiet street.

While some of the public may have been curious about my actions, most didn’t give me a second thought. This was surprising considering I was sketching with an iPad and Apple Pencil. Only twice was I stopped – presumably by individuals who noticed my constant glaring up and down. But otherwise carrying electronic equipment apparently didn’t seem out of place to anyone. Good to know!

– By Q aka Alex Duong

This exercise frustrated me a couple of times as I kept running inwards in my drawing and couldn’t keep it all in a breathable ‘even’ drawing. I think that is because I felt constrained by the directions plus my narrow approach and observation of things. Also, the small area I decided to do this, my backyard. May be, walking on the streets would have been better. I think that in order to do a better map requires a SPACIAL understanding of where we are going and the area we are trying to cover. In this case I just let the directions tell me where to go and I used any visually appealing element determine the stoppage point at each stage of the exercise. It is what it is because I let it be that way without forcing any decision too much.

The first half of my journey, I was making very detailed observations, stopping to draw intricate objects I found interesting, and really spending the time to absorb my surroundings. The second half of my journey was spent on a major road with zero shade, so I was baking in the sun. I was also starting to walk much further in between decision points,  so I began to experience fatigue from the assignment. Whereas during the first half, I would stop to take note of something before I had even reached the next decision point, by the second half, I was using one illustration to sum up multiple decisions points.

I learned that the environment really plays a factor in one’s ability to observe effectively. When the environment was quiet and peaceful, I was alert, thorough, and at ease. But when I was walking along a very busy and noisy street, and feeling hot and sweaty, I was more distracted and hasty with my observations.

This exercise actually really helped me take a little breather this week, I was stressing about everything going on and going for a stroll helped me just get away from it all and focus on myself and my surroundings, as opposed to obsessing over my calendar and the things on my todo list.

It was a little difficult jumping back and forth from sketching and walking and figuring out when my next decision point should be; I constrained myself to walking around during my lunch hour at work and I wanted to be sure to arrive back at my office by the end of the hour. This made me reflect on a tendency I have to want to control everything and make it fit, which can be helpful in some cases but stressful in others.

I thought it was interesting how much you could see even just around some plain office buildings and parking lots – I loved seeing the flowers and hearing the birds chirp as I walked, but also felt a little out of place when walking along a bigger street and felt everyone’s eyes on me.

At the end of my excursion, I found one of my coworkers heading out for his usual quick walk and we talked a little about MHCID when I explained to him I was doing an assignment for class. So, I added that near the end of my map!

 

 

I did warn everyone in one of my other assignments that I will probably have a lot about Balboa Park in these location assignments. It’s far too close to my house and convenient to explore. One of my favorite things about this assignment was that I got to explore places of the Park that I have never been before. I thought in all probability I would end up over in the main area closer to my house and that I have done some other assignments about. However, one of the first things that happened was a trip down into the valley and over to the other side of the Park. I don’t spend as much time over there and because of that, it brought me to all sorts of interesting spots that I hadn’t visited often, if at all.

Most of the noise came from traffic. Human noise really only came into play when I went through the disc golf course which was hopping on a Friday afternoon. The terrain ranged from shady tree-filled valleys to very open dirt trails along the ridges of the major hills. I started to worry about getting sunburned once I reached the point of no shade at all.

One of the things I noted was that there was not as much tourism on this side of the Park. There really aren’t any large attractions like the Zoo or Museums to visit. The areas were mostly locals and therefore much more quiet and serene. People were out for a picnic, a jog or just reading a book. A few times I found myself on larger roads but for the most part, I was on trails that wound behind and around the public recreation areas. I went past the municipal pool, a second archery range, baseball fields, tennis courts, picnic areas, the golf course, disc golf and finally ended in the vicinity of the velodrome. Yes… there is one of those and they do amateur races!

At the end of the trip, the Park had once again amazed me how it managed to fit so many diverse activities into an area while still managing to maintain quiet and nature filled spots in which to lose yourself. I did have a bit of an adventure getting myself back home as well and stumbled upon more unique areas in the process.

Some photos from my travels:

I attempted to do this exercise in what I consider one of the most rural areas of Japan: My grandmother’s home of Kumamoto, Japan. Kumamoto is around 3 hours away from Osaka by bullet train (6 hours away from Tokyo) or a 2 hour plane ride from Tokyo. It is in the southern region of Japan near Nagasaki and south of Hiroshima.

One of the main things I noticed during this sketching exercise were that there was hardly any designated lanes for pedestrians or bikes. Because there weren’t any tall buildings or people like there are in Osaka or Tokyo, shops and “landmarks” really stood out. The attitude and vibe exuded by the locals were also very different. Almost every person I walked past (there were only people from 40s to 70s), greeted me with a “good morning.” This is a sign that you are in a rural area because there is no way people in Tokyo will do this.

This exercise made me what to incorporate a photo of some parts of my map for project 2 just to immerse the users of this map into the world of Osaka. The people, places, and overall ambience is very different based on where you are in Japan so I will keep that in mind as I finalize my project 2 map.

