Action on the Ave: Studying Environmental Behavior

       My research partner, Katherine, indulged me an adventure to the Ave - the affectionate nickname for University Way. Last Thursday evening from 7:00 - 7:30pm, as the sun faded beneath the flat gray blanket of clouds, we sat on the patio outside Starbucks, in the drizzle, camera and soon-to-be-soggy notepad in hand. We selected the Ave for several reasons: its busy nature, diverse population, and unique opportunity for interactions between individuals and their environment.

      The intersection we selected, NE 41st Street and University Way, houses several 'typically U-district' features: a Starbucks on the SW corner, Cafe on the Ave on the NW corner, a copy and print center on the NE and an Indian restaurant, Shalimar, on the SE. We observed in a removed, but not hidden, Zeiselian manner: we sat right outside the Starbucks entrance, notepad on the table, camera flashing, and documented our surroundings. On a more specific note, we conducted a 'continuous scan' for thirty minutes, documenting all of the behaviors on our impromptu ethogram. Certainly some perverse part of me was annoyed that no one approached us to inquire as to what we were doing: on the corner, beneath the portico, in the rain, taking pictures and notes on innocent pedestrians. 

       In any case, we noted individuals carrying umbrellas (even after it had stopped raining), individuals wearing Husky gear, with backpacks (or bags used to carry textbooks and notepads), using iPods and cell phones (texting versus speaking) and eating (while walking, not just escaping with takeout), smoking and, of course, a staple of a near-campus location: bicycles.  We noted, by tally, how often these (inter)actions occurred and have drawn several different conclusions. While perhaps half of the individuals walking the Ave were in not alone, more than half were 'plugged in' via cell phone or iPod, even though they were physically engaged with other individuals. We also noted that most of the traffic seemed to be composed of students (not an uncommon notion in an area so close to campus) but I was still somewhat surprised by the sheer volume of apparent students - not to mention those who were not as easily identifiable (visually) as 'STUDENT'. 

       Potential research questions: how do people interact with an intersection? What does this say about them/their relationships? How do people interact with each other in a movement-oriented public space such as this? Who uses the Ave? What are they doing there? Why? 

       My specific research interests lie in the public interactions between individuals, how people express themselves in public: through interactions with other individuals and the environment, and their physical appearance or even emotional 'appearance' via projection and body language. How I will carry this out in Amsterdam,  I do not yet know.