My mind has been filled with all the new thoughts and ideas that have been exposed to me during the first half of this week’s intensive.
Examples from the Duncan article relating to Group Identity are very evident as we toured Commonwealth Avenue studying the rules of the buildings. This place does not have a well defined group identity to me as the Back Bay most likely had in its earlier years. There are homeless, professional, student and retired people all present on the streets and in the parks. The somewhat homogeneous nature of the built environment contrasts the people which frequent the area. It would be interesting to learn more about the demographics to determine who lives in these homes. As I am asked for change from vagrants every day while in Boston, I have thought about what impact these people have on their environment (very little). I would imagine they have helped to shape policy in areas where they are not tolerated, though this shaping is not to their advantage.
I have been spending a great deal of time thinking about Place by Childress. What defines a place, a neighborhood, a city? I have learned a great deal about how place is defined and what can help make it successful. I have been thinking about Copley Square. What makes this a successful place? As we have been studying this square and our project site, I have been testing my observations against the themes and ideas that help us to understand place. I can see examples of from the Bickford article relating to social class and how the environment is shaped by the ones of influence in the entire Back Bay area, including Copley Square.
The Feminism and architecture piece by Ahrentzen was very interesting. I have witnessed some of the issues discussed in this article firsthand. While this article has not been consuming my thought in Boston, it will be an issue in which I am much more aware and will have a greater impact in the future.
These thoughts and ideas will impact how I look at the world from this point forward.
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Your comment that "As I am asked for change from vagrants every day while in Boston, I have thought about what impact these people have on their environment (very little)" is an interesting one. I agree that they have almost no impact on the environment itself, but that they really do affect the "place" of Newbury Street. That is, they change the way that Newbury Street is held and created in our imaginations.
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