Journey toward a thesis

This has been an experiment in the act of creating place by walking different parts of Albuquerque, NM with a smartphone and placing symbols (5 QR codes/objects) with embedded information. These symbols, while an interesting aesthetic attraction also contain an embedded narrative only revealed by using your smartphone. They are signifiers of your presence in the place that is Landscape Elucidate that is a subset of the city.  Landscape Elucidate then can be defined not only as a method employed to better understand your urban environment but it also becomes a unique place to inhabit during exploration.  For those of you that visit this site, this will be the final entry for the project, but not the final entry period.  My goal is to continue this research after graduation and have it take the form of a software application for your smartphone.  I ask that you continue to check back for future developments.  I welcome feedback from you about your own walks with a smartphone.

Downtown to Robinson

The final QR code/object was placed at Robinson Park. I seem to only go downtown for three reasons: to see a movie, to go to a bar, or to study the built environment. I happened to be downtown for a movie and decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to walk to the final QR code at Robinson Park. Out of the five QR code/objects I have placed in Albuquerque, I thought the fifth and final QR code/object would be the least likely to remain situated where I placed it. Downtown Albuquerque is an interesting place and not for the best of reasons. There is an identity that wants to be expressed from the buildings and spaces in downtown Albuquerque but in the end it communicates more of a collection of disparate parts with many missing "teeth". There are people downtown however, occupying apartments and hotels, but I do not think that there are people who are truly able to thrive downtown. Walking around you pass through more than one empty lot. Some buildings reveal their hidden underbelly where the cracked facade permits the sun. There is pocket park built by students off of Gold Street that provides one area of respite in the downtown jumble. I want to want to go downtown and hang out but it still does not feel welcoming, despite the earnest efforts of the Downtown Action Team so I go there only there to watch, drink and observe.

I meandered around downtown for about 2 miles until I arrived at Robinson park. Surprisingly, the QR code/object was still there and I was glad for it. Another interest space that I have come across during my expeditions into the city are picnic tables placed out front of office buildings, usually next to the street and only one them is installed. I tend to think that these are for the population of smoking employees but they strike me also as these stark oasis. Somewhat of refreshing place to relax yet they also seem to say "sure, go ahead and smoke or eat your lunch, but do it quickly." Another element in the city that I have come across in great abundance has been objects for sitting (chairs, couches, benches, etc.) left in little nooks and crannies. These objects are mobile i.e. they are not bolted to, or chained down to something. It speaks to the dynamic nature of place and how the simplest act of placing a chair in the landscape can create a space that someone will be drawn to inhabit during unknown moments. I have added a few of these places to Foursquare so if you are out and about check in and be merry.


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Walk #9

Walking to Object #4

I have visited all the sites where I placed the QR Codes/Objects but I felt like I needed to also walk to these objects. The #4 QR code is located at the Western gate of the Rio Grande Nature Center. The walk started at a park just off of Montano Boulevard. The park had a large number of wooden sculptures carved from dead tree trunks. It reminded me of sculptures I encountered during a walk in front of an apartment building off of Washington near Lomas. I wondered if they were created by the same artist? It was a Saturday that I took this walk along the Rio Grande and the pathway that winds next to the river is a popular place to enjoy a walk, run or bike ride on a Saturday. I took notice of both the wide swath of dirt path that follows along the paved path. Some runners were running on the dirt path and all bicyclists were on the paved trail. I assume that the volume of traffic that the path sees they've had to employ a more automotive street approach, complete with a center divide and demarcation of where one should pass. There is also an area where I came across stairway made from railroad ties that descended to the irrigation channel and a bridge across. This particular area and bridge was unique in that it seemed to lead to an area completely fenced off. There were no signs as to where the bridge provided access to. It was only further down that I found a sign noting that the the area was a riparian sanctuary. I also noticed a sign for the Aldo Leopold preserve, a somewhat mundane event yet the fact that it is a preserved place that has corporate sponsorship...all things seem to need sponsorship these days, from professional sport arenas to nature preserves.


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Walk #8



Rio Grande Walk by itajan

A walk to film, a film of walking

I started this walk in the hopes that I could also film what I was doing at the same time...a difficult task indeed.  I found my attention being pulled in too many directions so I concentrated on making the film and just set my phone to record my track.  I did however snap a few photos and pass a guitar player as well as some Physical Plant sounds near the AMAFCA channel on North Campus.  I notice more areas to explore every time I walk this same route.  There are places forgotten that also continue to cry out for attention.  On the way back toward George Pearl Hall I noticed someone sitting under a large drain pipe and thought it a could place to rest and take shelter from the sun.  While secretly desiring a more urban playground (not so secret anymore) than Albuquerque, I have discovered that the mix of the urban and wild makes for an interesting dichotomy.  There are so many "unfinished" corners of the city and the walking has indeed revealed that notion to me.

