A_Washington

Although we’ve discussed the methods used in this study to varying degrees, I was stuck by their ability to integrate social and environmental phenomena into one holistic impression of a place. While these represent interrelated systems, they are often treated as separate, so their correlation in space offers the potential to shift our view of their connectedness. It was also cool to see this kind of street-level data applied systematically at a large scale. The findings were well-suited to comparison across scales, so they could offer useful impressions street-by-street as well as between neighborhood types.

I thought the comparison in cost access and affordability between the two superilles was especially interesting because of how the cost of housing differed from the established pattern of lower cost goods in the Poblenou superilla. This may indicate that the neighborhoods differ less in economic resources than they do in their priorities. Perhaps Poblenou’s performance in other measured qualities—for example, its sensory engagement and diversity of spatial experience—explain why housing costs are not significantly lower than the more central Eixample Esquerra superilla.

Measuring the street buffer, as carried out in this study, could be an interesting lens through which to examine our site in Eugene considering the city’s plan to create an integrated pedestrian zone connecting the Farmer’s Market plaza and Park Blocks, including the removal of curbs along those walkways.