Here are some photos just to give you an idea of what rural Japan looks like:

My experience, as you can see on my map, was greatly affected by the sun. Perhaps I should have used that as a force in downtown Los Angeles. That, in addition to several hills that I was trying to avoid walking back up, was a determining factor in how I interpreted the instructions. I ended up walking around in circles, hitting many of the same landmarks several times. I did approach them from different directions, which sometimes gave me a new perspective on what I had previously seen.

I don’t think our observational facilities can be trusted to objectively describe a familiar environment–I walk around this area all the time because I work here and take the metro stop that I walked by several times. I found that unless I tried especially hard to be aware of new things, I reverted to the same mindset that I always have when leaving work, which is to keep my head down to avoid interaction with potential harassers and get home as fast as possible.

I loved this exercise. From simply reading the directions, you would not realize how spontaneous and fun walking through a space can be. Arbritrary directions don’t mean anything, but when you’re on your journey and in context, you realize what direction lies ahead and have a heightened anticipation of what you’re about to observe. In a way this makes you more aware of your surroundings.

I needed to go home after meeting an artist at a cafe for my 281 interview. This location was in the NoPa neighborhood (“North of the Panhandle” park) which is on the other side of a hill from my home in Hayes Valley. I had no idea where these directions would take me– it could have lead me even further from my destination! In the end, the journey was quite enjoyable and it ended up only dropping me off three blocks from my home. At one point, I was surprised to see that a “Slight Left” took me into an ice cream shop, at which point I stopped in and got a scoop.

Drawing the map was a stylized abstraction of my journey. I found myself using different forms to simulate landmarks. For instance, when climbing up the hill in Alamo Square Park (home of the Full House houses), I found myself drawing slopes and stairs. It was a surprisingly creative feature that I did not play, but came organically as I “walked my pen” across sketch book.

Overall this activity is a great way to observe a space and map it in a way that is unplanned and organic. This is divergent thinking at its finest. I almost wish I would have employed something similar for my observations for the 281 project because I often times found myself converging on things and ignoring others that I may have discovered if I had been moving randomly through the space. I’ll try my best to incorporate such an interesting activity going forward.

This exercise reminded me of Jon Kabar quote about mindfulness. He says” The best way to capture moments is to pay attention”. This exercise seemed easy at first. Because I have been practicing mindfulness, living in the moment and capturing experiences, for years. The only difference is that this time beside capturing moments in my mind, I need to illustrate them on a piece of paper. After doing this exercise I realized that I am not as mindful as I thought I was. There are many things happening every sing moment which I miss. Some are happening simultaneously. Paying attention to one thing forces us to fade other things to the background. This exercise also thought me seeing is so different from paying attention. I walked around my neighborhood for the 100th time. But this time I paid attention to things I never noticed before.

This activity gave me a great excuse to get outside for some fresh air (something I often forget to do, working from home) and explore parts of my neighborhood that I hadn’t visited before. The environment I explored had both familiar and unfamiliar elements and landmarks. I was more conscious of details around me, since this exercise was about the experience rather than than the destination. Once I reached the final stopping point, I used my sense of direction to find my way home, which was also a fun exercise.

Given that I was exploring a suburban environment and park trail, most of the things I noticed were elements from nature, interspersed with human interruptions or structures. I underestimated the amount of time this exercise would take (I assumed 30 minutes) but didn’t notice time passing because I was busy walking and sketching. I was surprised to realize, when I got home, that I’d been out for over an hour. I discovered new parts of my neighborhood, observed a lot of goofy animal activity, and got some sunshine.

 

Sidebar: Toward the end of my walk, I was stopped by an older man with white hair and glasses who turned out to be a retired graphic designer. Perfect, right? He saw, from a distance, that I’d been sketching and was dying to see my map. After he left, I added him to the map.

This assignment was both difficult and enlightening. I found it difficult because it became quite a task juggling between sketching and keeping track of where I left off with the directions. It took a little bit of time to get in the groove of sketching while standing, I eventually used walls and any other flat surfaces I could find to anchor my clipboard. That aside, I found it to be a pretty enlightening experience. I walk around this area frequently, but I’m usually too busy trying to get to my destination to even pay attention to what is going on around me. I discovered new restaurants, murals and even some new side streets. I noticed this really cool art detail beneath a tree that I had not seen before and I walk by that tree at least 3 times a day. It made me wonder, do other people notice these things? Are people who don’t frequent this area more likely to see it? Am I just more “jaded” and take it for granted?This assignment showed me that I need to take off my headphones and start paying attention to the details around me. I feel inspired, motivated and even a little re-energized to design.

Reflection

This experience was really fun for me. I’ve worked at my company for over 2 years and I’ve already begun to ignore big portions of my commute and my surroundings. When I went into drawing my psychogeographic map, my attention to detail was heightened. I noticed buildings and bridges I had never given a second thought to. There was fascinating architecture all around me. New buildings with circular shapes, similar to the new Apple campus, were being built near my office that I had never noticed before. I was taken on an adventurous journey because these paths were not ones I would normally take.