A blue trash can sitting near Student Center West
The round blue metal trash can is sitting still beside a green bush with a pink flower attached. It has Georgia State University mounted on it. It has paper stuck on it. The blue trash can has white and red gum stuck on it. There is small pieces of paper on the ground around the trash can.
As I was sitting at University Commons, I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about. I sat there for over an hour, and I found a particular area to write about. As I started writing, I couldn’t focus, because it was too noisy That’s when I realize, I should write about what I was hearing. As I was listening to my surroundings, I realize that a lot of things occur around me that I don’t notice. I didn’t have to turn my head nor look around to see what was going on, because I knew what I was hearing. University Commons is a hang out spot. I felt like I was in the center of a big city. People was coming from every where. It is a really good spot to sit and observe what goes on around you.
The University Common Sign
People is sitting around and walking around at University Commons.
My view from University Commons.
On Thursday night around 9:15 pm, University Commons becomes a place where you can’t hear yourself think. Cars are riding by blasting music. Groups of young adults are laughing. A fire truck siren is going off as it passed by. Heels are clacking as a group of females walk by. Different conversations are going on with different people. A male tried to spit game to a young lady, and she rejected him. Dogs are panting as it walked by. Police officers are blowing their whistles. The Georgia State bus brakes squeaks as it tried to make a stop. A golf cart engine is running. It was a long and loud night at University Commons.
Sarah Schindler’s article focuses on the practice of architectural exclusion. Schindler gives us a brief abstract of what her article was about. She also gives a brief summary about herself. In the introduction, she mentions Robert Moses as the “Master Builder” of New York. Moses shapes New York’s infrastructure. She also mentions the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority). She states “… opposed efforts to expand MARTA…”. (pg .6)The wealthy opposed it, because they believe it would lead to unwanted crime and violence. She introduces a couple forms of exclusion that wasn’t widely acknowledged. Architectural exclusion was practiced from physical barriers. It was built to control human behavior. It was also built to separate people according to their race and wealth. Because of some architectural barriers, certain groups of people couldn’t get access to different places. She states “Bridges were designed to be so low that buses could not pass under them in order to prevent people of color from accessing a public beach.” (pg.1.Abstract) Schindler’s argument was it should be better legal awareness for discrimination through infrastructure. Public transportation to certain places became limited due to architecture because of discrimination. Discrimination playes a big part in history that caused a lot of controversial.
Part 1 of Schindler’s article focuses on the way the built environment regulates people behavior. She states “…people have used varied methods to exclude undesirable individuals from places where they were not wanted.” (pg.24) She gives an example that Lessig provided. He states “That a highway divides two neighborhoods limits the extent to which the neighborhoods integrate…These constraints function in a way that shapes behavior…”. (pg.50) Schindler discusses the infrastructure in the design and talks about the symbolic contributors. She mentions the practice and effects of architectural exclusion and of the built environment. She states the built environment does not fit with the definition of regulation.
“Heaven´s gate, Gehry Buildings, Medienhafen Düsseldorf (series I)”
Part 2 of Schindler’s article mainly focused on examples of where architectural exclusion occurred in the past.She stated “This Part details a number of ways that states and municipalities—through actions by their residents, police force, planning staff, engineers, or local elected officials—have created infrastructure and designed their built environs to restrict passage through and access to other areas of the community. ” (pg. 80) She mentioned a lot of examples in her article. One example she mentioned was how a physical barrier were used to separate a white neighborhood from a black neighborhood. Another example she mentioned was walled ghettos. Schindler also gave a present day example of architectural exclusion which is transit stops. Schindler stated “The examples of architectural exclusion identified in this Part are concerning in that they reveal a number of underlying problems.” (pg.194)
Schindler, S. (2015, April ). Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical Design of the Built Environment. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from Yale Law Journal, https://via.hypothes.is/http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/architectural-exclusion
In the First-Year Writing Book, it states different strategies I can use when reading a text closely. The strategies are to learn about the author, skim the text, explore your own knowledge and beliefs on the subject, reflect on the topic, annotate, outline, freewrite about the text, and summarize the text. These strategies can help me look closely in the Sarah Schindler’s Architectural Exclusion article or any readings.
Ethnographic Methodology for Primary Research: gathering data yourself.
Secondary Research: Reporting and using data others have gathered.