I was able to create and place the QR code/objects throughout various locales in the city.  Two will be directly available to the people volunteering to take my walk and elucidate some landscape using a smart phone.  I will post photos of the process of making these objects and some photos of their placement throughout the city.  It was cathartic to make something physical for this project and I believe grounds the work by alluding to a possible design intervention one might make when attempting to cater to a smart phone using crowd.  I wonder if people will know what to do with them and indeed this may be a shortcoming of the finished product.  I wanted to keep the objects mysterious to only the most curious of user but I fear that may be too limiting.  Two days out in the environment however, and we will see what results more time may bring. 




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Walk #7



Sounds from Monday morning by itajan

A walk to a grassy parking lot

This walk came about as a result of the Fall 2010 semester.  We initially visited the old parking lot of a long since close car dealership in order to get a feel for the scale of a garden design we were working on.  The grass outlined polygons in the asphalt and created this puzzle of parking lot.  Nature always finds a way to weave its way into the forgotten crevices of society.  Earlier in the walk, in the neighborhood directly west of UNM's main campus I walked on a street that had no sidewalks...I guess an unnecessary addition to this particular residential street.  This was also the first time I was able to test out the SoundCloud app following an update to the program that allowed it to work on my smart phone.  It was fortuitous because that very day a bird was joyously signaling the first days of spring and his/her enthusiasm was noteworthy.  I also happened upon Merlin's door.  It was a small door on the side of someones backyard fence and I can imagine only a magician being able to fit through such a door...or a cat...named Merlin.




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Walk #6




Spring Bird by itajan

LE Subject Walk plus embedded object

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Walk #5

Quick investigation of the AMAFCA channel pathway

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Walk #4

Impromptu walk in the NE quarter

I found myself up in the NE quarter of Albuquerque in order to make some observations on the ecosystem of the foothills where the city meets the wilderness.  There are water drainage pathways all along the North/South lateral of the mountain span and in this particular area the water drains into a particularly large basin on the west side of Tramway Blvd.  This large basin is also part of the John B. Robert dam built by AMAFCA.  The dam provided the visual intrigue to stop and conduct a walk in the area.  West of the dam runs a concrete flood channel that is hedged on either side by a park and the North campus of Central New Mexico Community College.  The walk itself lead me through the park and on to the top of the dam which in addition to performing its intended function also serves as an imposing piece of land art sculpture as well as providing a wide angle view of the West Mesa and the setting sun.  Most of the walking I have done in fact has been conducted in the afternoons which has lead to me discovering quite a few places in which to observe varying qualities of light from the setting sun.  I also noticed on this particular walk another intriguing piece of infrastructure that I quickly added to Foursquare as a place.  I can only assume that this particular landmark, based on the proximity to and location downstream of the dam that it is part of the flood control system.  The landmark looks to be large ventilation shaft that is then supported by two wooden shade structures and two benches.  There are two of these structures directly across from each other and at one of them someone has added a camping chair to accompany the wooden benches and provided a softer resting spot for me to sit in.

Another area of note was the surface parking lot of CNM and a curious arrangement of 16 parking spots floating in the middle of a sea of asphalt.  Now it wasn't so much that there were 16 spots in the middle of a park lot but it was rather the perpendicular arrangement of the spaces in relation to the spaces that hugged the perimeter.  I'm sure the that whoever designed the lot arrangement had a good reason for doing it in such a way but I couldn't figure it out. 


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Walk #3

Destination: Langell's Art Supply

Made my way over to Langell's only to find it closed by the time I arrived. One thing about walking is that you have to plan for longer travel times. On my walk today I was once again taken by the corner of Girard Blvd. SE and Campus and the collection of Cylindropuntia imbricata (cane cholla cactus) on the corner. They surround a storm drain and there is a bit of a twilight zone of space between the drain and where the traffic from Girard zooms by. It looks as if pedestrians have created two routes through the area coming from Girard into the university. As I walked toward my destination I came across three individuals, one male walking by himself and two females walking together, all of them carrying large military backpacks stuffed to capacity and moving at a generous clip. I assumed that they were all part of some training and left it at that. Walking down Indian School nearing the intersection at Carlisle I noticed a trail off to my left. I decided to add the location to Foursquare as "Artery" park as it was a flow of vegetation weaving its way through the neighborhood south of Indian School. It eventually joined with the official Urban Forest Park, a place without the green grass of typical city park but the furry texture of native plants abound, the interstates massive 40 foot (approximately) high "sound" wall defining the southern boundary. Not wanting to backtrack to Indian School I discovered a "secret" path that ascended east along the wall to channel me on to Carlisle and back on the path to the art supply store.  I walked over the AMAFCA channel at Carlisle and I-40 and made a mental note to walk the path that follows along side it in the future.  Made it to the store and it was closed.  Check out the route and the photos.  Elucidate.


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Walk #2

Process with the smartphone

So I think I've finalized a working process of how I will record and track each walk with my smart phone.  Using My Tracks by Google I can track my distance traveled, speed of travel, elevation gain/loss, etc.  It also allows me to upload my walks to Google Docs and Fusion Table which I can then use to generate maps of my walks.  The other steps along the way are adding places to Foursquare so that people can "Check-in" and earn points.  I am also working on creating a movable, interactive object (well many of them actually) to place throughout the city that will feature a QR code linking you to an sensory experience.  This is to test the perception of place as well as question the physical boundaries of your surroundings, and also make a fun and interactive experience.  Points will be earned in Foursquare by checking-in to these places that I physically mark with my object.  I encourage my fellow Landscape Elucidaters to search out these objects and post your experience with each place.  I have not yet placed them in the landscape yet but I will be sure and inform everyone here of when they are out there.

The walk I am showing you today is from yesterday and I continue to be fascinated with the closure of Cole Avenue and its (temporary) transformation into a pedestrian thoroughfare.  Of course there are the intermittent construction vehicles going about the renovation process but for the most part it is open and un-paved.  The majority of time that I have spent on both Lead & Coal Ave. has been in a vehicle and the few walks up and down these streets that I have done over the years have always been hectic due to the high volumes of traffic that speed by.  The experience I had on the currently rustic road that is Coal Ave. was one of discovery and joy in the ability to stop and observe elements of the landscape that before I had only zoomed by in my car or quickly walked past in my haste to depart from the raucous traffic of the city. 

I intend to conduct a series of 20 walks, give or take a few, over these next several weeks and I want them to cover ground in the four sections (NW, NE, SE, SW) of Albuquerque that the interstate has created.  I want to see how pedestrian movement occurs across the interstate between the sections and how it effects way-finding.  I can already assume from experience that the majority of the crossings will take place at an underpass, a place which I found out yesterday can be a very interesting mixture of sounds (something to play with perhaps). 

The underlying theme to this whole experiment is to look at the relationship to the smart phone and how it performs in creating an experience of the landscape.  This interaction becomes a game, an extension of the way we communicate in our online social networks.  What is a locale/landmark/place and how might one alter the perception of it from one person to the next?  I am in the process of filling out an IRB form (academic institution that lets me include other's impressions in my research) and I hope I can convince 5 to 10 of you to walk one of my walks as it were and provide me with feedback of your experience.  Glory and points on Foursquare can be yours!  Again, I welcome your thoughts and critiques on any and all of the ideas I express.


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Walk #1

Sense of place

How do we judge place?  The two walks that I have documented so far have been prompted by one, the need to collect data for my thesis and two, to complete personal errands.  So far my recording of data has consisted of photographing various scenes along my walk that then also serve as visual markers for someone to find that site again.  I printed out a QR code today that links to my blog and I wrote on the 12 copies I printed; "What do you see?" "Tell me about place?" "Hello!" "Write me a story" and "What is place?"  This being an experiment I think the temporal quality of something printed on paper isn't quite what I should be going for.  My hope for them was to have someone scan the code and post something on the blog related to the message written on the paper.  We shall see.  I think going forward I need to display the QR codes in a form that conveys more of a sense of permanence.  Perhaps out of laser-etched wood or metal so that they have a certain sculptural quality to them.  Then place them in areas where the content that is being linked plays upon the feeling of that particular place.

These two slideshows contain photos that I took when I was still experimenting with GPS tracking programs. These are the two first walks that I conducted with the GPS tracking program Cardio Trainer. I decided to start fresh with Google My Tracks and so that is the reason that these first two walks are not numbered.


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The smart phone as it orchestrates our experience of the landscape

So begins an exploration of the relationship between the smart phone, the urban terrain and humans.  This blog will serve as a public dialogue of how the smart phone aids in our interaction with and connection to each other and the surrounding environment.  It is also the topic for my masters thesis and an arena for my committee members and peers to post comments and give feedback.  Over the next several weeks I will document my progress, the physical manifestation of this thesis will be in the form of walking paths throughout the city of Albuquerque, NM and a visual record of the interactions that take place between myself, the smart phone and the urban terrain...the hope is to garner a deeper understanding of place through this process.